GOBI DESERT, MONGOLIA - GOBI BEAR (Ursus arctos gobiensis ) (FROM BBC ASIA}

The Gobi bear (Ursus arctos gobiensis ), known in Mongolian as the Mazaalai (Мазаалай), is a subspecies of the brown bear (Ursus arctos ) that is found in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. It is listed as critically endangered by the Mongolian Redbook of Endangered Species and by IUCN standards. Based on a long-term DNA population demographic study, the population are existing with less than 40 adults in 2017, and is separated by enough distance from other brown bear populations to achieve reproductive isolation. In 1959, hunting of the animal was prohibited in order to preserve the dying subspecies.

Gobi bears mainly eat roots, berries, and other plants, sometimes rodents; there is no evidence that they prey on large mammals. Small compared to other brown bear subspecies, adult males weigh about 96.0–138.0 kg (211.6–304.2 lb) and females about 51.0–78.0 kg (112.4–172.0 lb). Gobi bears are the only bears that have evolved and adapted to living in such extreme hot desert climates.