A South Asian bear with a shaggy coat, a sparsely furred muzzle and a pale chest marking.
Its large feet have long claws, and its muzzle is elongated. The pale chest marking can resemble a U or Y.
Sloth bears sometimes forage for discarded food in towns. Residents of Mount Abu, India, describe bears searching rubbish for hotel food waste and sweet foods.
Research published in 2021 interviewed 241 residents between January and May 2019, mainly about encounters during the preceding two years. Most had encountered bears in the week before their interview; encounters were most often reported between 18:00 and midnight.
Researchers compared reported sighting locations with rubbish bins, built-up area, roads, vegetation and water. The model best supported by the data associated more bins with more sightings per grid cell. Bears entering this forest-surrounded town were regularly accessing food discarded by people.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The Mount Abu study identified encounters around accessible food waste as a conservation concern. The authors recommended long-term waste management involving hoteliers, consideration of bear-resistant rubbish containers and education for residents, aiming to prevent injuries and potential retaliatory killing.