What gives the sun bear its name?

The orange or cream patch on its chest

Why can people tell individual sun bears apart?

Each has a different number of claws

Each has a different tail length

What did the 2019 study find sun bears copy?

Each other’s facial expressions

Where do sun bears often rest, sleep or sunbathe?

In trees, 2–7 m above the ground

In other animals’ burrows only

What do sun bears mostly eat?

Insects such as termites and ants, plus fruit

How do sun bears help the forest grow?

They spread seeds in their droppings

Sun bear

Helarctos malayanus

The sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) is the smallest of the world’s eight bears. It lives in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia, from north-east India and Bangladesh through Myanmar, Thailand and Indochina to Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo. It is named for the orange to cream patch on its chest. A skilled climber with long, curved claws and a very long tongue, it rips open trees and termite nests for insects and honey, and it also eats a lot of fruit.

Also known as Malayan sun bear, Beruang madu, Honey Bear

Sun bear abilities

20–25 cm longest tongue of any bear
The smallest bear has the longest tongue of all bears. It pushes it deep into holes in trees and insect nests to lick out honey, bee grubs and termites that its paws cannot reach.
- Stretched out to feed, the tongue is 20–25 cm long, about as long as a school ruler.
- Biologist Erik Meijaard noted that the bear can roll up the sides of its tongue, so it looks almost like a tube.
- In Malay and Indonesian the sun bear is called beruang madu, “honey bear”, because it eats honey from wild bees’ nests.
- Not every source agrees on the length: one bear-research group gives up to 46 cm, but most accounts say 20–25 cm.
Sources [2, 4, 6, 9]
≈70% of its food comes from animals, mostly insects
A sun bear smashes rotten logs and termite nests with its claws, then licks and sucks up the insects. Insects are its everyday food, and fruit is a treat when trees are ripe.
- It breaks a termite mound apart, holds pieces in its front paws and quickly licks the termites off.
- Bear researchers estimate its diet at about 70% animals (termites, ants, beetle grubs, bee grubs) and 30% plants.
- In Bornean forests, when fruit runs out, sun bears switch to eating even more insects.
- By eating termites and digging for grubs, it mixes the soil and keeps termite numbers down.
Sources [2, 4, 9]
≈10 cm claws that do the tearingStill debated
For its size, the sun bear has very big canine teeth and a strong bite. With its jaws and long claws it tears open hard tropical trees to get at bees’ nests and insects inside.
- Its teeth, especially the canines, are very large, and its bite is strong for such a small bear.
- Scientists are not sure why its bite is so strong. One idea is that it helps it break into hardwood trees for insects and honey.
- Its sickle-shaped claws are about 10 cm long and do much of the tearing.
- The holes it rips in trunks can later become nest holes for hornbills and flying squirrels.
Sources [2, 3, 4, 9]
1 of a kind every bear’s chest patch
No two sun bears have the same chest patch, and a bear keeps its pattern for life. That lets keepers and scientists tell individual bears apart, like reading a fingerprint.
- Most patches are a U or horseshoe, but some are round or just a few spots. They can be orange, yellow, cream or white, and a few bears have none.
- Young cubs have a dirty-white patch that changes as they grow.
- When threatened, a sun bear may stand up on its hind legs and show off its patch. It may make the bear look bigger.
- The trick has a limit: a bear with almost no patch, or none at all, is much harder to recognise this way.
Sources [1, 2, 3, 4, 9]
1 second to copy a playmate’s face
When sun bears play, one bear opens its mouth in a play face and its playmate often copies it within a second, even matching the exact version. Scientists had seen such exact copying only in humans and gorillas.
- Researchers filmed 22 rescued sun bears at the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre in Sabah, Malaysia, and studied 372 play bouts.
- Bears made two kinds of open-mouth face: one showing the upper front teeth, one without. When a bear copied, it matched the exact kind most of the time (82% and 72%).
- Bears made these faces mostly when the other bear was looking at them, a sign that they pay attention to their audience.
- The surprise: sun bears usually live alone. Limits: these were bears living in groups at a rescue centre, and some tests used only 10–12 bears.
Sources [7, 9]
2–7 m up a tree to sleep or sunbathe
A sun bear is built for trees: inward-turned front feet, powerful front legs, hairless soles and long hooked claws. It climbs to feed, rest and sunbathe high above the forest floor.
- It sleeps or sunbathes 2–7 m above the ground and can cling to a trunk for hours while it feeds.
- The Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre calls it the most tree-dwelling of all bears (the spectacled bear of South America is a close rival).
- Its small size and forward-facing eyes help as well.
- On the ground it often rests in fallen hollow logs or under roots, and in places with few people it rests on the ground more often.
Sources [1, 2, 3, 4, 9]
3 nests in one fruiting tree in Borneo
Sun bears build nests in the branches of trees. They use them to rest, sleep and sunbathe, sometimes right in the tree they are feeding in.
- In Central Borneo, researchers found three sun bear nests in the crown of one Canarium tree that had just finished fruiting.
- Claw marks on the trunk suggested that a single bear had spent several days there eating the fruit.
- The San Diego Zoo says wild sun bears build nests in branches for resting or sunbathing.
- Mothers give birth somewhere else: in a leafy nest on the ground, a hollow log or a hollow tree.
Sources [3, 4, 8, 9]
1,515 seeds in 21 droppings under one tree
Sun bears gobble fruit and swallow the seeds whole. The seeds pass through the gut and land in the bear’s droppings, sometimes far from the parent tree, where some grow into new plants.
- Under one Canarium tree in Central Borneo, researchers counted 21 droppings holding 1,515 big seeds, each about 18 mm by 16 mm.
- Seeds that landed further from the parent tree were more likely to survive. Other droppings lay 150–400 m away along forest trails.
- One dropping 150 m from a fruiting vine held 309 seedlings of that vine.
- The limit: seeds passed by the bears did not sprout much better than seeds picked from the tree (74% against 63%), and the authors say gibbons and hornbills may be better seed carriers.
Sources [1, 4, 8]

Tap a pin on the model or a part below.

- The patch that gives the bear its name. It is usually a U or horseshoe shape, but can be a circle or a few spots.
- Its colour ranges from deep orange to ochre-yellow, cream or even white, and a few bears have no patch at all.
- No two patches are the same, and a bear keeps its pattern for life, so people can tell bears apart by it.
Sources [2, 3, 4, 9]
20–25 cm when feeding
- The longest tongue of any bear: 20–25 cm when it is stretched out to feed.
- It reaches into tree holes and insect nests for honey, bee grubs, termites and ants.
Sources [4, 6]
- Its teeth are very large for such a small bear, especially the long canines at the front.
- Its bite is strong for its size. Nobody is sure why, but it may help it break open hard tropical wood to reach insects.
Sources [9]
- A short snout that is grey, silvery or faintly orange, in contrast to the jet-black head.
- The head is large and broad for the size of the body.
Sources [1, 9]
- Small and rounded, and small compared with its big head.
Sources [1, 9]
- Small eyes that face forwards. The San Diego Zoo lists them among the features that help a sun bear climb.
Sources [3]
≈10 cm long
- Curved like a sickle and about 10 cm long. The front claws are the longest and heaviest.
- They hook into bark for climbing and rip open trees and termite nests.
Sources [1, 3, 9]
- Big paws that turn inwards when the bear walks, a pigeon-toed walk that suits a life in trees.
- The soles have no fur, which may give a better grip on branches. Powerful front legs and a flattened chest help it climb too.
Sources [1, 3, 9]
- The shortest fur of any bear, which suits its hot forest home. It is usually jet black.
- The coat is still dense enough to protect against branches, falls and heavy rain.
- Its skin is loose: if an attacker grabs it, the bear can twist round inside its skin and bite back.
Sources [3, 9, 20]
3–7 cm long
- A tiny tail, just 3–7 cm long.
Sources [1, 2]

Real sun bears

Photos from Wikimedia Commons, from Thai and Bornean forests and from zoos. Two of them can repaint the 3D model.

A big, mottled chest patch and long, pale claws, in the rainforestPhoto: Chensiyuan, CC BY-SA 4.0
Orange chest patchA deep orange U on a jet-black chest, under a pale grey-tan muzzle.The look behind the name “sun bear”A deep orange chest patch on a female at Basel Zoo. Photo: Tambako The Jaguar, CC BY-SA 2.0
Cream chest patchMany patches are ochre-yellow, cream or almost white instead of orange.Same species, different patch colourA wild bear with a cream patch, Kaeng Krachan National Park, Thailand. Photo: Rushenb, CC BY-SA 4.0
Out walking in Kaeng Krachan National Park, ThailandPhoto: Rushen, CC BY-SA 2.0
That tongue! Reaching for a leafy snack at a zoo in the PhilippinesPhoto: Ninjakeg, CC BY-SA 3.0
Long, sickle-shaped claws and inward-turned front feet, Cleveland ZooPhoto: Becker1999 from Grove City, OH, CC BY 2.0
Hanging on with all those claws, Burgers’ ZooPhoto: Theo Kruse Burgers' Zoo, CC BY-SA 4.0
A Bornean sun bear on a fallen tree at Sepilok, SabahPhoto: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0
Play-fighting at Burgers’ Zoo: the kind of game where faces get copiedPhoto: jinterwas from Netherlands, CC BY 2.0

Sun bear by the numbers

Measured by zoos, universities and field researchers, with comparisons you can picture.

Weight: 25–65 kg; adults; males 10–20% bigger; About half the size of an American black bear, and the smallest of the eight bears⁠[9, 1, 3]
Length: 1.0–1.5 m; head and body; About as long as a 10-year-old is tall⁠[2, 9, 1]
Height: ≈70 cm; at the shoulder, on all fours; About as tall as a kitchen table⁠[1, 9]
Standing up: Up to ≈1.3 m; on its hind legs⁠[12]; Sun bear1.3 mGrizzly2.8 m
Tongue: 20–25 cm; when stretched out to feed; The longest tongue of any bear⁠[6, 4]
Claws: ≈10 cm; curved like a sickle; About as long as a grown-up’s finger⁠[3, 1]
Diet: ≈70% animal; mostly insects; the rest fruit and other plants⁠[2]; Animals70 %Plants30 %
Newborn: ≈300–325 g; born deaf, hairless and with eyes closed; Lighter than a can of beans⁠[1, 9]
Litter: 1–2 cubs; usually just one⁠[2, 3, 1]
Oldest: 36 years; in a zoo; Nobody knows how long wild sun bears live; perhaps 10–24 years⁠[2]

Sun bear myths and facts

Tap Myth or Fact for each claim, then check the answer.

0 of 8 answered

“Angela, the sun bear at Hangzhou Zoo that went viral in 2023, was really a person in a bear suit.”
“The sun bear is named after its love of sunbathing.”
“Every sun bear has the same chest patch.”
“Sun bears sleep through the winter like brown bears.”
“Sun bears live mainly on honey.”
“Sun bears can copy each other’s facial expressions.”
“The “honey bear” sold as a pet in the Americas is a small kind of sun bear.”
“A sun bear cub makes a good pet.”

A sun bear’s life

From a tiny, blind cub in a hollow tree to a grown bear ripping open logs.

Any month
Born in a hollow tree
Sun bears breed all year round. After a pregnancy of about 95–110 days, usually one cub is born, weighing about 300–325 g. It is deaf, hairless and has its eyes closed.⁠[2, 1, 9, 3]
About 25 days
Eyes open
The cub’s eyes open, but it cannot see properly until it is about 50 days old. Its hearing improves over the same weeks.⁠[9]
First months
Waiting at the tree roots
The mother keeps her cub on the big buttress roots at the foot of trees until it can walk and climb properly. She defends it fiercely.⁠[9]
4–5 months
Running and playing
The cub can now run and play, and follows its mother as she forages.⁠[3]
About 18 months
Weaned
The young bear stops drinking its mother’s milk.⁠[3]
2–3 years
On its own
The young bear leaves its mother. Sources give about two years to nearly three.⁠[3, 9]
2–4 years
Grown up
Sun bears are old enough to breed at two to four years.⁠[9, 1]
Later years
A long life
Wild lifespans are unknown, perhaps 10–24 years. In zoos sun bears often live over 20 years, and one reached 36.⁠[2, 9]

Sun bear vs Asian black bear vs sloth bear

Three Asian bears with black coats and pale chest marks. Here is how to tell them apart.

Sun bear vs Asian black bear vs sloth bear
	Sun bear	Asian black bear	Sloth bear
Where it lives⁠[9, 14, 15]	Tropical forests of Southeast Asia, Sumatra and Borneo	South and East Asia, from Afghanistan and the Himalayas to China and Vietnam	India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh
Chest mark⁠[9, 14, 15]	Orange to cream U, circle or spots; unique to each bear	A pale V	A pale U or Y
Coat⁠[9, 14, 15]	Short and sleek, the shortest of any bear	Long and coarse	Long and shaggy, especially over the shoulders
Weight⁠[9, 14, 15]	25–65 kg	Males 110–150 kg	Males 80–140 kg
Insect trick⁠[6, 14, 15]	Very long tongue licks out termites and honey	Mostly eats plants, plus some insects	Sucks termites out of nests with its snout and can close its nostrils
Winter⁠[1, 14, 15]	Active all year	Many hibernate	No hibernation

In Borneo and Sumatra the sun bear is the only bear, so a wild bear there is always a sun bear.

Sun bear records

Biggest, smallest, longest and shortest among the world’s eight bears.

Smallest bear
25–65 kg
Sun bear
About half the size of an American black bear.⁠[9, 8, 3]
Longest bear tongue
20–25 cm
Sun bear
Listed by Guinness World Records.⁠[6]
Shortest bear fur
Shortest of all bears
Sun bear
A sleek coat for a hot, wet forest.⁠[9]
Seeds in one feast
1,515 seeds
Sun bears under a Canarium tree, Borneo
In 21 droppings, after several days eating the tree’s fruit.⁠[8]

Is the sun bear endangered?

It is listed as Vulnerable. Its forests are being cut down, and bears are poached for their body parts and as pets.

IUCN Red List

Vulnerable (VU)

Nobody knows how many sun bears are left. Experts estimate that numbers fell by about 35% in 30 years, and a 2017 study warned that in island Southeast Asia, including Borneo and Sumatra, the fall could approach 50% between 2000 and 2030.⁠[11, 19, 9, 2, 10]

IUCN Red List: Vulnerable (assessment of 2017, still the listed category when checked on 30 October 2026). Also on CITES Appendix I since 1979, which bans international trade.

Threats

Disappearing forest≈22%
Forest loss between 2000 and 2014 may have cost the island populations about 22% of their bears. Even parks are not safe: 40% of Indonesia’s forest loss in 2000–2012 happened inside national parks and protected forests.⁠[10, 2]
Bile and body parts25% of shops
Gall bladders and paws are sold for traditional medicine and food. In Sabah and Sarawak, bear parts were on sale in 25% of 128 medicine shops surveyed in 2018–2019, and sun bears have been kept on bear-bile farms in Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar.⁠[9, 13, 18, 4]
Pet trade
Cubs are taken for pets, usually after the mother is killed. Many end up in small cages without proper care.⁠[4, 5, 1]
Snares3 of 5
Wire snares are common. In one radio-collar study, three of the five bears caught were missing paws.⁠[2]
Fires
Fires lit by people, worst in El Niño drought years, burn the forest and the fruit trees bears depend on.⁠[2, 9]

What’s helping

Rescue and return42 bears
The Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre in Sabah, founded in 2008 by Wong Siew Te, cares for 42 rescued ex-captive bears, many taken as cubs for the pet trade, plus three young bears at a camp in Tabin Wildlife Reserve. Its website lists 13 bears already released.⁠[5, 21, 9, 12]
Protected by law
Hunting sun bears is illegal in every country they live in except Sarawak (Malaysia) and Cambodia, and international trade is banned. The problem is enforcing those laws.⁠[9, 2, 3]
A plan for the whole range
Experts published a global sun bear status review and conservation action plan in 2019, covering the next ten years.⁠[9, 2]
Zoo breeding programmes
Zoos in North America and Europe have run breeding programmes for sun bears since 1994.⁠[9]

Sun bear quiz

12 questions. Every answer is somewhere on this page.

Question 1 of 12Score 0

Which is the smallest of the world’s eight bears?

Sun bear field notes

Diet, food web, safety and badges from the Snappit field guide.

Diet & Feeding

Sun bears are omnivores, eating everything from insects and honey to fruits and small animals.

Primary Foods

Honey
Termites
Fruit
Beetle larvae
Small vertebrates
Foraging Method: Foraging

Ecological connections

TigerEaten by
Adult sun bears are sometimes hunted by tigers.
Giant Honey BeeEats
Consumes honey and larvae from large nests.
Banyan FigEats
Feeds on ripe figs, dispersing their seeds.
TermiteEats
Digs into nests to consume termite larvae and adults.

Safety

Danger 3/5 · Moderate

Sun Bears are wild animals and should be admired from a distance.

Traits

Collections

Mammals

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Genus: Helarctos

Sources for these sun bear facts

21 studies and references · checked Oct 30, 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

How to identify Sun bear?

Compare ears, muzzle, tail, feet and coat markings. Size is hard to judge without something nearby for scale, and young mammals may not have adult coloring yet. Mammal Identifier: upload a photo and compare the visible details.

How long is Sun bear?

100-150 cm

How much does Sun bear weigh?

25-65 kg

How long does Sun bear live?

20-28 years

How fast can Sun bear move?

48 km/h

What does Sun bear eat?

Sun bears are omnivores, eating everything from insects and honey to fruits and small animals.

Where is Sun bear usually found?

Forests

How does Sun bear hunt?

Foraging

Why is it called the sun bear?

Because of the orange to cream patch on its chest. Its scientific name Helarctos also means “sun bear” in Greek.

Why is the sun bear called the honey bear?

In Malay and Indonesian it is beruang madu, “honey bear”, because it raids wild bees’ nests for honey. Be careful: the kinkajou of the Americas is also called a honey bear, but it is a raccoon relative, not a bear.

Where do sun bears live?

In tropical forests of Southeast Asia: north-east India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia (Sumatra and Borneo). A sighting in 2017 confirmed them in Yunnan, China. They have died out in Singapore.

What do sun bears eat?

Mostly insects, such as termites, ants, beetle grubs and bee grubs, plus honey and lots of fruit, especially figs. They sometimes eat small animals, and near farms they may raid oil palms, coconuts and bananas.

Are sun bears active by day or by night?

Mostly by day, but they can become more active at night in places where there are many people. Older accounts described them as nocturnal.

Are sun bears dangerous?

They usually avoid people and do not attack unless surprised, injured or protecting a cub. When surprised they can be fierce, and their claws and teeth are big, so always keep your distance.

Can you keep a sun bear as a pet?

No. Sun bears are protected by law in nearly all of their range, and cubs quickly grow strong and hard to handle. Catching a cub usually means killing its mother, which is one reason sun bears are Vulnerable.

How many sun bears are left?

Nobody knows. There are no reliable counts, but experts estimate the population fell by about 35% in 30 years, mainly because forests are cut down and bears are poached.