Hippo's Wild World of Animals - Random Animal Facts

Spectacled bears are the only living bear resident to South America, its habitat is found across the Andean mountain range which includes Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia as well as Peru. Generally it resides within humid and wet forest areas high up in the mountains at between 1,000 and 2,700 metres above sea level.


The diet of a spectacled bear is typically omnivorous but much like the giant panda, most of it is vegetation with cactus, corn, sugarcane and honey making up the bulk of their diet though unlike the rebel bear, this one at least has the molars for it. The remaining five percent of their diet is made up of larger animals such as cattle, llamas and deer though those are rare with much smaller animals being common.


The name derives from their markings which in some members may resemble really oversized glasses frames though this isn't a common fur pattern, they are alternately known as Andean bears for this reason.


They're not too big as far as bears go, weighing around 80kg, stand at 75cm and have a length of 130cm fully grown. Their average lifespan isn't too bad clocking up 20 years in the wild and 30 in captivity.


Most people will probably know about Andean bears through the most famous of all, Paddington, the little be-duffled bear from deepest Peru with a penchant for marmalade sandwiches is a spectacled bear though, like the Tasmanian devil of last week, has very little visually in relation to the real deal. Like most other bears, it has been a prey animal for well to do folk with many being hunted way back when for sport, keeping as pets and good ol' traditional medicinal and spiritual woo. The main predator species for them is the human.