These are not the teddy bears you played with as a child.
Most of us only see them in zoos, and these are some of the world’s largest bears that are worth checking out.
You may not find every bear in every zoo; Your best chance to see a bear is in its native state.
tontantravel / Flickr
The sun pea is native to the rainforests of Southeast Asia.
In Malaysia, it is known as Malayan honey because of its excellent sticky properties.
The sun bear is the smallest bear, weighing about 176 pounds and about five feet long.
They have short black fur and clear lips, with a white area extending above the eyes.
Chi King / Flickr
The giant panda is the epitome of cute and cuddly.
It is a roly-poly with a white face and body surrounded by black fur on its neck, legs and ears.
Unlike other bears, the panda is a 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 can reach six feet in diameter and weigh up to 250 pounds.
The sloth bear, which evolved from the brown bear during the Pleistocene, is a native of the Indian subcontinent.
Bears are nocturnal carnivores with a lower lip designed to suck insects.
The sloth bear is thinner than the Asiatic black bear, with long fur, pale lips and bulbous noses and white claws.
They can weigh up to 290 pounds and grow up to 6 feet tall.
They know how to attack people who invade their territory.
9. Asiatic black bear
Asian black bears are not very friendly to humans, which is understandable because people hunt them for body parts and traditional medicine.
It is found in the mountainous regions of Asia, from Taiwan and northeastern China to northern India and eastern Russia.
The Asian black bear is also known as the moon bear or light-bear because of its V-shaped and semi-translucent white fur on its chest.
It is a large bear (about 6 feet long and 300 pounds) similar to the old bears.
8. A visionary bear
The spectacled bear was named because the rings around its eyes look like wearing glasses.
A medium-sized bear, the saw bear is the only bear native to South America.
Although considered a carnivore, the polar bear makes up only 5 percent of its diet.
Its fur is usually black, but it can be brown or pink in color.
It is found in the cloud forests of the Andes mountains, mostly 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 anywhere from Alaska to Florida, from California to the Maritime Provinces of Canada.
They prefer to live in the forest and sometimes stick to human societies because of the ease of eating – they are scavengers.
The American black bear evolved from the sun bear thousands of years ago.
6. Eurasian brown bear
The Eurasian brown bear also known as the European brown bear is found in the mountainous regions of northern Europe, but south to the Pyrenees.
Most of the population is found in the forests of Siberia.
The bear sports long shaggy hair in various shades of brown.
The grizzly bear’s Latin name, Ursus horriblis, means “terrible bear.” The grizzly is also known as the silvertip bear because of its gray hair, and sometimes the North American brown bear, which is the same species.
No matter what you call them, they’re brutal and big – males weigh around 800 pounds and stand over 6 feet tall.
Grizzlies come in many colors from blond to almost black, but are mostly brown.
4. Ussuri brown bear
nAok0 / Flickr
The Ussuri brown is perhaps one of the largest brown bears and is sometimes called the black grizzly.
The population is declining in northeastern China where it is hunted for its body parts, but it is considered a national symbol in North Korea.
They are known to attack and kill people, sometimes they become food for Siberian tigers.
3. Kamchatka brown bear
The Kamchatka brown bear, the largest bear in Eurasia, is found in Russia’s Kamchatka region and surrounding islands and Alaska’s Saint Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. It can be a giant bear, sometimes standing up to 9 feet tall and weighing up to 1,500 pounds.
It is believed to be the ancestor of the Kodiak bear.
It’s a small civilian attack, but it’s a signpost for Russian fans.
2. Maybe Kodiak
The Kodiak bear, the largest brown bear in the world, is native to Alaska’s Kodiak Islands.
Big doesn’t begin to describe its size: some weigh 1,500 pounds and stand nearly 10 feet tall, even though they eat the same food as other brown bears.
Brown but golden; Young bears have a white ring around their neck for several years.
1. Polar bear
The polar bear, along with the Kodiak bear, is the largest bear species in the world.
It’s about the same size as a Kodiak bear, but it’s white instead of brown.
They are considered a vulnerable species because climate change can melt away their habitat.