They are not the teddy bears you played with as a child.
However, most of us will only see them in zoos, and these largest bear species in the world are definitely worth a visit.
You probably won’t find all bears in all zoos; Your best chance to see some bears may be in their birthplace.
tontantravel / Flickr
The sun bear is native to the tropical forests of Southeast Asia.
In Malaysia, it is known as the Malayan honey bear because of its love for the sweet sticky substance.
The sun bear is the smallest bear, weighing about 176 pounds and about five feet tall.
They have short black fur with light colored muzzles, with a white area extending above the eyes.
Chi King / Flickr
The giant panda is the cute and cute model.
It is roly-poly with a white face and body surrounded by black fur around the neck, legs and ears.
Unlike other bears, the panda is primarily vegetarian, with bamboo making up 99 percent of its diet.
The panda is native to the mountains of southern China, particularly Sichuan province.
These chubby bears have a girdle up to six feet in diameter and weigh up to 250 pounds.
The sloth bear, which evolved from the brown bear in the Pleistocene period, is native to the Indian subcontinent.
It is a nocturnal insect-eating bear with a lower lip designed to suck up insects.
The sloth bear is leaner than the Asiatic black bear, with longer fur, pale muzzles with bulbous snouts, and white claws.
They weigh up to 290 pounds and can be up to 6 feet tall.
They have been known to attack humans who invade their territory.
9. Asiatic black bear
Asiatic black bears are not very fond of humans, understandable since humans hunt them for body parts and traditional medicine.
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 Asiatic black bear is also known as the moon bear or white-breasted bear because of the V-shaped or crescent-shaped white fur on its chest.
They are a medium-sized bear (averaging 6 feet tall and 300 pounds) that resembles prehistoric bears.
8. The bear with glasses
The Spectacled Bear got its name because the rings around its eyes make it look like it is wearing glasses.
A medium-sized bear, the spectacled bear is the only bear native to South America.
Although considered a carnivore, meat makes up only about 5 percent of the spectacled bear’s diet.
Its fur is generally black, but can also be brown or reddish in color.
It can be found in the cloud forests of the Andes mountains, mainly in the northern and western regions of South America.
7. American black bear
The American black bear is the smallest bear species on the North American continent, but it is the most common found anywhere from Alaska to Florida and from California to the Maritime Provinces of Canada.
They prefer wooded habitat and sometimes associate with human communities due to the easy availability of food – they are scavengers.
The American black bear evolved from the sun bear 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 hair in various shades of brown.
The grizzly bear’s Latin name, Ursus horriblis, means “terrible gold.” The grizzly is also known as the silver-tipped bear, because of its gray-tipped hair, and sometimes as the North American brown bear, as it is the same species.
Whatever you call it, it’s wild and big—males weigh almost 800 pounds and stand more than 6 feet tall.
Grizzlies range in color from blonde to almost black, but are usually brown.
4. Ussuri brown bear
nAok0 / Flickr
The Ussuri brown bear is one of the largest brown bears, and is sometimes known as the black grizzly.
Their population is dwindling in northeastern China, where they are hunted for body parts, but they are considered national monuments in North Korea.
They have been known to attack and even kill humans, while they themselves have occasionally been turned into dinner by Siberian tigers.
3. Kamchatka brown bear
The Kamchatka brown bear, the largest bear in Eurasia, is primarily found in Russia’s Kamchatka region and surrounding islands, as well as Alaska’s Saint Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. It is a large bear, sometimes up to 9 feet and weighing almost 1,500 pounds.
It is believed to be the ancestor of the Kodiak bear.
They rarely attack humans, but are trophy bears for Russian hunters.
2. Kodiak Bear
The Kodiak bear, the world’s largest brown bear, is native to Alaska’s Kodiak Islands.
Big doesn’t begin to describe its size: some weigh 1,500 pounds and are almost 10 feet tall when standing, even though they eat the same foods as other brown bears.
They are usually brown, but may be golden; young bears have a white ring around their neck for several years.
1. Polar gold
The polar bear, along with the Kodiak bear, is the largest bear species in the world.
It is the same size as the Kodiak bear, except it is white instead of brown.
They are considered a vulnerable species as climate change is melting their habitat.