Helarctos malayanus (Sun bear) - International Association for Bear Research and Management (2024)

Threats to sun bears include habitat loss, alteration, and fragmentation; illegal hunting and commercial trade; and mortalities related to human–bear conflict. The contribution of these threats to population declines is difficult to measure and likely varies by region. Loss of habitat can be somewhat quantified by loss of tree cover within sun bear range, which has undergone a higher rate of forest loss in the last 30 years than any other region [59]. In insular Southeast Asia most forest has been lost to plantations (e.g., oil palm, rubber) and unsustainable and/or illegal logging [39, 40, 60]. Protected areas are not exempt: in Indonesia 40% of the forest lost during 2000–2012 occurred within national parks and protected forests [61]. Likewise, in Kalimantan, Borneo, 56% of protected lowland forests were cleared between 1985 and 2001 [62]. Human-caused fires throughout the insular region are also diminishing habitat quality for sun bears, especially in Malaysia and Indonesia. Fires are most extensive during El Niño-related droughts.

Forest loss leads to fragmentation of sun bear range and has likely caused the isolation of many populations. Isolated populations may be prone to higher rates of mortality because of a variety of inter-related factors that reduce access to resources and increase risk of mortality [63, 64]. Bear populations at very low densities or within small patches of habitat have to rely on the ability to move between patches for access to food and mates [63, 65], and sun bear tolerance to moving through degraded habitat is poorly understood. The bears’ ability to travel long distances may be extremely important during periods of low food availability when they may have to travel further to meet food requirements, as can happen in insular Southeast Asia during periods of prolonged drought related to El Niño weather events [32, 56].

Illegal hunting and commercial trade in sun bears and their parts causes an unknown but potentially severe impact on sun bear populations [58, 66, 67]. Commercial poaching of sun bears is considered a moderate to major threat in all range countries except Brunei [22, 53]. Recent country-level studies cite poaching as a major driver of population declines in Thailand, Northeast India, Lao PDR, and Vietnam [31, 68, 69, Steinmetz and Ngopraserth, unpublished data]. Poaching with wire snares is common throughout most of sun bear range. In northeastern Lao PDR, hunters use a snaring method that specifically targets bears and threatens to wipe out local populations. Farmers affected by wildlife crop damage set snares around the perimeter of crop fields and in some instances catch bears [70]. In Peninsular Malaysia camera traps frequently recorded bears with missing paws, and in one of the few radio collaring studies focusing on sun bears three out of five captured bears had missing paws [6]. Enforcement of domestic and international wildlife laws is severely lacking in most areas and fails to deter illegal bear trade [58, 67]. The value of bile and paws on the illegal wildlife market has increased steadily over the past two decades [71]. In areas of high poverty, hunters stand to earn far more than their annual salary gained from agricultural yield by trading bears and their parts [50].

Aside from commercial trade, motivations for killing sun bears include protecting crops and livestock [7, 8, 50], subsistence use, consumption of wild meat [72], and fear of bears near villages. Bears live close to humans throughout much of their range, and human-caused habitat fragmentation typically means humans have increased accessibility to sun bear habitat, leading to increased hunting as well as further human development (i.e., roads, hunting, agriculture, logging) and a higher likelihood of bears coming into conflict with humans [73]. Incidences of sun bears attacking humans are low and usually happen as an act of self-defense—under normal circumstances the bears choose to avoid humans.

Lorraine Scotson – PhD, University of Minnesota

Gabriella Fredriksson – PhD, University of Amsterdam

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