Bears Are Bodacious! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Giant Panda

Giant pandas love to eat bamboo, which creates a bit of a mystery for scientists. You see, bamboo is not especially nutritious, and that is why they eat 50-60 pounds of it in a day! They will eat other foods, such as berries and nuts - but only if they have to. Giant Pandas only weigh about 5 ounces when they are born, but grow to an impressive 300+ pounds.

Unfortunately, the spreading population of China has taken away some of their natural habitat, and today there is only an estimated population of 1,000 Giant Pandas living in the wild.

Answer: Polar Bear

Did you know that a Polar bear's fur isn't really white? It is a clear hollow tube that appears to be white due to the reflection of light, which helps to keep the bear warm. And his skin is black, which also enables him to soak up the heat of the sun and stay warm. What is a Polar bear's favorite food? Seals! He will wait at the seal's breathing hole and pounce on him when he comes up for air, and sometimes he will even stalk them. Polar bears are the largest carnivores, or meat eaters, that live on land today.

Answer: Asiatic Bear

Asiatic bears, also known as Himalayan bears or Tibetan bears, live in forests and mountain areas and spend a lot of their time in trees. That is where they build their nests for sleeping in the summertime. They have a distinctive marking on their chest - a light "Y" or "V" shape, which gives them their nickname, Moon bear.

Not especially picky about their food, these bears are omnivores. In recent years, due to habitat loss, they have even been known to attack farm animals. Like all bears, the Asiatic bear will occasionally walk on two legs; interestingly, it has been observed doing so for over 1/4 of a mile!

Answer: Brown Bear

Found all over the world, there are nine sub-species of Brown bears, such as the Grizzly bear in North America and the Siberian bear in Russia, and they come in colors besides brown! It is very distinctive in appearance, as it has a hump on its back. Why? The hump contains important muscles that the bear uses to find its food, muscles for digging up roots and moving logs and even stones! They eat the same types of food as other bears, but the Brown bears that live near coastal areas, like Kodiaks, also enjoy fish.

Answer: Spectacled Bear

Of course, the Spectacled bear, also called the Andean bear, is named for the markings on his face that make it look like he is wearing glasses! Only found in the forests of the Andes Mountains, Spectacled bears build nests in trees, where they sleep and eat.

Their favorite food? The hearts of the gigantic Bromeliacae plant, known as the Queen of the Andes, which is a member of the same family as pineapples, as well as other fruits.

Answer: Sun Bear

Also called honey bears, Sun bears were named because it was believed that the "U" on their chest represented the rising sun. As their nickname implies, they like honey - they have very long tongues that help them to locate and eat it - but they are omnivores, also eating rodents, insects and berries, among other foods.

The smallest bear species, Sun bears live in the tropical rain forest. Unlike other bears, they do do not hibernate because they live in an area that stays warm year-round.

Answer: Black Bear

The name "Black" bear is a bit misleading, as they can be found in a variety of colors. There are 16 sub-species, mostly named for the areas in which they are found, such as the Florida Black bear and the West Mexico Black bear. Found in British Columbia in Canada, the Spirit bear, also called the Kermode bear, is believed to have been named by Native Americans because it held religious significance for them.

Although it is classified as a Black bear, about 1 in 10 are white. They are not polar bears, and scientists believe their color comes from their genetic makeup.

Answer: Pizzly

Pizzly bears, also called Grolar bears or Polar Grizz, are the offspring of Grizzly bears and Polar bears. They have been found in the wild, but they have also been successfully bred in captivity as well. To date, eight have been documented in the wild and their DNA indicated that they were descended from the same female polar bear. Scientists believe that this has occurred because Brown bears have been migrating farther north.

The Osnabrück Zoo in Osnabrück, Germany, celebrated a successful breeding of Pizzly bears in captivity in 2004, when a male and female cub were born there.

They share traits of polar bears, such as hollow hair, and Grizzly bears, such as a small hump.

Answer: Sloth Bear

For a long time scientists believed that the Sloth bear was actually a sloth! Why? They hang from tree branches, carry their cubs on their backs, and only live with other Sloth bears. Don't let their name fool you! They actually move pretty fast. Their heads are perfectly developed for the consumption of their favorite food - termites! They have long tongues to catch termites, and nostrils that close so they can literally suck them out of their colonies. Also known as honey bears, they are known to take a whack at a bee hive whenever they want some honey!

Answer: Cave Bear

Cave bears, believed to be related to modern Brown bears, lived thousands of years ago during the Pleistocene Age. First reported in 1774, it took scientists a while to decide what animal the skeletons really were! Were they dragons? Unicorns? Apes? Polar bears? In 1794 they were given their scientific name, Ursus spelaeus. Because there were so many skeletons found - one cave in Romania yielded 140 bear skeletons - scientists at first believed that cave bears spent more time in caves than modern brown bears.

It does make sense, however, that over such a long period of time (the Pleistocene Age is dated at about 2.6 million years ago to about 11,700 years ago), skeletons of sick or aged bears that died in hibernation just built up in caves.

In 2020 a well-preserved cave bear carcass, estimated to be between 22,000-39,500 years old, was found in Russia. Even its nose was still intact!