Spectacled Bear

Genetic testing suggests that the closest bear (Ursidae) relative of Giant Pandas are the Spectacled Bears of South America. They have black fur with a distinctive beige-coloured marking across its face and upper chest, making their appearance more similar to the Quinling Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca qinlingensis) subspecies of the Giant Panda, which has a light and dark brown patterning similar to the more typically seen black and white patterning (Ailuropoda melanoleuca melanoleuca). I am using the human-derived Latin names as they are likely more familiar to my readers, but we have our own names in the Panda language. Spectacled bears are found in several areas of northern and western South America, including western Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, western Bolivia, northwestern Argentina, and eastern Panama. Spectacled bears are the only surviving species of bear native to South America, and the only surviving member of the subfamily Tremarctinae. Their survival has depended mostly on their ability to climb even the highest trees of the Andes and the Amazonian rainforests.
When encountered by humans or other Spectacled Bears, they will react in a docile but cautious manner, unless the intruder is seen as a threat or a mother's cubs are endangered. Like other bears, mothers are very protective in defense of their young and have attacked poachers. Spectacled bears, like Giant Pandas, are also an endangered species due to hunting and diminishing resources brought about by human expansion into their territories. Spectacled Bears and Pandas are very similar, and part of my mission is to encourage everyone to help protect the habitats of both the Spectacled Bears and the Pandas.