Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Mar 10;12(1):3943.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-07974-y.

Sloth bear attacks: regional differences and safety messaging

Thomas R Sharp  1 , Tom S Smith  2 , Shanmugavelu Swaminathan  3 , Attur S Arun  3
Affiliations

Sloth bear attacks: regional differences and safety messaging

Thomas R Sharp et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Sloth bears behave aggressively toward humans when threatened and are among the most dangerous wildlife in India. Safety messaging for those who live in sloth bear country must be accurate to be effective, and messaging may need to be modified to account for regional differences in human-bear relationships. The timing of sloth bear attacks on the Deccan Plateau of Karnataka, both by season and by time of day, deviated enough from those reported in other areas such that it warranted further investigation. We compared data from eight studies of human-sloth bear conflict from across the Indian subcontinent and explored possibilities as to why differences exist. Seasonally all studies reported that human-sloth bear conflict was highest when human activity in the forest was greatest, though the season of highest human activity varied significantly by region (χ2 = 5921, df = 5, P < 0.001). The time of day that the majority of attacks occurred also varied significantly by region (χ2 = 666, df = 5, P < 0.001), though human activity was relatively consistent. We speculated that the rate of day attacks on the Deccan Plateau was lower due to the reduced probability of encountering a sleeping bear as they are concealed and secure in shallow caves. Additionally, the rate of attacks was significantly higher at night on the Deccan Plateau because people often to work into nighttime. We concluded that slight differences, or different emphasis, to bear safety messaging may be necessary on a regional basis to keep the messaging accurate and effective.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Sloth bear habitat on the Deccan Plateau.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Sloth bear attack study locations and number of attacks (QGIS Geographic Information System. Version 3.14.0-Pi. QGIS Association. http://www.qgis.org).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Seasonal percentages of attacks per region as reported in eight locations.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The percentages of sloth bear attacks by time of day and location.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Garshelis DL, Joshi AR, Smith JLD, Rice CG. Sloth bear conservation action plan. In: Servheen C, Herrero S, Peyton B, editors. Bears Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Bear and Polar Bear Specialist Groups. IUCN; 1999. pp. 225–240.
    1. Sterndale RA. Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon. Thacker, Spink, and Co.; 1884.
    1. Pillarisett AM. Are sloth bear man marauders? In: Gogate MG, Thorsare PJ, editors. Two Decades of Project Tiger, Melghat (1973–1993) Melghat Tiger Reserve; 1993.
    1. Ratnayeke S, van Manen FT, Pieris R, Pragash VSJ. Challenges of large carnivore conservation: sloth bear attacks in Sri Lanka. Hum. Ecol. 2014;42:467–479.
    1. Singh N, Sonone S, Dharaiya N. Sloth bear attacks on humans in central India: Implications for species conservation. Human-Wildlife Interactions. 2018;12:338–347.