BEARS

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BEARS

THE BEARS

"To enter the domain of another dominant creature, the bear, has the power to humble us and open our minds to the wonderment of our world."

or if you prefer, a ROARING ( ) welcome!

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This web site is dedicated to the following goals:

contributing to a comprehensive understanding of all members of the URSIDAE (bear) family;
allowing visitors to share in a visual and written celebration of the wonder we experience in the presence of bears; and

supporting the successful cohabitation of bears and humans upon the earth.

Be sure to scan this entire page to see the wealth and depth of information now available to you!

Young Readers Visit THE CUB BEARS To Learn About Bears

THE CUB BEARS, a website for young readers, is a companion site to The Bear Den. Recognizing that many visitors are young readers, this companion website encourages younger children to find out more about bears.. The age-appropriate site contains Ten Facts About Bears; Amazing Facts About Bears; and Books for Young Readers. To take a tour, go to THE CUB BEARS.

* Denver Zoo Names New Polar Bear Cubs *

Zookeepers at the Denver Zoo have just announced the names for the two new polar bear cubs born at the zoo. The male cub has been named Ulaq, the Inuit name meaning ``morning'' which is when Ulaq was born. The female cub has been named Berit to honor the great granddaughter of the Denver Zoo's first donor. There had been speculation that both cubs would receive Inuit names. They were born to Ulu last month and have been the main attraction at the zoo since their birth. Zoo officials hope the new cubs will be as famous as Klondike and Snow, former polar cubs born at the Zoo who now reside at a tourist park in Orlando, Florida.

* San Diego Zoo Expands Giant Panda Project *

The San Diego Zoo has established a joint working arrangement with the Mexico City Zoo in an attempt to save the giant panda. Dr.Don Lindberg, the Zoo's giant panda research head, says both zoos have committed themselves to trying to significantly increase the captive population of giant pandas. The Mexico City Zoo presently has four giant pandas. This spring, zookeepers with the San Diego Zoo will assist in the artificial insemination of one of the four Mexican pandas. Last year, the San Diego Zoo researchers were unsuccessful in their efforts to artificially inseminate a female giant panda they currently have on a 12-year research loan from China.

According to taxonomic criteria, bears are classed as follows:

kingdom - Animalia

phylum - Chordata

class - Mammalia

order - Carnivora

family - Ursidae (the Latin word for bear)

Both the evolution of bears and the common species characteristics by which we can describe the modern archetypal bear have been areas of intense study by researchers for many years. Several of the original bear species have become extinct over the past several millennia. With the exception of Africa, Australia and Antarctica, bears once roamed widely throughout all of the other major land masses of the world.

At present, there are eight different species or genus of bears. They include:

Brown and Grizzly Bears (Ursus arctos)