Ursus thibetanus, G. Cuvier, 1823

Jo, Yeong-Seok, Baccus, John T. & Koprowski, John L., 2018, Mammals of Korea: a review of their taxonomy, distribution and conservation status, Zootaxa 4522 (1), pp. 1-216 : 65-66

Ursus thibetanus G. [Baron] Cuvier, 1823 —Asian Black Bear

Ursus thibetanus G. Cuvier, 1823 p.325 ; Type locality- Assam, India; Won, 1968 p.276; Han, 1994 p.46; Won & Smith, 1999 p.17.

Selenarctos ussuricus Heude, 1901 p.2 ; Type locality- Ussuri , Russia.

S. thibetanus wulsini Howell, 1928 p.115 ; Type locality- Chihli , Hebei, China (not Chiri/or Jiri, Korea; often, Korean bear scientists confused Chiri with Chihli).

U. ussuricus: Kishida & Mori, 1931 p.379 .

U. thibetanus ussuricus: Kuroda, 1939 p.32 ; Won, 1958 p.440; Won, 1967 p.127; Won, 1968 p.277.

S. thibetanus ussuricus: Ellerman & Morrison-Scott, 1951 p.239 ; Yoon, 1992 p.98.

S. thibetanus: Oh, 2004a p.162 .

Range: Despite unofficial reports of Asian black bears, wild populations in South Korea can be considered extirpated. However, bear farms now exist throughout the country, and several bears from these farms escape every year. A restoration project with nonindigenous bears implemented in 2001 at Mt. Jiri National Park had limited success. A natural population of black bears existed on Mt. Myohyang in the 2000s and even the isolated and heavily human-populated Mt. Guwol had a population (W. Duckworth, IUCN, 2015, pers. comm.). Populations of black bears also reside in the Mt. Baekdu and Mt. Geumgang areas of North Korea ( Kim et al. 2015; Fig. 41 ).

Remarks: The subspecific name of black bears in the Korean Peninsula has traditionally been U. t. ussuricus Heude, 1901 , Ussuri black bear.

Conservation status: The South Korean Government designated the Asian black bear as a Natural Monument in 1982 and an endangered species in 1997. For the recovery project in South Korea, bears were released in 2001 from a bear farm near Seoul. These bears had a recall in 2004 due to a dispute about their origin. Since 2004, bears from a bear orphanage in Russia, bears from a bear farm in China, and bears from Pyongyang Zoo in North Korea have been released. According to genetic analysis, these three sources belonged to the same subspecies (U. t. ussuricus ) as the indigenous inhabitant of Korea ( Kim et al. 2011b). The NIBR (2012) considered South Korean populations as ‘Endangered’, and North Korea classified this species as ‘Vulnerable’. Ursus thibetanus is also protected by CITES Appendix I.

Figures

FIGURE 41. Range map of Ursus thibetanus in Korea.