Indore city zoo has made a new-record for the state by having the longest living Sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) in the country. If his health continues to be equally well over next month, 35-year-old Chotu is all set to break India’s record by being the longest living bear in the country under captivity.
City zoo will add this feather to cap by having the longest living sloth bear in the country next month as Chotu turns 36 and crosses the last set record by a bear in Bangalore, who passed away just around turning 36.
Though Chotu is living on ‘bonus period’ as usual lifespan of a sloth bear is 20 years. Lifespan further increases by a couple of years in captivity and rarely crosses 30s.
In the world, there are other species of bears like polar bear and black bear that have reported to live as long as 39 years. However, there are no records of sloth bears living so long and healthy.
The possible reason could be that sloth bears are generally found in India. The sloth bear is a myrmecophagous bear species native to the Indian subcontinent.
A couple of years’ back, a project to assess the health of wildlife in Bangladesh confirmed conservationists’ longstanding suspicions that sloth bears no longer exist in that country.
Talking about the bear, zoo in-charge Dr Uttam Yadav said, “It is quite amazing to see the bear living comfortably exception to his old age.” He added that Chotu suffers from vision issues and is generally lazy.
“He does not suffer from any health ailments, which is a blessing at his age,” Yadav said. Chotu was born in city zoo and has lived fairly well.
“Chotu weighs somewhere between 250 kg to 300 kg, which is normal for his age,” Yadav shared. Normally, during the prime in their life, sloth bears weight up to 500 kg.
“He is already the state’s longest living sloth bear, soon become to India and the world’s longest living sloth bear, but we need to work more on conservation and habitats for sloth bears in the country,” Yadav said
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Based on records and explorers, it is known that between 10,000 and 25,000 sloth bears remain. They are found primarily in enclaves and scattered across India, where between 6,000 and 11,000 of them live.
The number of sloth bears continues to fall because of poaching and habitat loss. Earlier, they were hunted out of many areas. Now they survive mostly in isolated enclaves.
In some part of India cubs are abducted for the dancing bear trade. Sloth bears many of the same areas as tigers and conservation efforts to help tigers have also helped sloth bears.