The Himalayan Mountains cut a broad swath across much of Central Asia, a relic of the
continent’s ancient collision with India, which sent up earth spiraling into the sky in an eruption of fire and soot that lasted several million years. Today, this region marks the highest place on Earth, from the formidable Hindu Kush in Pakistan to the sparsely populated Tibetan Plateau.
continent’s ancient collision with India, which sent up earth spiraling into the sky in an eruption of fire and soot that lasted several million years. Today, this region marks the highest place on Earth, from the formidable Hindu Kush in Pakistan to the sparsely populated Tibetan Plateau.
The Sun and Moon Bears of Southeast Asia
It’s here, in this isolated and rugged terrain, that Asiatic black bears – better known as moon bears – can be found. They get their lunar moniker from a crescent patch of white fur that girdles their chests in the shape of a sickle moon. During the summer, these bears climb high into the mountains and forage in areas newly vacated by snow, eating anything from berries and nuts to beehives and small mammals and birds. During the winter, they trek back down to the lower slopes to hibernate and escape the harsh cold.
In the lowland rainforests of Southeast Asia, in an altogether different environment of abundant light and rain, lives the sun bear, with honey-colored snouts and a golden ring of fur that resembles a rising sun. These are the smallest bears on Earth and are dexterous climbers, taking to the trees to forage for food, even constructing elevated bowers in the canopy to sleep in.
In the lowland rainforests of Southeast Asia, in an altogether different environment of abundant light and rain, lives the sun bear, with honey-colored snouts and a golden ring of fur that resembles a rising sun. These are the smallest bears on Earth and are dexterous climbers, taking to the trees to forage for food, even constructing elevated bowers in the canopy to sleep in.
Both the sun and moon bears are vulnerable to extinction from various human practices, from deforestation to hunting and, more recently, from bile farming. With South Korea set to host the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games next year, in which moon bears will serve as appealingly cute mascots, we would like to take a moment to review the current state of bear bile farming in Southeast Asia, focusing on the improvements that have been made and the work left to be done.
What is Bile Farming?
To begin with, the process of extracting bile from bears in Asia is by no means a new practice. There are accounts of bear bile being used as far back as 659 AD when it was first discovered that the substance had medicinal properties. Its main use today in Western medicine is in the treatment of liver disease and for dissolving gallstones, but in the Eastern pharmacopeia, it’s used to treat a variety of ailments, everything from hangovers to hemorrhoids.
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