Introduction
Sloth bears are mostly found in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Indian subcontinent. Their inhabitation ranging from the foothills of the Himalayas to the southern end of the Western Ghats mountain range in India as well as in the island of Sri Lanka (Prater, 1965). The number of Sloth bear distributed in the Indian peninsula was estimated to be approximately 7,600 (Jaffeson, 1975). Two subspecies of sloth bear, namely Melursus ursinus ursinus and Melursus ursinus inornatus were distributed in this region. Melursus ursinus ursinus were found in the Indian peninsula whereas Melursus ursinus inornatus relatively smaller in size and more hairy than previous one were found in Sri Lanka (Pocock 1933). It was established …show more content…
In contrast to other ursids, these bears were medium-sized and myrmecophagous in nature. These bear has developed a more nocturnal activity pattern (Sunquist, 1982; Yoganand et al., 2005), extended parental behaviour (Laurie and Seidensticker, 1977), and smaller home ranges (Sunquist, 1982; Joshi et al., 1995). Due to such adaptations, they have lower metabolic rate compared to brown and polar bears, and sloth bears never undergo for winter hibernation or winter sleep as does by other bears (McNab, 1992). The differences in sloth bear physiology as compared to other bears were established from their morphologic appearance (Pocock, 1933), feeding behaviour (Gokula et al., 1995; Joshi et al., 1997), and physiologic state (McNab, 1992), which were useful for better understanding and improved veterinary care and management of sloth bear populations. Standardization of haematological parameters is an important method to assess health of animals and understand the impact of disease on individual and population levels (Geffre et al., 2009; Friedrichs et al., 2012). Various factors may influence the haematological variables. Extrinsic factors include factors that may stress the animal (Bush et al., 1980; Kusak et al., 2005), whereas intrinsic factors are associated with host characteristics (Hissa et al., 1994; Kusak et al.,
Sloth bears are mostly found in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Indian subcontinent. Their inhabitation ranging from the foothills of the Himalayas to the southern end of the Western Ghats mountain range in India as well as in the island of Sri Lanka (Prater, 1965). The number of Sloth bear distributed in the Indian peninsula was estimated to be approximately 7,600 (Jaffeson, 1975). Two subspecies of sloth bear, namely Melursus ursinus ursinus and Melursus ursinus inornatus were distributed in this region. Melursus ursinus ursinus were found in the Indian peninsula whereas Melursus ursinus inornatus relatively smaller in size and more hairy than previous one were found in Sri Lanka (Pocock 1933). It was established …show more content…
In contrast to other ursids, these bears were medium-sized and myrmecophagous in nature. These bear has developed a more nocturnal activity pattern (Sunquist, 1982; Yoganand et al., 2005), extended parental behaviour (Laurie and Seidensticker, 1977), and smaller home ranges (Sunquist, 1982; Joshi et al., 1995). Due to such adaptations, they have lower metabolic rate compared to brown and polar bears, and sloth bears never undergo for winter hibernation or winter sleep as does by other bears (McNab, 1992). The differences in sloth bear physiology as compared to other bears were established from their morphologic appearance (Pocock, 1933), feeding behaviour (Gokula et al., 1995; Joshi et al., 1997), and physiologic state (McNab, 1992), which were useful for better understanding and improved veterinary care and management of sloth bear populations. Standardization of haematological parameters is an important method to assess health of animals and understand the impact of disease on individual and population levels (Geffre et al., 2009; Friedrichs et al., 2012). Various factors may influence the haematological variables. Extrinsic factors include factors that may stress the animal (Bush et al., 1980; Kusak et al., 2005), whereas intrinsic factors are associated with host characteristics (Hissa et al., 1994; Kusak et al.,