Copiously illustrated throughout in full colour, this study is a comprehensive general natural history of bears. The book covers all the bears - brown, polar, Giant Panda, American Black Bear, Asiatic Black Bear, Sun Bear, Sloth Bear and Spectacled Bear. It also reviews the current state of knowledge on bear biology, reproduction and rearing, predatory habits and feeding, behaviour of individuals and groups, relationship of humans to bears and conservation issues. The evolution of bears and a general treatment of fossil bears are summarised in the first chapter.