• It is the only bear that is native to South America. The spectacled bear can be found in areas stretching from Venezuela to North Argentina, including Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.
• The bear gets its name from the whitish-yellowish rings around its eyes that look like spectacles! However, there are some spectacled bears without these markings around their eyes.
• These bears are very shy and prefer to live in cloud forests (moist tropical or subtropical forests with low clouds) on the slopes of the Andes mountains. They can live at a height of over 4,200 metres. That is about half the height of Mt. Everest.
• Spectacled bears are nocturnal, which means they are active at night and sleep during the day.
• They are agile climbers. They build platforms on trees using broken branches and sit there for days waiting for fruits to ripen.
• While they eat fruits, a variety of plants and even tree bark, they are also known to eat insects, small rodents and birds.

Read more about Shambu’s latest Peruvian adventure in Tinkle 776 W2!

Sources:
National Geographic
WWF