The bare facts about bears

Text types: Information report, quiz

Toy teddy bears are soft and cute, but real bears are tough and powerful. There are eight kinds of bears: American black bears, Asiatic black bears, giant panda bears, polar bears, sloth bears, spectacled bears, sun bears and brown bears (which are also called grizzly bears). Koalas are not real bears. Would you like to know some facts about real bears? Then take the quiz below.

A quiz• A bear can be taller than the ceiling

of your classroom. True or false?

• All black bears are black. True or false?

• Although polar bears have white fur, their skin is black. True or false?

• Bears like to eat honey. True or false?

• Only bear cubs can climb trees. True or false?

Turn the page for the answers.

1. A bear can be taller than the ceiling of your classroom. True or

false? • True.

• Both brown bears and polar bears are very large. Brown bears (or grizzly bears) can be 12 feet tall when they stand on their hind feet. Polar bears can be more than 8 feet long.

• However, some bears, like sun bears, are very small. They can be shorter than you are.

2. All black bears are black. True or

false? • False.

• There are brown black bears, white black bears and even blue glacier bears.

• Brown bears are not always brown either. They can be a light creamy colour or even black.

3. Although polar bears have white fur, their skin is black. True

or false? • False.

• Their fur is not really white. The upper hairs are clear, while the hairs underneath are yellow or orange. But under the sunlight, the fur looks white. This camouflages polar bears against the snow.

• To draw as much heat as possible from the sun, their skin is black.

4. Bears like to eat honey. True or false? • True.

• Bears are very fond of honey. They will break open beehives with their strong paws. They don’t mind being stung by bees just to get the honey. They also eat grass, berries, apples, insects, fish, mice, ants and animals like sheep and deer.

• The most important thing to a bear is that there is plenty to eat. That’s why when someone is very hungry, we say he or she is “as hungry as a bear”.

5. Only bear cubs can climb trees. True or false?

• False.

• Black bears and other small adult bears can climb trees very well. Often, a mother bear will encourage her cubs to climb up a tree when there is danger. Bears also climb trees to hunt for food.

• However, big adult bears, such as grizzly bears, are too heavy to pull themselves up by their claws. They can weigh over 800 pounds!

The End

• www.bearden.org

• www.idahoptv.org/dialogue4kids/bears/index.html

American black bears, Asiatic black bears,

giant panda bears, polar bears, sloth bears,

spectacled bears, sun bears, brown bears

koalas

bear cubs

skin

a beehive

paws

berries

insects

claws

stung by a bee