They’re not the teddy bears you played with as a kid.
However, most of us usually only see them in zoos, and these world’s largest bears are definitely worth a visit.
You probably won’t find all the bears in all zoos; Your best chance of seeing some bears may be in its homeland.
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Sun bears are native to the tropical forests of Southeast Asia.
In Malaysia, it is known as the Malayan honey bear because it likes sweet sticky substances.
Sun bears are the smallest of the bears, weighing about 176 pounds and standing about 5 feet tall.
They have short black fur with a light snout, with a white area extending above the eye.
Chi Vuong / Flickr
Giant pandas are the epitome of cuteness and cuddling.
It has a roly-poly-like appearance with a white face and body surrounded by black fur around its neck, legs, and ears.
Unlike other bears, pandas are essentially vegetarians, with bamboo making up 99% of its diet.
Pandas are native to the mountains of southern China, especially Sichuan province.
These chubby bears grow up to 6 feet in diameter and weigh up to 250 pounds.
The sloth bear, which evolved from the brown bear during the Pleistocene, is native to the Indian subcontinent.
It is a nocturnal insectivorous bear with a lower lip designed to suck on insects.
Sloth bears are longer than Asian black bears, with longer fur, pale snout with bulging muzzle, and white claws.
They weigh up to 290 pounds and can grow up to 6 feet tall.
They have been known to attack people who encroach on their territory.
9. Asian black bear
Asian black bears are not very fond of humans, which is understandable since humans hunt them for body parts and traditional medicines.
They are found in the mountainous regions of Asia, from Taiwan and northeastern China to the northern Indian subcontinent and the Russian Far East.
The Asian black bear is also known as the moon bear or white breasted bear because of its white V-shaped or semicircular fur on its chest.
They are a medium-sized bear (average 6 feet tall and 300 pounds) that resembles a prehistoric bear.
8. Bear wears glasses
The bear with glasses got its name because the rings around its eyes make it look like it’s wearing glasses.
A medium-sized bear, the bespectacled bear is the only bear species native to South America.
Although considered a carnivore, meat makes up only about 5% of a bear’s diet.
Its coat is usually black, but can also be brown or red.
It can be found in the cloud forests of the Andes, mainly in the northern and western regions of South America.
7. American Black Bear
The American black bear is the smallest bear on the North American continent, but is commonly found anywhere from Alaska to Florida and from California to the maritime provinces of Canada.
They prefer forest habitats and are sometimes attached to human communities because of their easy access to food – they are landfill scavengers.
American black bears evolved from sun bears thousands of years ago.
6. Eurasian brown bear
The Eurasian brown bear is also known as the European brown bear, where it can be found in the mountainous regions of northern Europe, but as far south as the Pyrenees.
The largest population can be found in the forests of Siberia.
The bear has long shaggy fur of various shades of brown.
The Latin name of the grizzly bear, Ursus horriblis, means “terrified bear”. The grizzly bear is also known as the silver bear because of its gray head fur, and is sometimes called the North American brown bear, because it is of the same species.
Whatever you call it, it is fierce and large – the males weigh almost 800 pounds and are over 6 feet tall.
Grizzlies range in color from yellow to almost black, but are usually brown.
4. Ussuri Brown Bear
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The Ussuri brown bear is one of the largest species of brown bear and is sometimes called the black grizzly bear.
Their numbers are declining in northeastern China, where they are hunted for their body parts, but they are considered a national monument in North Korea.
They are known to attack and even kill people, while they themselves are occasionally turned into dinner by Siberian tigers.
3. Kamchatka brown bear
The Kamchatka brown bear, the largest bear species in Eurasia, is primarily found in the Kamchatka region of Russia and its surrounding islands as well as Alaska’s Saint Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. It was a large bear, sometimes up to 9 feet tall and weighing almost 1,500 pounds.
It is believed to be the ancestor of the Kodiak bear.
They rarely attack humans, but are the spoils of Russian hunters.
2. Kodiak Bear
The Kodiak bear, the world’s largest brown bear, is native to the Kodiak Islands of Alaska.
Big doesn’t begin to describe its size: some weigh 1,500 pounds and are nearly 10 feet tall when upright, even though they eat the same food as other brown bears.
They are usually brown but can be yellow; Young bears have white rings around their necks for several years.
1. Polar bear
Polar bears, along with Kodiak bears, are the largest bear species in the world.
It is the same size as the Kodiak bear, only white instead of brown.
They are considered vulnerable species as climate change is melting their habitat.