Bears LEVELED BOOK • S A Reading A–Z Level S Leveled Book Word Count: 1,171 BEARS Written by Kira Freed Visit www.readinga-z.com www.readinga-z.com for thousands of books and materials. Photo Credits: Front cover, back cover, title page, pages 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12 (top), 14, 15: © ArtToday; page 9: © Leung Cho Pan/123RF; page 10: © Mirceax/Dreamstime.com; page 11: © NaturePL/Superstock; page 12 (bottom): © Eric Baccega/Minden Pictures; page 13: © J & C Sohns/Tier und Naturfotografie/Superstock BEARS Front cover: Grizzly bear Title page: Asiatic black bear Back cover: Polar bear Bears Level S Leveled Book © Learning A–Z Written by Kira Freed Correlation Written by Kira Freed Maps by Craig Frederick LEVEL S Illustrated by Paula Schricker Fountas & Pinnell O All rights reserved. Reading Recovery 34 DRA 34 www.readinga-z.com www.readinga-z.com What Is a Bear? Table of Contents Bears are intelligent, curious, powerful animals that have What Is a Bear? ............................ 4 always fascinated people. They have thick fur, short legs, small Growing Up ............................... 5 ears, stubby tails, long claws, and Kinds of Bears ............................. 6 jaws that can crush bone. Bears have a keen sense of smell and can Bear Survival ............................. 15 even smell and find food packed inside plastic Glossary ................................. 16 bags. The smallest bear is the sun bear, which weighs 36 to 63 kilograms (80–140 lbs). The Index .................................... 16 largest bear is the polar bear—male polar bears can weigh as much as 680 kilograms (1,500 lbs). Many bears are known for hibernating, or sleeping, often for months at a time. Bears that Do You Know? hibernate do so to survive the cold winter when The koala, often called food is scarce. They consume large quantities of a koala bear, is not a food during the warmer months to store enough bear at all, even though fat to last without food during the winter. it may look like one. It is a marsupial, or pouched Even though bears are famous for hibernating, mammal. Marsupials are many bears do not hibernate. Polar bears and especially common in Australia and also include giant pandas cannot obtain enough food during the kangaroo, wombat, the warmer months to fatten up and go without and Tasmanian devil. food in the winter. Sun bears and sloth bears, The only marsupial in the which live where food is plentiful year-round, Americas is the opossum. also do not hibernate. Bears • Level S 3 4 Kinds of Bears The following pages introduce the eight kinds of bears. Their comparative sizes are shown in the illustration below. LENGTH AND WEIGHT 2.6 m (8.5 ft) 318 kg (700 lbs) Polar Bear Bear mothers are extremely attentive and caring. 2.1 m (7 ft) Brown Bear (Grizzly) Growing Up 250 kg (550 lbs) solitary Most adult bears are , preferring to Giant 1.8 m (6 ft) Panda roam on their own. The exceptions are during 113 kg (250 lbs) the mating season and when mothers care for their cubs. 1.5 m (5 ft) 113 kg (250 lbs) American Black Bear Bears usually have one to three cubs at a time. Bear cubs are very small, blind, and helpless at 1.5 m (5 ft) Asiatic Black Bear birth. They stay in a den with their mother for 113 kg (250 lbs) several months following their birth. Male bears 1.5 m (5 ft) do not help raise cubs, and in fact sometimes 113 kg (250 lbs) Spectacled Bear kill and eat them. The mother bear must fiercely protect her cubs while they are young and 1.5 m (5 ft) Sloth Bear vulnerable. Cubs stay close to their mother for 113 kg (250 lbs) up to three years. During that time, their biggest 0.9 m (3 ft) Sun Bear 36 kg (80 lbs) task is to learn how to find food. Then they are on their own. Bears • Level S 5 6 Polar Bears Brown Bears The polar bear is the largest bear and the Not all brown bears are brown—they are largest land-dwelling carnivore on Earth. It is divided into ten subgroups based on coloring, easily identified by its white or yellow-white which ranges from light tan to reddish brown to fur that camouflages it in snowy surroundings. very dark brown. One famous subgroup is the Polar bears are exceptional swimmers, aided by grizzly bear. Its name comes from its gray-tipped partially webbed front paws. A thick layer of fat fur, which looks frosty, or grizzled. The largest keeps them warm, even in frigid water. brown bear, the Kodiak bear, lives in Alaska. Polar bears live near the North Pole. They Brown bears have the largest range of any are powerful hunters, eating mostly seals and kind of bear. They live in western North America, walruses. Because food can be scarce, they may parts of Europe, and much of northern Asia. not eat for four or five days at a time. Brown bears vary in size depending on where they live and what they eat. Fish, especially salmon, is a staple in the diet of many brown bears. The diet of a Asia Do You Know? grizzly bear is among Polar bears have black skin the most varied of any under their fur. The black skin North ★ living animal. Grizzlies Pole absorbs the sun’s energy and Greenland eat meat, fish, insects, helps keep the bears warm. Alaska eggs, berries, roots, leaves, and grass. Brown bears love salmon. Canada Asia Polar bears NorthNorth EuropeEurope live much of AmericaAmerica their lives on sea ice. N Bears • Level S 7 8 Giant Pandas American Black Bears As a symbol of conservation, the giant panda The American black bear—often black but is one of the most well-known animals in the sometimes lighter—has a light-colored muzzle. world. It is easy to recognize because of its thick Scientists recognize separate subgroups of black-and-white fur and distinctive eye patches. American black bears based on coloring. These include the cinnamon bear (reddish brown), the Giant pandas live in the forest-covered Kermode bear (white), and the blue, silver, or mountains of China. They feed almost exclusively glacier bear (bluish black or dark gray). on bamboo and are completely dependent on the health of bamboo forests in order to stay alive. American black bears inhabit much of the Giant pandas are extremely rare, with only about North American continent, from Alaska and 1,000 left in the wild. Canada to northern Mexico. Black bears are true omnivores, eating a wide variety of plants as well as honey, fish, insects, and dead animals. Do You Know? They are very good climbers. The giant panda has an extra “thumb” on each hand. It is not really a thumb, but instead a special wrist bone, covered with a pad, that helps the giant panda grasp bamboo stems. Alaska CanadaCanada China United India States N N No one is quite sure how pandas got American black bears are their black-and-white fur. curious and intelligent. Bears • Level S 9 10 Asiatic Black Bears Spectacled Bears The Asiatic black bear, sometimes called the Spectacled bears have brown or black moon bear, is black except for a light-colored shaggy coats and light markings on their muzzle and a light V-shaped patch of fur on its faces that sometimes look like eyeglasses, or chest. Another unique feature is its unusually spectacles. They are the only native bear in large ears. South America, living in forested mountains, grasslands, and coastal deserts. Like most bears, Asiatic black bears live in mountainous they are omnivores and will eat almost anything, regions of many Asian countries. They often including dead meat. They are particularly fond anger farmers by eating crops and killing sheep, of fruit, sugarcane, and corn. Spectacled bears goats, and cattle. These bears have a diverse diet often climb cacti to eat the fruit at the top. that also includes fruit, insects, and small animals. Do You Know? Each spectacled bear China has a unique pattern of eye markings on its face. India N South America The name moon bear comes from the patch of light N fur, shaped like a Spectacled bears have very crescent moon, on good eyesight—almost as if the bear’s chest. their “spectacles” were real! Bears • Level S 11 12 Sloth Bears Sun Bears The sloth bear is a type of small bear with a The sun bear is the smallest member of the long, shaggy coat and a lighter-colored face. It bear family. Mostly black, it gets its name from moves slowly and often hangs from tree branches, the light-colored patch of fur on its chest that is similarly to another mammal called a tree sloth. shaped like a rising sun. Sloth bears live in the forests and grasslands Sun bears live in lowland tropical rainforests of India and the neighboring island of Sri Lanka. in Southeast Asia. They feed on both plants and Their favorite food is termites. A sloth bear has animals. They have unusually long tongues to a long snout that it uses to suck out these insects help them remove insects from hard-to-reach from their nests. These bears also eat fruit, berries, places. Sun bears are sometimes called honey and honey. When feeding, they make a loud bears because of their fondness for honey. Sun sucking noise that can be heard from far away. bears like honey so much that they will brave angry bees to get it—and eat the bees, too! China China India India N N Sri Lanka Sloth bears can close their nostrils to better suck up termites.