A forest bear of Asia with a pale crescent- or V-shaped chest marking on its dark body.
It has large ears and a short tail that is often hidden by its long coat.
Asiatic black bears eat the fruits of hardy kiwi, Actinidia arguta, and pass its small seeds in their faeces. As a bear moves after feeding, it can carry seeds elsewhere. In mountains, feeding and movement can also affect the elevation at which seeds arrive.
A study used faeces collected in Okutama, Japan, in 2011. Researchers estimated the elevation of the parent plants from oxygen isotopes in seed coats and compared it with the elevation where the faeces were found. Seeds dispersed by bears were deposited an estimated average of about 393 metres downhill. This is an estimate of the elevation difference between the parent plant and the deposited seed.
Seeds originating from higher elevations tended to travel farther downhill. Bears therefore connect with plants through both seed transport and the elevations at which seeds are deposited.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
For the Shikoku population, the 2020 regional conservation guidelines identified capture pressure and habitat loss and fragmentation caused by development and natural-forest logging as causes of decline. Regional organisations established a joint council in 2017. The guidelines identified securing continuous areas of deciduous broadleaf forest as a conservation need.