Asian black bear
| Asian black bear Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| At Wrocław Zoo, Poland | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Ursidae |
| Genus: | Ursus |
| Species: | U. thibetanus |
| Binomial name | |
| Ursus thibetanus G. Cuvier, 1823 | |
| Subspecies | |
|
7, see text | |
| Asian black bear range in 2016 | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Selenarctos thibetanus | |
The Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus), also known as the Asiatic black bear, moon bear and white-chested bear, is a medium-sized bear species native to Asia that is largely adapted to an arboreal lifestyle. It is distributed from southeastern Iran, Pakistan, India and the Himalayas to Mainland Southeast Asia, the Korean Peninsula, China and the Russian Far East to the islands of Honshū and Shikoku in Japan. It is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, and is threatened by deforestation and poaching for its body parts, which are used in traditional medicine.