ABOVE: Sun bear Helarctos malayanus in a fruiting laurel tree at the Sun Bear Center at Sepilok in Sabah. Sun Bears eat large amounts of forest fruit both in the canopy and on the ground. The ability to climb gives Sun Bears first mover advantages over pigs, deer and rats that eat fallen fruit on the ground in Borneo.
Observers in both Sumatra (Harapan Rainforest) and in Sarawak have noted that O. amentacea trees often are scarred by the claw marks of Sun Bears and it would appear that Sun Bears are climbing these trees to get at the fruit before they can be eaten by primates and hornbills.
Browne (1955) Forest Trees of Sarawak and Brunai Ochanostachys amentaceae
Powell (2011) Sun Bears at Harapan Sumatra
