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Mystery Bears Of China

James_H

And I like to roam the land
Joined
May 18, 2002
Messages
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Not Winnie the Pooh. Well known bears of China include the panda (of course!), the brown bear (in various subspecies), the black bear, and the honey bear. It's worth noting that due to its extremely reclusive nature, the Panda has not always been believed in.

The Chinese White Bear or Baixiong

Another native of the Shennongjia forest in Hubei, where it presumably pals around with the Yeren. (Though I've heard that this forest is vast and unexplored, wikipedia puts it at 1,256 sq m, i.e. a little bit smaller than Essex).

Baixong (白熊) literally means 'white bear'. If it exists, it's thought to be a subspecies of the brown bear.

From Cryptid Wiki:

From Red China prior to 1960, only rumors circulated of the Shennongjia white bear called “bai-xiong” (白熊) by locals. Four were captured and displayed in Chinese zoos. The creature apparently roams the mountain forests of southeastern Hubei Province and is thought to be a brown bear (U. arctos). Interestingly, the Shennongjia's description is quite similar to British Columbia's white-colored subspecies of black bear, known as the Kermode (Ursus americanus kermodei).

Kermodes also roam in densely forested mountains. Dense forested mountains share the possibility to harbor these mystery bears.

Golden Moon Bear

This one comes with photos. I assume the photos come from Sy Montgomery, who wrote a book about these bears.

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From Cryptid Wiki:

The moon bear is a recognized species of bear that is native to Asia, also known as the Asiatic black bear. Scientists think that the moon bear is only distantly related to the American black bear (which is itself a close relative of the grizzly bear).

The Golden Moon Bear is something else. It might be a mere color phase of the regular moon bear, it might be a subspecies, or it might be a new species of bear altogether. The evidence gathered so far is not yet conclusive.

In the past, scientists were often fooled by color phases into declaring a new species or subspecies. Later, they would often discover animals of both color phases in the same litter, or they would find that color phases in that animal weren't tied to geographical regions.
 
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