The Zoochat Photographic Guide to Bears, Pinnipeds and Hyenas.

Only three groups of carnivore, spanning a total of 5 families, are left for me to cover in these threads given the fact I have already discussed felids, canids and the various forms of "small carnivore".

These are - as the title would suggest - the various species of seal, sealion and other pinnipeds, along with bears and hyenas. Not a taxonomically monophyletic grouping, given the fact that the latter of these groups belongs within the feline branch of the Carnivora whilst the former two belong within the canine branch, but it beats having a tiny thread for solely hyenas

 

URSIDAE



This family comprises two monotypic lineages and a single major lineage; these are as follows:

AILUROPODINAE - 1 species

TREMARCTINAE - 1 species

URSINAE - 6 species within three genera


(Each lineage name has been hyperlinked to the post within which it is discussed)

 

AILUROPODINAE


This lineage comprises a single species:

Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

The range of this species is highly fragmented and reduced from its prior extent; formerly the species was found throughout southern China and Indochina, but it is now restricted to many disjunct populations in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu.

Two subspecies are recognised:

A. m. melanoleuca - photo by @Deer Forest



A. m. qinlingensis

 

TREMARCTINAE


This lineage comprises a single species:

Spectacled Bear (Tremarctos ornatus)

The range of this species extends throughout the northern half of the Andes in dozens of disjunct populations, stretching from western Venezuela in the north, through Colombia, Ecuador and Peru to central Bolivia in the south.

Monotypic.

Photo by @gentle lemur

 

URSINAE


This lineage comprises 6 species within three genera:

Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus

Sun Bear Helarctos malayanus

Asian Black Bear Ursus thibetanus
American Black Bear Ursus americanus
Polar Bear Ursus maritimus
Brown Bear Ursus arctos

 

Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus)

The range of this species extends throughout the Indian subcontinent, from Bhutan and Bangladesh in the north, south throughout India into Sri Lanka.

Two subspecies are recognised:

M. u. ursinus - photo by @vogelcommando



M. u. inornatus - photo by @Maguari

 

Sun Bear (Helarctos malayanus)

The range of this species formerly extended throughout southern China, northeast India and Bangladesh south into Indochina, the Malayan Peninsula and Indonesia; however the species now occurs patchily throughout this range due to widespread local extirpation.

Two subspecies recognised:

H. m. malayanus - photo by @TeaLovingDave



H. m. euryspilus - photo by @Deer Forest

 

Asian Black Bear (Ursus thibetanus)

The range of this species extends across much of southern Asia, from southern Iran and Pakistan in the west, through the Himalayas and into central and eastern China, south to Indochina and Peninsular Malaysia and north to the Russian Far East and Japan.

Seven subspecies are recognised:

U. t. thibetanus - photo by @Maguari



U. t. formosanus - photo by @Al



U. t. gedrosianus
U. t. japonicus - photo by @Goura



U. t. laniger
U. t. mupinensis
U. t. ussuricus - photo by @Dormitator

 

American Black Bear (Ursus americanus)

The range of this species extends throughout North America, from Alaska and northern Canada south to central Mexico; however large portions of the historical range throughout the eastern United States have been extirpated.

16 subspecies proposed:

U. a. americanus - photo by @Maguari



U.a. altifrontalis
U.a. abblyceps
U.a. californiensis
U.a. carlottae
U.a. cinnamomum - photo by @Moebelle



U.a. emmonsii - photo by @Pleistohorse



U.a. eremicus
U.a. floridanus - photo by @Maguari



U.a. hamiltoni
U.a. kermodei - photo by @snowleopard



U.a. luteolus - photo by @soulifly623



U.a. machetes
U.a. perniger
U.a. pugnax
U.a. vancouveri

 

Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus)

The range of this species is circumpolar and extends throughout much of the Arctic Ocean and the immediately-surrounding coastline.

Monotypic.

Photo by @Tim May

 

Brown Bear (Ursus arctos)

The range of this species formerly covered the vast majority of Europe, northern and central Asia and western North America, along with populations in north Africa and the Middle East; however, substantial portions of the former range have seen local extirpations and the species is no longer present in north Africa, most of western Europe and the bulk of the United States.

14 extant subspecies are proposed:

U. a. arctos - photo by @karoocheetah



U. a. alascensis - photo by @Pleistohorse



U. a. beringianus - photo by @Glutton



U. a. collaris
U. a. dalli
U. a. gyas - photo by @Ituri



U. a. horriblis - photo by @Javan Rhino



U. a. isabellinus - photo by @Chlidonias



U. a. lasiotus - photo by @lintworm



U. a. middendorffi - photo by @Newzooboy



U. a. pruinosus - photo by @Deer Forest2



U. a. sitkensis - photo by @savethelephant



U. a. stikeensis
U. a. syriacus - photo by @alexkant

 

Current thinking from phylogenetic analysis is that it is a relict population of Ursus arctos isabellinus

I'll tell you one thing; I am glad the Brown Bear has been reassessed and the quagmire of subspecies worked out to some extent..... I wouldn't have wanted to cope with the 90 or so originally-proposed taxa!

 

ODOBENIDAE


This family comprises a single species:

Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus)

The range of this species extends in a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic, northern Atlantic and northern Pacific oceans.

Three subspecies are recognised:

O. r. rosmarus - photo by @Animal



O. r. divergens - photo by @ZooGirl101



O. r. laptevi

 

OTARIIDAE



This family comprises two major lineages; these are as follows:

ARCTOCEPHALINAE - 9 species within two genera

OTARIINAE - 6 species within five genera

(Each lineage name has been hyperlinked to the post within which it is discussed)

 

ARCTOCEPHALINAE


This lineage comprises 9 species within two genera:

South American Fur Seal Arctocephalus australis
New Zealand Fur Seal Arctocephalus forsteri
Galápagos Fur Seal Arctocephalus galapagoensis
Antarctic Fur Seal Arctocephalus gazella
Juan Fernández Fur Seal Arctocephalus philippii
Brown Fur Seal Arctocephalus pusillus
Guadalupe Fur Seal Arctocephalus townsendi
Subantarctic Fur Seal Arctocephalus tropicalis

Northern Fur Seal Callorhinus ursinus

 

South American Fur Seal (Arctocephalus australis)

The range of this species extends from southern Peru south to Cape Horn on the Pacific coast, and thence northward to southern Brazil on the Atlantic coast.

Two subspecies are recognised:

A. a. australis
A. a. gracilis - photo by @Giant Eland

 

New Zealand Fur Seal (Arctocephalus forsteri)

The range of this species extends throughout the coastal waters of New Zealand, along with the coastal waters and offshore islands of South and Western Australia

Monotypic.

Photo by @ZooGirl101