Andean Bear

The Andean Bear inhabits the cloud rainforest of the Andes in South America. Cloud rainforest are highly elevated rainforest on mountains with lots of precipitation. Cloud forests are shrinking due to climate change which makes the environment drier and decreases precipitation. Cloud forests have extreme biodiversity and are being lost due to the encroaching of dry tree species. The Andean Bear evolved from short-faced bears which are now extinct. They became half the size of their ancestors. Looking at the drying of the cloud forest and new dry plant species coming into their range, the bears will evolve to have a more carnivorous diet due to new animals coming into the forest like deer and the dying of tropical fruit plants. They have shorter fur and grow larger as their habitat expands from the cloud forest. The cloud forest populations might become a new subspecies or species.