i think i've said before that my favourite animals while volunteering were the capuchin monkeys - however this guy was perhaps the creature i was most surprised to meet at the refuge. his name is aruma, he's about 4 years old and he's an andean spectacled bear. the spectacled bear is near endangered and the only bear native to south america, so by that infallible logic aruma is related to paddington bear. like his fictional cousin aruma had a very sweet tooth and was particularly fond of sweet fruits, plants and jam sandwiches. he also had a predilection for peanuts, which we'd use as a distraction when one of us wanted to enter his enclosure to clean it. he had a very slow, calm and placid temperament and it was difficult to resist the urge to give him a shantaram style bear hug - well difficult until you saw the size of his claws and teeth.

here's the original

i think i've said before that my favourite animals while volunteering were the capuchin monkeys - however this guy was perhaps the creature i was most surprised to meet at the refuge. his name is aruma, he's about 4 years old and he's an andean spectacled bear. the spectacled bear is near endangered and the only bear native to south america, so by that infallible logic aruma is related to paddington bear. like his fictional cousin aruma had a very sweet tooth and was particularly fond of sweet fruits, plants and jam sandwiches. he also had a predilection for peanuts, which we'd use as a distraction when one of us wanted to enter his enclosure to clean it. he had a very slow, calm and placid temperament and it was difficult to resist the urge to give him a shantaram style bear hug - well difficult until you saw the size of his claws and teeth.

here's the original