Pop quiz: Can you name the world’s eight bear species? (Answer: American black, Asiatic black, brown, polar, panda, sun, sloth, and Andean. Gummy and Care are not acceptable answers.) Six of those eight are under threat of extinction, as the sun bear today joined four of its bear-ethren in the “vulnerable” classification on the World Conservation Union’s Red List of Threatened Species. The giant panda is listed as endangered on the list, while the brown bear and American black bear are classified as “least concern.” Says Simon Stuart of the Union, “The fact that six of eight bear species are under threat is bad news for species that are generally resilient and hang on under human pressure.”
