Jill Harness
Naked Bears Need To Be Rubbed Down
by Jill Harness - February 3, 2010 - 1:12 PM

Sebasian Niedlich

The mildly disturbing creature you see above may not immediately seem recognizable, but it is just your everyday spectacled bear –sans hair. According to the BBC, three bears in the Leipig Zoo, and other bears in zoos throughout Europe, have inexplicably lost their hair over the last few years. Many zoo employees are stumped as to the cause. One expert claims it could be the cool climate and the diet of the bears, who ordinarily come from South America.

Because the bears are also suffering from itchy skin, zoologists have also been rubbing them down with ointments to calm their skin. As pointed out on Ugly Overload, rubbing ointment on crabby, bald bear is probably not the most pleasant job in the world.

Image courtesy of Sebastian Niedlich’s Flickr stream.

« Previous Post   -   Next Post »
Click here to get a Risk-Free issue of mental_floss magazine
Comments (4)

  1. I believe you mean “Leipzig Zoo,” located in East Germany. A small typo, but an important one.

    posted by Tamsyn on 2-3-2010 at 1:27 pm

  2. ‘Cause you know what they say about honey bears
    When you shave off all their baby hair
    You have a hairy minded pink bare bear

    (Lou Reed)

    posted by Andy on 2-3-2010 at 1:35 pm

  3. Reminds me of the Fuzzy Wuzzy rhyme:
    Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear
    Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair
    Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t very fuzzy, was he?

    posted by FizzyGurrl on 2-3-2010 at 1:37 pm

  4. That’s interesting.. There is a bear with the sae problem at the Granby Zoo in Quebec, Canada. I noticed it while visiting last year. There is a sign by the bear’s habitat claiming that it suffers from severe allergies…

    posted by Ciel on 2-5-2010 at 11:27 am

Comment

commenting policy