Sophie Hardak
The sloth bear is the deadliest bear.
As the natural habitat of this species shrinks, communities living in the forests of India are finding ways to share space with these dangerous creatures.
It must have been easy prey for a tiger: a female sloth bear with her cub walking away from a watering hole near a safari lodge in India.
A tiger lurks in the dry bushes, preparing to attack a bear.
But then something completely unexpected happens.
Instead of freezing in fear or trying to run away, the bear suddenly turns and charges straight at the confused tiger.
The tiger rises on its hind legs and strikes back.
A fierce fight begins that lasts 45 minutes, during which the animals bite and scratch each other.
Sloth bears, named for their long claws and teeth that supposedly resemble sloths, live in India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka and are considered one of the most aggressive animals in the area.
They are known for explosively charging at anything they perceive as a threat, not just tigers, but also humans.
A study that investigated attacks by large carnivores on humans worldwide from 1950 to 2019 found that the number of attacks by sloth bears exceeded attacks by all other species, including tigers, lions, wolves, and other bear species.
During that period, there were 1.337 recorded attacks by sloth bears on humans, 1.047 attacks by tigers, 414 attacks by wolves, and only 23 attacks by polar bears. (Attacks by tigers, lions, and other big cats were fatal to humans in about 65 percent of cases, while only about eight percent of bear attacks on humans were fatal.)
However, sloth bears also face many threats - from habitat destruction to human retaliation.
Their population is declining, there are fewer than 20.000 individuals in the world, and they are classified as a vulnerable species.
But it's not just a problem for them.
Sloth bears play an important role in the ecosystem, as they disperse fruit seeds and control termite populations.
Research suggests that understanding the behavior of sloth bears, as well as their reactions to perceived threats, can contribute to greater safety for both humans and these animals.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QVrX4aI24nI
Explosive fighting skills
The ferocity with which sloth bears fight is surprising considering that they feed mainly on fruit, termites, and ants, and do not hunt mammals.
But sloth bears may have actually evolved their explosive strategy to survive among large predators like tigers, a 2024 study suggests.
"Explosive charging and attacking a potential threat has proven to be a successful survival strategy for sloth bears for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years," the study authors said.
Their analysis of 43 encounters between sloth bears and tigers shows that this tactic is successful, as the conflicts usually ended with both sides retreating, and the tiger escaping mostly unharmed.
In a fight that took place near a safari lodge, a female sloth bear and a male tiger proved to be fairly even opponents, according to a naturalist who observed them.
"Tigers are extremely strong, but not that durable."
"And sloth bears are extremely hairy, so the tiger couldn't really grab the bear by the neck," explains Akshay Kumar, chief naturalist and manager of the Bamboo Forest lodge in Tadoba National Park, in the Indian state of Maharashtra, who filmed the fight.
In the end, the tiger was completely exhausted, says Kumar.
"He sat in the water for a couple of hours, completely exhausted."
The bear just left.
Kumar saw both her and the tiger again a few days later.
"They looked good," he says.
However, an encounter with a sloth bear can have a much more serious outcome for humans.
First, unlike tigers, humans are not fast enough to outrun sloth bears.
Also, their attacks can be particularly brutal for humans, as they target the victim's head and can rip off the face and gouge out the eyes with their long, sharp claws.
"There are many issues when it comes to human-sloth bear conflicts, and most of them are related to attacks by these animals on people," says Nishit Daraja, director of the Wildlife Research Center at BKNM University in the city of Junagadh, western India, and an expert on human-sloth bear conflicts.
People respond to these attacks by killing these bears, says Daraja.
Encounters between sloth bears and humans are becoming increasingly common, mainly due to the loss and degradation of their natural habitat.
But Daraja says these conflicts can be avoided if there is a better understanding of why and when sloth bears attack.
A misunderstood bear?
One of the key arguments Daraja makes is that sloth bears are not necessarily aggressive by nature, nor do they attack to kill.
He explains that the fatal outcome of their attacks on humans is a somewhat unintended consequence of a defensive strategy whose primary goal is to intimidate the enemy, especially when, for example, a female with cubs feels threatened.
"Whether it's a tiger, a lion, a leopard, or a human, a sloth bear first tries to appear larger than its opponent," explains Daraya.
"It stands up on its hind legs and then attacks with its front paws, which have long claws, which it also uses to dig up ants, which are its usual food."
In fights with tigers, an upright posture gives sloth bears a significant advantage.
In a study that analyzed video footage of sloth bears and tigers fighting, almost all the bears stood up when a tiger was nearby, and the only bear that didn't was killed immediately.
In these fights, no tigers were seriously injured or killed, probably because tigers are much faster and can simply run away.
However, people usually cannot escape from sloth bears, not only because they are much slower than tigers, but also because those who survive an attack often testify that the bears suddenly pounced on them out of nowhere, before they even noticed them.
If a bear that has risen on its hind legs attacks a person, its front paws with claws most often hit the face, which is the most vulnerable part of the human body, Daraja points out.
"That's why sloth bear attacks are so deadly, and why they're known as the aggressive species in the bear family," he says.
"They're not actually more aggressive than other bears, but the way they attack is more deadly."
The outcome of their attacks can be catastrophic and leave permanent and severe, life-changing injuries.
Watch the video: How the Japanese practice protecting themselves from bears
In Sri Lanka, in 2020, a sloth bear attacked a 50-year-old man while he was collecting tamarind in the forest and tore off his face with its claws.
In a similar incident in Sri Lanka in 2023, a 43-year-old shepherd was also left without a face when he was attacked by a sloth bear while herding livestock.
Both of them lost their sight.
In the eastern Indian state of Odisha, a sloth bear bit a man so hard that his brain was protruding from his shattered skull.
Emergency surgery managed to save his life, according to a 2017 report.
Sloth bear attacks are so sudden that those who survive them say they don't have a second to react.
"It happened so fast, I didn't see the bear approaching... just dust, leaves flying and its roar," said one survivor of the attack.
In the areas of India that Daraja and his team are researching, including the central part of the state of Gujarat, tribal communities are particularly at risk from such unwanted encounters.
"Most of them live in the forest, and they go into the jungle to collect firewood, lumber, fruit, honey, and medicinal herbs," explains Daraja.
"Then they encounter bears," who feed on the same plants and honey, he explains.
Villagers especially collect the petals of an Indian tropical tree Madhuca longifolia which are used to prepare a traditional wine called Mahua.
"These petals are collected early in the morning when sloth bears are also looking for food," says Daraja.
"And the same flower, from the same tree, is also food for sloth bears, so they come to the same places."
"And since visibility is lower early in the morning, the possibility of encounters and conflicts is greater."
In a survey conducted among these communities in the central state of Gujarat, most respondents said that sloth bears pose a serious threat to humans and that they are not very interested in protecting them.
Daraja and his colleagues at the WCB Research Foundation hope to change these attitudes.
They analyze attacks and speak with survivors to better understand the causes of the conflict, and then use that knowledge to help local populations avoid direct encounters with bears.
They also teach locals how to protect themselves from sloth bears, and one piece of advice is to make noise while walking through the forest to reduce the chances of sudden encounters with these creatures.
Experts also recommend clearing dense bushes and undergrowth on the edges of fields and along roads so that bears and people can more easily spot and avoid each other, as well as building toilets near settlements so that people do not have to go deeper into the forest on their own.
The researchers also designed a special stick for protection against sloth bears, which has blunt spikes and bells.
The main purpose of the stick is to intimidate sloth bears and prevent conflicts, explains Daraja.
He says they have distributed 500 of these sticks to tribal communities and forest service workers who patrol local forests where sloth bears live.
"When people use this stick, the bells make a sound that alerts sloth bears and all other wildlife," he says.
"And even in the worst case, if a sloth bear approaches a human, the animal can repel it with blunt spikes."
"That way, both the bear and the man will be safe."
Although the official assessment of the success of the cane application is still ongoing, Daraja says that the reactions of the local population are very positive and that preliminary data indicates that the cane is effective.
"People say it helps them, not only to protect themselves from sloth bears, but also from other wild animals," including wild boars and leopards, because the sound of the stick scares them and the animals retreat.
Daraya hopes that as people learn more about sloth bears and how to live with them more safely, they will begin to see them as animals that need to be protected.
In fact, surveyed forest service employees who regularly go into the field had a more positive attitude about sloth bears compared to ordinary villagers.
"The sloth bear is an endemic species of the Indian subcontinent."
"That's why it's our responsibility to preserve it," says Daraja.
"Sloth bears are forest engineers, they control ant and termite populations, disperse seeds and contribute to soil fertility."
"They are extremely important animals in the ecosystem."
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