What species of bear is Paddington in the Paddington books and films?

Paddington is a spectacled bear in the Paddington books and films.

The spectacled bear is the only bear species native to South America. It is also called the Andean bear, because it lives mainly in the Andes. Its name comes from the pale markings around some individuals’ eyes, which can resemble spectacles.

Michael Bond chose this real species for Paddington after learning that spectacled bears were being sent from South America to zoos. In the stories, Paddington travels from Peru to London, linking the fictional character to the species’ real South American home.

Paddington is often casually called a brown bear because of his fur and bear-like appearance, but that is not his species. The 2014 and 2017 films retain the spectacled-bear detail while presenting him as a highly expressive computer-generated character.