‘Sloth Bear can boost nature-based tourism potential like kangaroo of Australia’

KATHMANDU :  Rajan Prasad Paudel is Nepal’s noted researcher on sloth bear. Having earned his academic degrees from Nepal and Japan, he has collaborated with other coauthors to write research articles on sloth bear. He was the lead author of the research article titled ‘Habitat occupancy of sloth bear Melursus ursinus in ChitwanNational Park, Nepal’ which was published in Ecology and Evolution journal’s March 2022 issue. Talking to Birat Anupam of Nepal Press, Rajan Prasad Paudel has shared his academic and experimental insights on sloth bears of Nepal and around.

Among the various types of bears found in Nepal, you picked sloth bear from Nepal’s southern plains. Why so?

I was unaware of bears in Nepal for a long time until I started my studies and work in biodiversity research and conservation. During my entire undergraduate and graduate studies, all I learned was about tigers, rhinos, and leopards. I learned how Nepal is a leading example in their preservation, how kings turned from poachers into conservationists, established rhino sanctuaries, and used hunting tigers and rhinos as a diplomatic tool to safeguard their state and their power. Our textbooks, articles, and news are about charismatic species, which many consider cute and attractive. Only when I started my professional work life did I begin to explore more wildlife. I discovered news that while the world focused and rejoiced in recovering the giant panda in China, other carnivore species were declining, and the focus on single-species conservation was insufficient to protect the other associated species’ communities and ecosystems. I was wondering if the same was happening with wildlife in Nepal. While we focus on conserving Tigers in Terai and Him Chituwa in the Himalayas, we might be slowly losing other carnivores like hyena, dholes and small cats and bears.

At NTNC, my supervisor, Dr. Naresh Subedi, introduced me to Prof. Tsubota from Japan, who was working on bears. Relatively, there were more groups and researchers working on species other than bears. It provided me with a unique opportunity to explore this species. Asiatic black bears and brown bears were more common in Europe and America, while sloth bears were rare and endemic to the Indian sub-continent and Sri Lanka. Besides this, a few studies were already ongoing on Asiatic black bears. Brown bears in Nepal were only seasonally seen as they stayed in Tibet most of the time. Further, Chure and Terai landscapes were more related to my upbringing, and I was more comfortable working in these landscapes. So I decided to work on sloth bears and  was fortunate enough to receive a MEXT scholarship from the Japanese government to complete my Ph.D.

Sloth bears dwell around Chitwan, Parsa and Bardiya national parks. What sorts of conservation works are going on to their conservation?

Camera trapping and sign surveys are periodically being carried out in the park, which gives updates on the distribution of bears. This is vital by-catch information for bear conservation. Various conservation actions are being carried out, such as grassland management, but we do not have adequate information if these actions are benefitting bears or harming them. Awareness programs on human-wildlife conflict prevention are being carried out that address the sloth bear issues to some extent. Sloth bear-specific conservation actions are very rare. The conservation of sloth bears is incidental to the preservation of tigers and rhinos. Our conservation actions and priorities have not shifted much in the grounds.

Sloth bears endangered animal. What are the natural and human factors for this?

Globally and nationally, the population and its habitats are shrinking, which is the leading cause for its vulnerability. The major anthropogenic causes are habitat loss due to the expansion of agriculture, settlement, and developmental infrastructures. Sloth bears are the topmost species facing the greatest road expansion impact in South Asia. The capture of bear cubs and brutal training by tribal communities to use them as dancing bears for street entertainment used to be one of the major threats. Still, bears are killed for their bile, and there are other superstitions related to bears and their parts consumption that trigger poaching. Further, humans frequently enter the forests to collect wild fruits, honey, and other forest resources that disturb sloth bear habitat.

Sloth bears have existed in small and isolated patches. Continuous breeding among related individuals leads to the deterioration of genetic health, ultimately contributing to a decline in their fitness to survive. Sloth bear habitat across their range is experiencing changing land use, land cover, and climate. With changing temperature and precipitation regimes, vegetation structure and composition change, and plants and insects shift their distribution range, directly impacting sloth bears. Changing water tables, decreasing grassland habitats, and increasing invasive species may also impact sloth bears. Tigers are the only potential predators of sloth bears. An increase in the tiger population across their distribution range may have caused a decline in the sloth bear population.

Termite, honey and wild fruits are major foods for sloth bears. It doesn’t eat meat by hunting. Still, there are reports of bear-human conflicts. Why such events are occurring?

Unlike other omnivore bears, sloth bears have more insectivorous and seasonally frugivores. They do not kill to eat meat, but still, the conflict is occurring. We should be clear that in most cases (except some man-eater tigers), animals do not consider humans as natural prey, and they do not intend to kill or attack unless they feel threatened and feel the need to defend themselves.

The majority of human-sloth bear conflicts result in serious or minor injury to humans involved. These conflicts occur because many humans living around the park frequently visit the park for collection of forest resources, during which sudden encounters with bears lead to injuries and fatalities. Human casualties are the dominant form of human-sloth bear conflict, accounting for more than 95% of all recorded conflict cases. Livestock loss accounted for less than 5 % of the total cases of human-sloth bear conflict in Chitwan.

Most conflicts with sloth bears occur when people are not alert enough and are engaged in activities like collecting wild vegetables, fodder, and fuelwood. Attacks occur due to poor visibility and high shrub cover along forest paths. Another reason is that sloth bears are naturally aggressive, and their aggressiveness increases during their reproduction and when females have cubs. The majority of attacks occur when a female tries to defend their cubs. Many victims (>60%) say that when the bear attacked them, they saw more than one bear in the area. As habitats have become fragmented and the population around parks is increasing, there are frequent encounters between bears and humans. Since there are no strict fences or boundaries between the park and human agriculture, land bears often venture outside of the park boundary. The migration of youth and the increasing trend of leaving barren lands may have further facilitated the movement of bears outside their core area and increased the chances of encounters and conflicts.

Sloth bears are found in Nepal, India and Sri Lanka. However, in the global discourse of sloth bear, India is mentioned most of the time. Why so?

Pioneer academic research and information on sloth ecology and behavior ear was done in Nepal in the late 70s by Laurie and Seidensticker and in the late 90s by Joshi and Garshelis. Many authors acknowledge this information on sloth bears from Nepal. However, there have been very few follow-up studies in Nepal compared to India. The media covered Sloth bears, and their appearance in the jungle book as Baloo popularized it as a product of India. Further, many sloth bears kept in zoos outside have been taken from India, popularizing it as occurring in India. Sloth bears were first described from India, and most of the distribution range and population is in India. In addition, this may also be driven by the strong scientific institutions backed up by India’s high political and economic influencing status.

Sloth bear carries baby in its back for almost seven to nine months something akin to kangaroo. Female sloth bear expecting baby stays in cave. Sloth bear doesn’t have teeth in its front. Besides, what are the other interesting features of sloth bears?

Indeed, if we look closely at nature, we will see many fascinating and unique things. Generally, all the bear species are considered omnivores, but sloth bears have a unique feeding habit. It’s fascinating to know that the giant body of sloth bears results from consuming tiny little insects, mostly termites and ants. My study found that 90% of its diet comprises termites and ants. How many numbers of termites and ants would a bear consume in a month, can you imagine? Their nose has few hairs and it can open and close the nostrils as needed to help keep the insects crawling up inside the nose while slurping the ants and termites. Other than insects, they love to eat wild fruits. They are said to get intoxicated by consuming fruits like Mauha, similar to that of African elephants getting drunk by feeding on Marula fruits. They do not hunt to eat meat as other carnivores like tigers or leopards. But there was an interesting case of a sloth bear killing around 90 goats in Madi Valley, Chitwan. Such behavior is rare. A few times sloth bears are reported to consume carrion left by other predators. They are very good climbers and love to eat honey. Infantiside is often common in bears, and reported for sloth bears.

Sloth bear has average age of 40 and average weight of 80. Few months ago, while talking to journalists at Sauraha of Chitwan, you had talked about tourism potential of sloth bear in Nepal something similar to what Australia is doing from Kangaroo. How can we add tourism value to the sloth bear?

The Australian government is very strict about preserving its native flora and fauna. Kangaroos and koalas are very popular and promoted as symbols of Australia. The distribution, habitat, and behaviors of these species have been very well understood, and their unique features have been promoted in the tourism industry. Tourists can go on a Kangaroo safari, walk in the bushes to see Kangaroos or visit parks, rescue centers, and zoos where they have been kept in almost natural habitats. Sloth Bear provides a similar avenue for reaping benefits from nature-based tourism. Hotspots of sloth bear movements and den sites should be identified, and sloth bear trails should be located. Nature guides and tourism entrepreneurs should promote sloth bear viewing, walking, tracking, and other innovative ideas as tourism products. I have seen tourists satisfied after viewing sloth bears, even if they have not seen other wildlife. Injured, conflict-causing bears can be kept in a bear sanctuary and promoted as an educational and tourism center. Diversification of tourism services, innovative ideas and entrepreneurship is essential. Sloth Bear can boost nature-based tourism potential like kangaroo of Australia. Promoting sloth bear tourism would help spread the benefits of tourism beyond Chitwan for communities along the Churia landscape. I think this will take good investment and time. Current investment on sloth bears conservation is almost nil, very unsatisfactory. Its conservation is incidental to conservation efforts undertaken for other species like tigers and rhinos. Sloth bears need to be brought out of the shadow of tiger conservation.

What are climate-related impacts on sloth bear?

Exact evidence of climate change impacts on sloth bears is unavailable as there have been limited studies. However, ample evidence suggests climate change impacts other bear species, such as the decline in ice cover and melting ice impact polar bears. Sloth bear habitats are expected to be affected by climate change. Grassland habitats are shrinking, and the impact of the spread of invasive species is increasing. Similarly, there are few specific studies on bear-specific fruit trees, but these are likely to shift their distribution ranges and fruiting timings. Similarly, the availability and abundance of termites and ants may change in response to changing temperature and moisture regimes. Modeling their occurrence in different scenarios of changing climate shows that their current protected area boundary may not be adequate to conserve sloth bears. More suitable habitats would be outside this PA boundary, where they must tackle increasing human pressure. Hibernation in bears is triggered by environmental cues; as climate warms and the weather becomes unpredictable, this behavior may change. Although sloth bears are not true hibernators, changing climate can impact their denning behavior. Sloth bears may go late into their dens and emerge faster and spend more time moving. Climate change-induced human-bear conflicts may rise in the future.

Lastly, anything you want to add?

For many households living near the forest, bears are a threat. I want to remember and thank all the parks staff, forest rangers, and community leaders who continuously work at the grassroots to minimize these threats, create opportunities for local communities, and promote harmonious human-wildlife co-existence.