How Many Different Bears Are There In The World?

Answer 1

There are 8 species currently accepted as bears: North America has American black bears, polar bears, and brown/grizzly bears (which are also in Europe and Asia). South America has only spectacled bears. Asia has sun bears, Eurasian black bears (locally called moon bears), sloth bears, and panda bears. In the past, there has been debate over whether pandas were bears or should be split out, but currently they are considered bears. Brown bears used to live in the Atlas mountains of northern Africa centuries ago, but in modern times no bears live in Africa. Australia has koala bears, but they are marsupials, not true bears.