The ‘tremactos ornatus’, better known as ‘Frontino’ Bear, Andean, ‘Careto’, ‘Enjaquimado’, ‘Piñuelero’, ‘Ucumari’, ‘Congo’ or ‘Real’ (names that do not have an equivalent in English),is the only variety of bear found in Latin America, where is considered the biggest mammal after the Tapir; one of the most charismatic and outstanding kinds found in the ‘Bosque de Niebla’ –fog forest-, a shy animal that runs away in the presence of a human being because he hunts it, destroying its natural environment. This animal climbs to the trees and constructs platforms with big branches and sleeps there. Up to date, this mammal is threatened of extinction due to the excessive trees cutting and to the hunting.

Physical Features:

The Spectacle bear is about 76 centimeters high and from 130 to 190 centimeters long; its weight varies between 80 and 175 kilos. The female is about 2 thirds of the male’s size.

The paws have been adapted to climb trees, and even though this animal belong to the carnivore order, it has become vegetarian and has suffered very noticeable changes in the teeth and digestive tract structures.
Its fur coat is black, with different white spots around the eyes, unique in each animal. It has a plantigrade foot, which means that when walking, the feet make contact with the soil in a similar way humans do.

Diet:

The Andean Bear is vegetarian, and 95% of its diet consists of palm nuts, orchid bulbs and native trees as ‘Bromelia’, ‘Yarumo’, ‘Siete Cueros’; and the other 5 % consists on insects, birds and rodents.

Since they are very agile, they can climb trees to look for their food, and have been observed above 15 meters. It is said that these animal climb to the ‘Palma de Cera’ –wax palm, to take the fruit bunches. However, it is clear that the most determining facts relative to food obtaining are related to geographic and weather availability.

Population and Distribution:

Spectacle Bears live preferably at the Fog Forest, nevertheless they have been found in altitudes that range from 200 to 4800 meters above sea level. The existence of less than 2000 free animals is possible in the Andean Forest of Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Equator, Peru, Bolivia, the South of Panama and the North of Argentina.

The area these animals live at could cover between 900 and 1000 hectares, directly related to the accessibility to food.

Reproduction:

The female is reproductive when she reaches the four years of age being sexual intercourse similar to the dogs and the gestation lasts about 5 and a half and 8 months. This is due to a phenomenon called ‘late implantation’, which consists in the intentional possibility, by the side of the female, to put the implanted egg in the uterus according to the nutritional offer.

The birth of the offspring takes place 6 weeks before the highest point in the fruit growing of the season. The inseminated egg can last from six to 10 weeks without being implanted in the uterus.
The birth of bear cubs is carried out in caves or roots. If, after pregnancy, there’s not enough food offer for the year, the female can reabsorb the inseminated eggs.

In captivity, offspring used to be one or two, and often have an average weight between 200 and 500 grams.

Mortality of Offspring:

the survival of bear cubs is not big in all the species. The babies are fed during 6 to 8 months and do not hibernate.

It has been estimated a period of 6 to 8 months follow-up to watch a free bear. These animals are extremely evasive, they can smell the presence of a human being from far distances and they hide in the deepest part of the forest.

“We must not forget the forests and drizzles. Besides being the habitat of the Spectacle Bear, they are strategic for the human being because they are water springs, raw material of our lives.”