A New Color Phase of Ursus thibetanus (Mammalia: Ursidae) from Southeast Asia

6 Pages·2001·0.36 MB·English

by  Galbreath, Gary J

Notes
NAT. HIST. BULL. SIAM Soc. 49: 107-111，2 001
A New Color Phase of Ursus thibetanus
(Mammalia: Ursidae) from Southeast Asia
The Asiatic black bear or moon bear，U rsus thibetanus G. Cuvier，is known thave
'O
black (cmmn) and brwn (rare) color phases. Weh ere document ab lnd clrp hase and
'O 'O 'O 'O 'O'O
intermediates" between the blnd and black phases. It is striking that ad istinct frm f
“ 'O 'O 'O
al arge mammal can still be described at the beginning ft he 21 tscentury.
'O
Terminology. Site acrnyms incIude BWCf rB anglamung Wildlife Breeding Center f
'O 'O 'O
the Thai Ryal Frest Department; LZ for Lopburi Z Thailand; and BF for Bayab F
'O 'O 'O'O， 紅加
ZoCambdia. Bears ne tfur yesin age are considered subadult." ugh longest
'O， 'O 'O 'O 'O 訂 “ Th'O
nt he neck sidesthe mane" technically comprises all hair grown frm the top and sides
'O ， “ 'O
of the neck and headfrward tand incIuding as trip anterirt eears.
， 'O 'O 'O 'O出
Background and methods. Pelage fb lack-phase invidivuals (when nti n molt) is
'O 'O
indeed mainly black extemally，th e muzzle and the usually pale chest-mark being eas
紅
typically fd ifferent clratin; see POCOCK (19321941) for ad iscussin fp elage clor
'O 'O'O 'O ， 'O 'O 'O
variatin. Many black" cover hairs are actually bandedwith minimally ne black band
'O “ ， 'O
and ap roximal browngray rbl nd band. The number of bands can reach at least fur.
， ，' O 'O 'O
Dark brown Pakistan specimens were rep'Orted by BLANFORD (1877) and ROBERTS
(1977).百leserec'Ords仕omthe westem p訂tof白especies' dis位ibuti'Onare now supplemented
by similar BWCs pecimens (e.g.，Fi g. lA) from Sutheast Asia.
'O
MILLET (1930) n'Oted indigen'Ous kn'Owledge in what is now s'Outhem Vietnam 'Ofa
large fauve" type fb ear. In 1988 in Simaosuthem YunnanGalbreath dP. S.
，“ 'O ， 'O ， 姐
Walker examined ac aptive blnd-phase male m nb ear. In 1999-200113 mre blnd-
'O 'O'O ， 'O 'O
phase ri ntermediate captive specimens were examined in Thailand and Cambdiafive
'O 'O ，
fw hich ehere described and figured tillustrate variatin. Using mitchndrial DNA
'O 紅 'O 'O 'O 'O
frm hair samplesa2 88 basepairfragment containing portins of the cytchrome bg ene
'O ， 'O 'O
司
and ecntrlre gion was sequenced for four of these specimens and for 12 ther individuals.
出 'O 'O 'O
Results. With regdt14 blond-phase or intermediate bearsregins fblond" pelage
訂 'O ， 'O 'O “
ranged fr'Om tan to very pale yell'Ow. Many black hairs were banded with bl'Ond.τ'he
muzzle was always mainly pale，a nd the pale chest mark remained identifiable.
An adult female (LZ1，Fi g. lB-D) was extensively blnd; black pelage was visible
'O
nly nm ane and perhaps withers. As ubadult female (Fig. F; since relcated tPhnom
'O 'O 1E， 'O 'O
TamaZ alsextensively blndhad been captured as ac ub in 1997 within af ew km
'O 'O'O)， 'O 'O ，
fN atinal Rad N 4i n nrthem Prey Nup DistrictSihanukville PrvinceCambdia.
'O 'O 'O 'O. 'O ， 'O 'O ， 'O
Black pelage was visible nly nm aneear edgesandperhaps eye regina nd/rw ithers.
'O 'O ， 'O 'O
支
A subadult female (BF1Fig. 2AB) and tw adult males (LZ2BWC3; Fig. 2C-E)
， ， 'O ，
were intermediate in clorationbeing notably darker than blond-phase bears in dorsal r
'O ， 'O
lateral view. ef emale had ab londer face and nape than the ther tw ab londer
Th 'O 'O，
underside than at least LZ2，a nd al arge，d istinct black patch ab'Ove the tail. She had
Received 9J une 2000; accepted 24 March 2001.
107
108 A NEWCOLθR PHASE OF URSUS THIBETANUS
reportedly been captured well west of Kampong Speu city，ne ar the border between Koh
Kong and Kampong Speu Provinces. Male LZ2 had the darkest head and lower forelimbs.
Black-phase adult male BWC4 (Fig. 2F) exemplifies another link with the blond
phase. Limited blond areas occurred on face，ea rs，a nd lower limbs. Another light-faced
specimen，su badult male BWC5，pr ovided DNAa nd was more thoroughly examined. He
had blond hair rooted inside the pinnae，s ome pale pelage on the lower forelimbs，組da
mottled face with large eye patches. Many black hairs were banded with pale yellow.
At ap rivate zoo，th ree litters were reportedly produced by the same blond (male) and
intermediate (female) p ents.Two subadults or adults，r eportedly from the snelitter，
釘 創
were intermediate and blond respectively. Two cubs from as econd litter were intermediate，
though predominantly light tan. A recently produced cub was blond.
One haplotype was possessed by the four sequenced blond or intermediate bears (Prey
Nup，L Z1，B F1，組dLZ2)，b y BF2 and LZ3，組dby six BWCb ears (including the light-
faced BWC5 dBWCI7). Four other haplotypes were found among BWC and LZ
佃
speclmens.
Discussion. That blond coloration is heritable is indicated by the breeding data. Parti-
colordpatteming (Fig. 2B-D) exemplified by LZ2 and BFl may resemble an early stage
巴，
in the evolution of血epattem of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca).
One haplotype was sh釘edby blond and black specimens.百lecoloration continuum
佃 d出eDNAd ata toge由erindicate白紙blondspecimens do not represent an ew species，
but belong to U. thibetanus. That ab lond individual can occur wi白血 aprimarily black-
phase population is shown by the case of the Prey Nup bear.百lere釘e，then，at least three
color phases of U. thibetanus，bl ack，b rown，an d blond，pa ralleling phases of U. americanus.
With regard to biogeography，th e blond Prey Nup specimen and reportedly BFl came
from southwestem Cambodia. A Brou informant in Lao reported ac onvincing field sighting
from Mok Dis凶ctof Xiangkhouang Province. Wec onclude that the blond phase of U.
thibetanus occurs in the Elephant/Oral/Cardamom Mts. complex，p robably occurs in出e
northem Annamite Mts.，組dmay well occur elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
Acknowledgments. Wet hank: Thai Royal Forest Department; Thai Society for the
Conservation of Wild Animals; Lopburi Zoo; Department of Geology，a nd Division of
Mammals of Deptmentof Zoology，Fi eld Museum of Natural History; J. R. Chambedain;
釘
His Excellency S. Chhun，Un dersecretary of State，Ca mbodia; R. A. Holmgren; J. Lindsjo;
P. T. Noppakun; G. E. Perera; P. Rattanapom; P. Sanpote; C. Sutel; S. Ty; K. V g;L.
佃
Vejjajiva; L. P. Waits; P. S. Walker; Lt. Col. W. Phupiangjai; G. van Zuylen. Partial
funding was provided by Northwestem University.
A NEWC OLOR PHASE OF URSUS THIBETANUS lハUノ日同

巴 f
Figllre 1. U川115IhibelOllllS specimensf rol1l sOlltheastA sia.a ) lIpperl eft: Brown-phase b巴aral BWC. b-d)
Blond-phase specil1len:a c1l1ltf elllal巴LZI巴-1)Lowestr ow:B lonc1-phase ，'1巴yNlIps llba1c1lltf elllale.
110 A NEWC OLOR PHASE OF URSUS TI-IfBEJル\NUS
d
巴
FigUl巴2.Partially blond specil1lenso f UrslIsl hibelOlll/s. NOlep anda-ilkep atterns0 '1firstl WO specil1lens.a ，b)
Upperr ow: BFls llbadllllf el1lal巴。c-d)Middler ow: LZ2 adlllll1 lal巴， wilh black-phase specil1lenf OI
cOl1lparison. e) BWC3 adllll l1laleりBlack-phaseadultl1 lal巴 BWC4，with light face
A NEW COLOR PHASE OF URSUS THIBETANUS 111
守
REFERENCES
BLANFORD，W . T. 1877. Note on two species of Asiatic Bears，th e“mamh" of Baluchistan and Ursus pruinosus，
B1yth，of Tibet，a nd on an apparently undescribed fox from Baluchistan. J. Asiatic Soc. Bengal 46 (2):
315-322.
MILLET，F. 1930. Les Grands Animaux Sauvages de l' Annam: leurs Moeurs，le ur Chasse，le ur Tir. Librairie Plon，
Paris. 374 pp.
POCOCK，R . 1. 1932. Theb lack and brown bears of Europe and Asia. Part 11. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 36 (1):
101-138
POCOCK，R . .11941. The Fauna 01 British India. inc/uding Ceylonαnd Burma. Mammalia. Vo .1II. Carnivora
(continued from Vo .1I)，S uborders Aeluroidea (part) and Arctoidea. Taylor and Francis，L ondon. 503 pp
目
ROBERTS，T . J. 1977. The Mammals 01 Pakistan. Emest Benn，L ondon & Tonbridge. 361 pp.
GaηI J. Galbreath
Biological Sciences
Northwestem University
Evanston，I L 60208 USA
and
Geology Department
Field Museum of Natural History
Chicago，I L 60605 USA
email:副[email protected]
Hean Sun
Wildlife Protection Office
#40，P reah Norodom Blvd.
Phnom Penh，C ambodia
Sy M. Montgomery
P. O. Box 127
Hancock，N H0 3449 USA