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Text by Chiew Lin May Photos by Seng Yen Wah & Chiew Lin May On January 10th, 2014 a six month old, male sun bear cub (Rescue No-37), was rescued from a Mini Zoo and Hot Springs in Tawau, South Eastern Sabah. Sunbearo arrived to BSBCC from Lok Kawi Zoo on the 10th of March 2014  Sunbearo was rescued by Sabah Widllife Department when he was just a little six months old. He was rescued from a pet trade. Thin and dehydrated. His life at the Tawau Hot Spring was spent in a confinement cage. Like so many other rescued sun bears, his mother had been killed and he had been taken from the forest. Based on his teeth and malnourished appearance, it was likely he was being fed the wrong diet. His weight during the arrival was 11.6kg. Originally he was known as Tan Sri, which was the name of his owner from the Mini Zoo and Hot Spring in Tawau. Sunbearo is a special sun bear cub and has been adopted and re-named by Neways International (Australia) Pty. Huge thanks to the support from Neways International (Australia) Pty, which enables us to protect Sunbearo.  In the tiny cage where he endured a lifetime of mistreatment and wrong diet that cause poor physical condition. Sunbearo has a beautiful tiny crescent sun in the shape of a “V” on his chest!  During his arrival, Sunbearo has one of the beautiful tiny crescent suns with a “V” shape on his chest!  First taste of favourite papaya! He was placed into quarantine before being introduced to the other cubs of his own age.  This life of freedom is perfect for this little bear. He seemed very fragile as his muscles were not strong due to his tiny size, and he was nervous when it came to climbing. The bear care team gives him and his friends a chance to play in their dens. He was given new enrichment toys and a healthy diet.  After much love and care by our bear team, Sunbearo eventually learnt to adapt to a life of bear and slowly has pt the past behind him. He quickly adapted to his new home where he has become more trusting and relishes every fresh fruit. HONEY is not an exception!!  He quickly adapted to his new home where he became more trusting and relishing every fresh fruits. HONEY is not exception!! On the 24th of April 2014, Sunbearo and Loki were integrated for the first time.  On 24th April 2014, Sunbearo and Loki were integrating for the first time.  The two rescued sun bears were playing together like loving siblings.  The two rescued sun bears were playing together like loving siblings. He slowly started to build trust with the bears and learnt that bears can be great friends. Loki, Bintang, Montom, Susie2, Damai and Kala are Sunbearo’s bear play friends. They love playing with each other.  Big dens full of different types of enrichment where they will learn how to forage for food and climbing skills.  These enrichment activities are all designed to keep the rescued bears mentally stimulated.   Sunbearo will find her best pal, Loki to suckle for comfort and bear chat. He enjoys having friends to share freedom experiences with. Slowly, he has put his past behind him and is learning to be a wild bear again. A shining start to the day! On the 28th of December 2015, Sunbearo had finally overcome his fear and took his first step out on the forest soil.  Experience as wild bear where he will making his way to the forest! It is a great pleasure to see the first glimpses of these rescued sun bears stepping out to forest for their first time! Sunbearo sniffed around the tall trees.  Brave Sunbearo learning to climb tree branches at the BSBCC.  He immediately made friends and quickly ready to explore their his new homes as soon as possible.  It was delight that found Sunbearo climb up high into the tree canopy and forage for his food treats as if he had not care in the world.  Best day spend at the comfortable hammock. He knew that he deserved a better chance to express his natural behavior and learn how to become a wild bear.  He knows that he deserved better chance to express his natural behavior and learn become a wild bear. He is now outside foraging, climbing and enjoying himself. He loves the opportunity and uses all his senses to forage in the soil!  He is now outside foraging, climbing and enjoying himself. He loves the opportunity using all his senses to forage soil! Sun bears are the arboreal bear and spend their time in trees. Sunbearo and Montom will immediately climb up and wrestle on top of the trees.  Sun bears are the arboreal bear and spend their time in trees. Sunbearo and Montom will immediately climbing up and wrestling top of the tree. His long, sickle curved claws will help him in climbing trees and scraping off tree barks for termites.  By using his long and sickle curved claws that will help in climb trees and scrape off tree barks for termites. He has a strong, close bond with Loki. Sunbearo and Loki can be found loving hanging out and spending time up in the trees, watching everything going on around them.  Sunbearo developed a very close bond with female bear Loki.  Sunbearo and Loki loves to play and climbs everyday in forest.  They love to explore and climb the highest trees! After four years of undergoing rehabilitation at our centre, Sunbearo has grown in size, skill and confidence.  After four years undergoing rehabilitation at our centre, Sunbearo have grown in size, skill and confidence. He is a fussy eater.   Sunbearo is very interest in digging, sometimes for termites but often just for fun! If there are special sweet treats in the enclosure, Sunbearo usually hoovers everything up and licks every last bit of honey without wasting it! Around feeding time at the bear house, he can often be found growling for food. But most of all, he just loves foraging for extra protein.  If have special sweet treats at the enclosure, Sunbearo usually hovered everything up and licking every last bit of honey without wasted it!  He can often be found like to growl for food. In regards to nest building, we have not seen any tree nest building behavior from him. He will stay a while in a nest built by Loki or Damai.  In nest building, we have not found any tree nest building behavior from him. He will borrow to stay a while the nest build by Loki or Damai. Sunbearo is doing better and is enjoying life in a natural forest.  Cheeky Sunbearo basking in the suns rays!  Sunbearo gazes skywards as he climbs to tree tops.  Sunbearo spends enjoying himself or relaxing in forest.  He shows off his impressive climbing skills!  He will be free to forage for food, explore and learn to live as wild bear.  Sunbearo is no longer alone. He able to play fight, learn survival skills and hang out together with other bears.  Thank you for helping to give bears like Sunbearo a second chance to live a happy and freedom bear life.  He is happy returned to the forest where he belongs.  Sunbearo is no longer alone. He able to play fight, learn survival skills and hang out together with other bears. It is amazing to see a sun bear that was literally suffering from pet trade now looking healthy, free from pain and enjoying life as a sun bear. Sun bears are threatened in Southeast Asia by rapid poaching, illegal wildlife trade and habitat destruction. Please help us fight to free the bears from their major threats. The exploitation of the greed towards this little known bear species must end. 
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Do you love sleeping in a comfy bed at the end of the day? So do sun bears! Check out a two years old sub adult female sun bear, Bintang making some fabulous nest! Did you know that in the wild sun bears build a safe, comfortable nest to sleep in? Tree nests protect them from predators as well as serve as to be comfortable, safe places to sleep. This is one of the vital skills that their mothers would have taught them in the wild… Check out how one of our rescued adult female sun bear, Damai builds her comfy nest on tree! Text by Chiew Lin May Photos by Azzry Dusain, Tee Thye Lim, Seng Yen Wah and Chiew Lin May Without the BSBCC, many captive sun bears would still live in small cages without HOPE; without the BSBCC many people in the world still would not know there is a bear species called the sun bear – CEO & Founder, Dr. (Hon) Wong Siew Te, D.J.N  Poaching, pet trade and loss of habitat continue to pose a MAJOR threat to the survival of sun bears. Mother bears are often killed and their infants are sold in the illegal wildlife pet trade. Sun bears are very similar to humans - they cannot survive on their own without their mothers. It is tragic that sun bears are still being found orphaned. Sun bear populations have declined by more than 30% in the past 30 years, leaving the danger of imminent extinction in the wild a very real possibility.  Sun Bear continues to be a target for the demand in traditional medicine and exotic meat  " Sport hunting" pictures on Facebook!  " Sport hunting" pictures on Facebook!  Hunters posing with a slaughtered sun bear in Sarawak.  The carcass of an adult sun bear floating in Kinabatangan River, Sabah.  A sun bear carcass cut in half.  Protected animals online trade rampant in Malaysia  Sun bears caged for tourists entertainment - Trapped in solitary confinement and immensely stressed.  A bear was killed on the road of Durian Mas Dungun, Kelatan.  A sun bear was killed after it was knocked down by a car at Km358 of the East Coast Highway2 (LPT2) near an orchard.  Two men from Sabah were arrested by Malaysian authorities for trying to sell body parts of protected Malayan sun bears.  Sun bear population is already under serious threat from loss of the rainforest HOME due to agricultural development  Sun bear population is already under serious threat from loss of the rainforest HOME due to agricultural development The Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre’s (BSBCC) CEO and Founder, Dr. Wong Siew Te has dedicated more than 20 years of his life to raise awareness and save the “forgotten bear species”. Wong founded the BSBCC in 2008 with the goal to conserve sun bears through a holistic approach that of improves the welfare of rescued sun bears, rehabilitation, education and research. Wong was one of the greatest sun bear conservationists.     The BSBCC has received 55 rescued sun bears since its foundation. Currently there are 44 rescued sun bears housed at the BSBCC. Sadly, we have seen a significant increase in the numbers of sun bears arriving at the centre in 2016. This trend is worrying as it shows that poaching is still going wild with rampant sale of sun bears or illegal bear bile medicine over websites and the numbers will continue to rise rapidly until drastic measures are taken to protect sun bears.  BSBCC started with 8 rescued sun bears in 2008, and now have 44 sun bears.  A one year old female sun bear cub Dodop had been kept illegally as house pet by residents in Singgaron village, Ranau district Sabah who had spent over one year in the smallest cage and arrived at BSBCC on June 2nd, 2016. It was found that the Dodop was missing all four of her milk canines.  A three months old female sun bear cub Tan-Tan was bought by a person with the purpose of rescuing her from being sold in the remote region of Paitan. Most of the bears arrived at our centre will have in different conditions- frightened, stress and with wounds common to bears rescued from pet trade.  Sika was found by a foreigner who travelled to the village of Sikalabaan, in Pensiangan district, located in the interior division of Sabah. A three months old female sun bear cub Sika was keeping in a chicken mesh cage as a pet. She was previously fed condense milk, fruits and cereal.  A lady decided to rescue an one years old male sun bear cub Nano when she saw Nano was kept in a small chicken mesh cage in Kota Marudu, north of Sabah. She purchased him from the seller for a price of RM1,500, with the purpose of saving his life. Nano was surrendered to the Sabah Wildlife Department and arrive at BSBCC on November 20, 2016.  Noah, a three months old sun bear cub was surrendered by a villager and was found roaming alone at a villager’s orchard without his mother .  Kina's owner claimed that Kina’s mother was crossing a road and got frightened then just ran away and left Kina behind. Kina was just a bear cub and had not even opened her eyes yet. Hence, her owner took Kina and kept her as pet for more than a year.  A three months old female sun bear cub was bought by someone in Kalabakan-Sapulut road nearby Maliau Basin with the intention of saving the cub then to be surrender to the Sabah Wildlife Department. Kala was emaciated, dehydrated and malnourished. She was very small with her weight was just 3 kg. BSBCC has been able to rehabilitate these orphaned sun bears after their years of trauma from being locked up in small cages and sold in the pet trade. Most of our bears have had an extremely difficult lives having witnessed the death of their mother, traumatic experiences through being sold as a pet, suffered unimaginable abuse, infected wounds and poor diet. Being taken away from all of that they had known...many will show stereotypical behavior and will growl in fear. This has all changed with the greatly appreciated help from Sabah Wildlife Department. They assist in providing care and medical treatment for rescued bears. Our rescued bears will receive round the clock care from our Bear care team by helping and encouraging the bears to build up their strength as well as learning to trust their cares.  Dr. Wong handling the rescued sun bear cub, Tan-Tan.  Many rescued sun bears has been spent caged and live in terrible conditions. We need to fighting to save them!!  The rescued bears will safely unloaded and getting settled into BSBCC quarantine. They will surely learn the delights of wild bear life.  Veterinarian from the Sabah Wildlife Department will conduct a full physical examination health check for all the rescued bears in BSBCC.  Veterinarian from the Sabah Wildlife Department will conduct a full physical examination health check for all the rescued bears in BSBCC. Enriching the lives of these rescued bears is an important part of bear management, which improves the bears’ lives by giving them a second chance to survive in the wild. We will make sure that the bears are having their choices and freedom. Little by little, after each rescued bear has passed their quarantine period, they will move on to the next step in the Bear house – a peaceful and safe place they have deserved all their life! Integrating with new friends, giving them access to forest enclosures for them to learn pertinent skills for survival and last but not least get them ready to be back into the WILD.  Bear care team always provide rescued sun bear with everything they needs to put the past behind them and look forward to a better life as wild bear.  The team not only prepares sweet treats, but also not forgets to provide them superb durable structure enrichment for our special care bears.  Working hard making enrichment for sun bears.  Hammock Amok Project for sun bears!! APE Malaysia is carrying over 600 kg of fire hoses to make a total of 55 fire hose enrichment items for 44 sun bears. Their efforts are making a difference!!  Integral to rescued bears' recovery from trauma, the team are constantly coming up with new idea to stimulate and encourage bear survival skills.  Lot of lovely bear arts from our wonderful volunteers!  A more natural environment will be providing for the bears so they have the chance to behave like the wild bear that they are.  Making enrichment to keep the bears physically and mentally stimulated, enriching their lives so that the bears can exhibit as many natural behaviours as possible. Each bear will introduce to new foods, toys, bear friend and environment.  We hope the bears will like the enrichment!!  We hope by building this ramp structure will help the rescued bears access freely to forest enclosure and allow them to live out the rest of their days free from pain and fear.  A variety of climbing structure to help the bears developing the skills and the strength they will need when they are eventually released back into the wild.  Our rescued bears will be given balanced diet that comprises fruits and protein to maintaining good health of bears.  Our rescued bears will be given balanced diet that comprises fruits and protein to maintaining good health of bears.  Our rescued bears will be given balanced diet that comprises fruits and protein to maintaining good health of bears.  Walking sun bear cub in forest – the cub will learn what their mother will teach them- how to forage wild food, climbing tree top, building nest, avoid stranger and defense skills.  The rescued cub is under quarantine and is being given round the clock care by her surrogate mother.  Sun bear cubs requires round-the-clock care to help recovery.  The team will observe bear behaviour to ensure the bear have learn skills that they need before return to wild. The release candidates are chosen based on their age and survival skills. Even relishing every chop of fresh fruit, playing with their enrichment, roaming the forest, foraging for insects, inquisitive, exploring, snoozing, climbing trees, finding HONEY bees, enjoying the sunshine, tapping to check weak points of dead logs and building tree nests, play fighting with their fellow bears in the BSBCC. No more pain and letting go of the traumatic life – perhaps they are enjoying the smell of freedom !! Let look how our rescued sun bears learn become wild bear!!  Next step of the rehabilitation is access out to forest enclosure to encourage the rescued bears to forage and living in tree top as they would in the forest with their mothers.  Tan- Tan is such a cheeky sun bear. Slowly she learn and happy to leave her past life behind.  Enrichment will be given to rescue bears to reduce the suffering from serious stereotypic behaviours such as pacing, repetitive behavior of banging themselves against bars and obsessive licking.  Love all enrichment! Eat anything and everything till mouthful!  The fastest bear explore on the bamboo feeder enrichment!  Small steps on a long road to recovery.  Nano was settled down in quarantine and listening to the forest sound around him.  It was a little miracle!  Feeling of getting outside on a warm sun and summer day with free bars of their cages !!  A blessing!! Enjoy at the sun and sniffing the forest air.  Her eagerness to explore...  Polite Greeting from Sunbearo!  "The best enrichment for a captive sun bear is another sun bear"  Bintang is a bear that enjoys climbing trees, playing and wrestling with her friends.  Looks at their smile!!  Sun bear is arboreal bear! They loves spend most of their time in trees, where they forage fruits and build sleeping nest. So lots climbing skills through the forest canopy is needed when they are young.  Gasps with thirst in the shadow of the morning sun!  They have more than earned that take a nap under the sun.  Big smile from Susie!!  Beautiful smile that says " They really love their forest home!"  Sun bear is a very good in tree climbing.  Fulung was determined to make the best of the time to foraging wild food!!  Little Noah loves his first gift !!  Ah Lun love climbing tree with sitting on her favorite branch.  Chiiling in the pool !!  Dedicates her life to catching every bug, Ever!  With a fast flicking long tongue enable sun bear to reach into cavities in trees to eat their favourite food- termites and insects!  After a rough start to life...  She is an absolute sweetheart bear !  Bintang is making it clear to her bear fiend that she is ready to play!  Wonderful HOME they deserve!! - Rainforest  Snooze away beautiful bear!  The bears foraging forest floor in search of beetles, termites and invertebrates.  Damai is spending more time by herself, foraging more in areas away from other sun bear friends.  Sun bear's sharp claws and long tongues make them adapt at reaching into dead tree to locate food.  It is very encouraging that Tan -Tan is developing these forest skills by herself where she is proving that she has many suitable skills to be released in the future.  In their heart of hearts, they really just want peaceful and forest life! No hunting please!  It is wonderful to observe that arboreal and tree climbing behaviour is such a strong instinct for these sun bears.  So delicious! Enjoyed their first ever BEST treat!!  Susie cannot keep her eyes off anything and everything - especially when it comes to food.  Most of you still remember Mary, a two months old sun bear cub that she was held captive in a cage as pet. She was found to be very malnourished when she first came to BSBCC because her previous owner did not fed her with milk. Her growth stunted and walking in an abnormal way. Now, Mary has improved a lot where every day for her is a treat of good food, friend and freedom.  Boboy is one of the most curious sun bear and he will enthusiasm on lookout for new adventures in forest.  Clearly loving their special LIFE!  Clearly loving their special LIFE!  Just the best!! Damai loves hugs from her best friend Bintang.  Forget about it for minutes in sun, and dreaming about having some Honey!  See how Kitud thinking of the real bear world?  So good!! Can focus with sunbathing time!  "Likes forest soil better than lock inside the small cage!" - Kala  So much to tell !! A huge thanks to you all rescue and save the smallest bear!  On May 16, 2015 the first rehabilitated sun bear (Natalie, a five years old adult female sun bear) returns to the WILD.  On July 24, 2016 second rehabilitated sun bear (Lawa, a nine years old adult female sun bear) returns to the WILD. Every individual sun bear at BSBCC has their own personality. They are growing independent every day. Strong characters like Amaco, Diana, Tan-Tan, Wawa and Nano have emerged. Slowly the rescued bears realize with their new life that they are now in a different, safer, healthier, and happier bear world which is their own. For example: Tan-Tan is the holder of the record breaking all records among all sun bear cubs we have had so far: At six months old she could construct a little nest in the tree using broken twigs and leaves. It was truly amazing to see!   Besides that, due to the emotional trauma that resulted from his being kept as pet, Nano was very stressed and in pain. After one year, Nano finally has reduced his stereotypical behavior by spending more time with his bear friend, Noah. He is on the road to recovery. We tear up just thinking how Nano has finally overcome his fear...     Sun bears are beautiful animals in nature. They deserve the chance to go back to the deep forest and to become a WILD bear. We all have two things that the sun bears do not, which is a voice and freedom. Please use your voice to help them and stop the hunting or killing of sun bears, we can make a difference to their future survival. Together we must save the sun bears! 
On behalf of our rescued bears, a big bark THANKS to Wong, our supporters, funders, volunteers, friends and bear care team for taking care, supporting and loving them! Text and photos by Chiew Lin May On July 30, 2013 Damai, a young sun bear cub, surprised us again. Aside from her quickly developing skills of climbing trees, digging for food, and exploring the forest on her own, she built her first nest today. We are all so inspired by Damai, and her abilities to grow on her own at such a young age. That morning, around 10:00 am, she began to look very tired, and headed directly towards her favourite tree and climbed right up! Damai has long, sharp, curved claws and sharp teeth which are good for pulling, biting, and breaking off branches. She bends the branches in different ways, depending on how she wants to use them, and builds sitting areas that look much like a bird’s nest. She builds a safe, comfortable nest out of leaves, tree branches, and other material that she finds nearby. Much like the orang-utan, Sun bears spend most of their lives in trees, and place their nests there as well. Nests protect them from predators as well as serve as comfortable, safe places to sleep. After the nest is complete, she plays happily up in the trees until she is tired, and then sleeps or sunbathes in her newly built nest for the rest of the day. We do not know where Damai learned her nest building skills, and there are plenty of questions still left to answer. For example, do sun bears choose a specific tree to build their nest in, or are the cubs learning where to build the nest from their mothers? Will they will reuse or rebuild the nest ever? These questions leave a great opportunity to learn more about sun bears and their nest-building behaviours. This is an excellent start for Damai! Bravo, Damai! Here are the photos shows Damai build the nest.  Damai found her favorite tree and climbed up.   Damai have a long, sharp curved claws and sharp teeth which good for pulling, biting and breaking off branches.  Sun bears spend much of their lives in the trees. At a very young age, Damai learn to build nest in trees.  They spend lots of time up in the trees, feeding, resting and sleeping in the nests they build.   She use some organic material around the tree such as twigs and leaves.   Damai break branches in different ways depending on how she is to be used.  She builds a safe comfortable nest out of leaves, tree branches and other material that she can find near the tree to make a sort mattress.  It is really surprising, an one years old Damai can make a nest on tree!!    Make a nest of leaves and branches in tree to being disturbed by predators.    After she finished build the nest, she started to have a nap in a nest formed of branches and twigs.   Life in the forest is sweet!   Under the morning sun, Damai sleeps or sunbathes in a nest formed of branches and twigs. The nest is situated at the top of a tree.    Example of the branches break by Damai.  Example of the leaves, tree branches and twigs bend down by Damai.   Cluster of twigs and branches high up the tree build by little Damai. Glad her!  Have you seen a sun bear building a tree nest? I bet you have NOT! Many people not even know about sun bear or seen a sun bear, let alone seeing one of them making a nest high on top of the trees. Here is a rare opportunity of a lifetime to see a radio-collar sun bear building a nest in the rainforest of Borneo. Don’t blink and please hold your breath until the end of the video. [kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/Vs8wrLqWsWM" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /] Tree nest Sun bears in the wild make nest on tree and sleep on these tree nest like orangutans. However, nest building behavior is more common in forest where human disturbance is higher and large terrestrial predators like tigers, and leopards are presence. It makes sense for sun bears to make such tree nest and sleep on high on tree, some as high as 40 meters (128 feet) because it is much safer and dryer on top of tree. These nests usually consist of a pile of tree branches and twigs that are band over from the surrounding centered at a tree fork that close to the main trunk. The diameter of these tree nests ranges from a 1 to 2 meter. Unlike orangutan nest, sun bear rarely snap branches or break branches close by. I still lack of evident that they reuse these tree nests, and believe that they construct new nest every time they need one because wild sun bears tend to wonder a large range, unless there are important food resources available like a fruiting fig tree in the forest. Under this situation, sun bears tend to hang around the area until the food resource is depleted and they have to move on to forage for food. Although the metal baskets that we provide for our captive bears are very different from the natural nest, these bears still love them because these baskets give them a dry, safe, and cozy bed. You can read more about the nest building behavior in my earlier blog: http://www.bsbcc.org.my/bear-talk-blog/part-i-how-do-sun-bears-sleep-in-the-wild  Like all of us and all animals, sun bears need sleep (What am I talking about? Of course sun bear need sleep!). But, not many people have seen how wild sun bear sleep in the tropical forest. I bet this posting will be an interesting and eye opening for many of you who see this for the first time! Tree nest Sun bears in the wild make nest on tree and sleep on these tree nest like orangutans. However, nest building behavior is more common in forest where human disturbance is higher and large terrestrial predators like tigers, and leopards are presence. It makes sense for sun bears to make such tree nest and sleep on high on tree, some as high as 40 meters (128 feet) because it is much safer and dryer on top of tree. These nests usually consist of a pile of tree branches and twigs that are band over from the surrounding centered at a tree fork that close to the main trunk. The diameter of these tree nests ranges from a 1 to 2 meter. Unlike orangutan nest, sun bear rarely snap branches or break branches close by. I still lack of evident that they reuse these tree nests, and believe that they construct new nest every time then need one because wild sun bears tend to wonder a large range, unless there are important food resources available like a fruiting fig tree in the forest. Under this situation, sun bears tend to hang around the area until the food resource is depleted and they have to move on to forage for food. Although the metal baskets that we provide for our captive bears are very different from the natural nest, these bears still love them because these baskets give them a dry, safe, and cozy bed.  This bear nest was about 35 m (110 feet) above the ground. If this bear (Batik) was not wearing a radio-collar and I was not constantly tracking her closely in the forest, there was no way that I can figure out that Batik the sun bear was sleeping 100 feet above of me. It took me some time to locate the nest and the saw Batik with my binocular that day due to the dense vegetation and the height of the nest.  I used my Canon S1IS to zoom in to the nest (12 X) and took this photo. Because of the think vegetation and the nesting material, we can barely see Batik's muzzle and a hind paw hanging mid air.  After waiting patiently for about 3 hours under the tree, Batik finally woke up from her nap and slowly climbed down from the tree. It was really amazing to see how agile a sun bear could be when she climbed down carefully but swiftly from the tree! The dark spot on top of her was the nest she was sleeping earlier.  Another photo of Batik taking her nap. This time she did not construct a proper nest. In stead, she simply slept on branches that could support her body on top of a medium sized tree about 15 m above the ground. Sweet dream!  Here Batik made a simple nest on a small tree about 2 m above the ground. As you can see, as long there are some supports underneath the body, sun bear can really sleep like a baby! Like all of us and all animals, sleeping is such an import activity for a sun bear daily routine. They need a comfortable bed, place, or spot to sleep and rest. However, many captive bears do not sleep well in the poor living environment that their human owners provide them. I have seen many sad cases where these bears did not even have a clean, dry spot to lay down their body and have a good sleep. They try to keep their body dry and clean by just sit upright with their hand holding on the cage bars. It is a very cruel act by taking away the rights of a good sleep for the captive bears, beside their right to live freely as a wild bear.
Tree nest is one of many ways the sun bears sleep in the wild. I will write more about other ways they sleep or nap in the wild soon! |
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