The Formosan black bear is endemic to which island?

The Formosan black bear is endemic to Taiwan.

Also called the Taiwanese black bear or white-throated bear, it is the subspecies Ursus thibetanus formosanus, part of the Asiatic black bear species. It is Taiwan’s only native bear and one of the island’s best-known mammals. The name Formosa is an older European name for Taiwan.

These bears mainly inhabit rugged mountain forests, especially across Taiwan’s Central and Snow mountain ranges. Their diet includes leaves, buds, roots, fruit, insects and small animals. A distinctive white or yellowish chest marking, often shaped like a crescent or a V, gives them the nickname “lunar bear.”

The Formosan black bear has faced habitat loss, trapping and illegal hunting. Taiwan legally protected it in 1989, and estimates commonly place the remaining wild population in the hundreds. It is often confused with bears from Hokkaido, Sri Lanka or Borneo, but none of those islands is its endemic home.