Asian black bear
Ursus thibetanus G. [Baron] Cuvier, 1823
The Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus), also called the moon bear, is a mammal in the bear family Ursidae, order Carnivora. It is a large, terrestrial, diurnal herbivore of forest habitats, with a representative adult body mass of 77.5 kg and values reported up to 99.71 kg.
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Quick facts about the Asian black bear
Gestation lasts 213.1 days, a litter has 1.67 young, and sexual maturity comes at 2.9 years. The IUCN Red List classifies the Asian black bear as Vulnerable, a threatened category.
- Weight
- 77.5 kg – 99.7 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 37.4 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 39.2 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- forestsrc for Habitat
- Gestation
- 183 days – 244 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1.67src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 2.78 years – 3 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1.1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- By day (diurnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Vulnerable (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the Asian black bear
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the Asian black bear live?
Not recorded
What is the Asian black bear?
The Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus), also known as the Asiatic black bear, moon bear and white-chested bear, is a medium-sized bear species native to Asia that is largely adapted to an arboreal lifestyle. It is distributed from southeastern Iran, Pakistan, India and the Himalayas to mainland Southeast Asia, the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, China and the Russian Far East to the islands of Honshū and Shikoku in Japan. It is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, and is threatened by deforestation and poaching for its body parts, which are used in traditional medicine.
From the Wikipedia article “Asian black bear” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Asian_black_bear&oldid=1377664708), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the Asian black bear endangered?
The Asian black bear is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List: it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Vulnerable species. What the categories mean.
How is the Asian black bear classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderCarnivora
- familyUrsidae
- genusUrsus
- SpeciesUrsus thibetanus G. [Baron] Cuvier, 1823
Synonyms Selenarctos thibetanus, Ursus thibetanus ussuricus
Other names and names in other languages (108)
- Asiatic black bearEnglish
- Asiatic black bearEnglish
- Himalayan black bearEnglish
- Moon bearEnglish
- White-chested bearEnglish
- Asiatiese SwartbeerAfrikaans
- دب أسود آسيويArabic
- ক’লা ভালুকAssamese
- Asiya qara ayısıAzerbaijani
- آسیا قارا آییسیazb
- Белагруды мядзведзьBelarusian
- Тибетска мечкаBulgarian
- Хималайска мечкаBulgarian
- Азиатска черна мечкаBulgarian
- এশীয় কালো ভাল্লুকBangla
- tumazbnn
- Arzh du AziaBreton
- Ós d'ÀsiaCatalan
- Os del TibetCatalan
- Medvěd ušatýCzech
- KravebjørnDanish
- MondbärGerman
- Asiatische SchwarzbärGerman
- KragenbärGerman
- Heşa Asyatika siyaZaza
- Kragaty mjadwjeźLower Sorbian
- Μαύρη ασιατική αρκούδαGreek
- Azia nigro ursoEsperanto
- Oso de CollarSpanish
- Oso Negro de AsiaSpanish
- KaeluskaruEstonian
- Asiar hartz beltzBasque
- خرس سیاه آسیاییPersian
- SepelkarhuFinnish
- Aasian mustakarhuFinnish
- KauluskarhuFinnish
- Ours-luneFrench
- Ours à collierFrench
- Ours à collier du TibetFrench
- Ours de l'HimalayaFrench
- Ours du TibetFrench
- Ours noir d'AsieFrench
- Béar dubh ÁiseachIrish
- Aziya kara ayısıGagauz
- Oso tibetanoGalician
- דוב שחור אסייתיHebrew
- एशियाई काला भालूHindi
- Mjesečev medvjedCroatian
- WuwlakUpper Sorbian
- örvös medveHungarian
- Հիմալայան արջArmenian
- Beruang bulanIndonesian
- Beruang dada putihIndonesian
- Beruang-hitam asiaIndonesian
- Orso della lunaItalian
- Orso dal collareItalian
- Orso nero asiaticoItalian
- ツキノワグマJapanese
- ჰიმალაიური დათვიGeorgian
- ខ្លាឃ្មុំធំKhmer
- 반달가슴곰Korean
- 아시아흑곰Korean
- Азияись сьӧд ошKomi-Permyak
- Himalajinis lokysLithuanian
- Āzijas melnais lācisLatvian
- कारी भालुMaithili
- Baribeh itam asiaMinangkabau
- Азиска црна мечкаMacedonian
- Азийн хар баавгайMongolian
- Ази шим мӧскӓWestern Mari
- Beruang Hitam AsiaMalay
- ဟိမဝန္တာ ဝက်ဝံBurmese
- MånebjørnNorwegian Bokmål
- Asiatisk SvartbjørnNorwegian Bokmål
- KragebjørnNorwegian Bokmål
- Tibetansk SvartbjørnNorwegian Bokmål
- हिमाली कालो भालुNepali
- KraagbeerDutch
- Aziatische Zwarte BeerDutch
- Niedźwiedź himalajskiPolish
- ایشیائی کالا رچھWestern Panjabi
- آسيايي تور اېږPashto
- Urso-Negro-AsiáticoPortuguese
- Urs guleratRomanian
- Белогрудый медведьRussian
- Гималайский медведьRussian
- medveď ušatýSlovak
- Ariu i zi aziatikAlbanian
- Азијски црни медведSerbian
- Biruang-hideung AsiaSundanese
- KragbjörnSwedish
- ஆசியக் கறுப்புக் கரடிTamil
- หมีควายThai
- Asya Kara AyısıTurkish
- Азиысь сьӧд гондырUdmurt
- ئاسىيا قارا ئېيىقUyghur
- Ведмідь гімалайськийUkrainian
- ایشیائی کالا ریچھUrdu
- Osiyo qora ayigʻiUzbek
- Gấu ngựaVietnamese
- Oso nga Asyano nga itomWaray
- 亚洲黑熊Wu Chinese
- 月熊Chinese
- 亞洲黑熊Chinese
- 月牙熊Chinese
- 狗熊Chinese
- 黑熊Chinese
- 黑瞎子Chinese
Relatives of the Asian black bear
Other species in the same genus Ursus.
Polar bear
Ursus maritimus
Brown bear
Ursus arctos
American black bear
Ursus americanus
Cave bear
Ursus spelaeus
CompareAsian black bear vs Polar bearAsian black bear vs Brown bearAsian black bear vs American black bearAsian black bear vs Cave bear
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
How heavy is the Asian black bear?
The Asian black bear has a representative adult body mass of 77.5 kg, with values reported up to 99.71 kg.
What does the Asian black bear eat?
The Asian black bear is a herbivore.
Is the Asian black bear endangered?
The Asian black bear is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, which is a threatened category.
How long does the Asian black bear live?
The Asian black bear has a lifespan of 37.42 years, with values reported up to 39.2 years.
How many young does the Asian black bear have?
The Asian black bear has 1.67 young per litter and 1.1 litters per year, after a gestation of 213.1 days.
What kind of animal is the Asian black bear?
The Asian black bear is a mammal in the bear family Ursidae, within the order Carnivora.
What habitat does the Asian black bear live in?
The Asian black bear lives in forest habitats and is terrestrial and diurnal.
Who named the Asian black bear?
The Asian black bear was named Ursus thibetanus by G. [Baron] Cuvier, 1823.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/asian-black-bear
“Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/asian-black-bear.
@misc{asian_black_bear_2026,
title = {Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/asian-black-bear},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}