30 Brand New Bear Coloring Pages – Free to Print and Color
Free Printable Bear Coloring Pages
Bears are large animals with short tails that mainly live in the Americas, Asia, and Europe. They are the largest of the carnivores, or flesh-eating land mammals. However, besides the meat-eating polar bears and the bamboo-eating panda bears, most bears are omnivorous (eating both plant and animal matter). Although bears have a reputation for being fierce and aggressive, they are more often peaceful and solitary creatures.
They usually gain weight in the autumn and sleep fitfully through much of the winter, but they do not truly hibernate. Despite their bulk, most bears climb with ease and swim strongly. There are eight living species of bears, which all belong to the family Ursidae. They include the American black bear, Asiatic black bear, brown bear (including the grizzly bear), giant panda, polar bear, sloth bear, spectacled bear, and sun bear.
Bears are found largely in northern temperate regions and are widely distributed in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. They are found farther north than any other mammal. The Arctic fox is found as far north on land, but the polar bear regularly roams on sea ice hundreds of miles (hundreds of kilometers) from shore. No bears live in the wild in Africa and Australia. (The koala “bear” of Australia is not really a bear; it is a marsupial, like kangaroos and opossums.) The spectacled bear of the South American Andes Mountains is the only species that lives south of the Equator. Bears live in a wide range of habitats, including mountain and lowland forests, tundra, grasslands, and swamps.
Adult bears present an imposing physical presence. All species have broad heads, extended jaws, massive frames, heavy paws, powerful claws, and shaggy coats. The polar bear is white; most other types are black, brown, or cinnamon in color.
