Short-answer questions 4C

Interviewer:    So how many bears can we find today and are any of them in danger of extinction?

Alison:    Well I'll answer your first question first. There are eight species of bear in all; among them the American Black Bear and the Brown Bear - from which evolved the newest species of bear - the Polar Bear.

Interviewer:    So how old is the Polar Bear?

Alison:    Oh, he's a relative newcomer - just 20,000 years old.

Interviewer:    And could you tell us a little about them? Which is the largest bear, for instance?

Alison:    Well, the largest bear existing today is either the Polar Bear or the Brown Bear.

Interviewer:    Right ... Don't we know?

Alison:    Well, it depends which criteria you use. The Polar Bear is the heaviest; the male weighs up to 1,500 pounds but his narrow body actually makes him look smaller than the much more robust Brown Bear.

Interviewer:    So the Brown Bear appears the biggest.

Alison:    Yes.

Interviewer:    And the smallest?

Alison:    Well, the Sun Bear is the smallest of the eight species. They only weigh between 60 and 145 pounds.

Interviewer:    That makes him a comparative junior!

Alison:    Yes. And then next we have the so-called Giant Panda ... but that's a small bear too, comparatively speaking.

Interviewer:    And are all bears meat eaters?

Alison:    No, not at all. In fact the Giant Panda is almost entirely herbivorous living on a diet of 30 types of bamboo.

Interviewer:    Oh, yes of course. Pandas are famous for that.

Alison:    And another interesting bear is the Sloth Bear which eats insects, particularly termites. He can turn his mouth into a tube and suck the insects out of their nests.