Andean Bear and its Multifacet Habitats

Andean Bears live in various types of habitats, from dry forests, humid mountain forests to very humid forests, including the tropical rainforests, pastures and steppes. The largest and best habitats are however the very humid montane and cloud forests. The wetter these forests are the more food species there are for nurturing the bears.
In Peru, the Andean Bear is distributed along the Andean Cordillera and is present in the mountainous forests of the eastern slope (from Amazonas to Puno), in the inter-Andean valleys and in the dry forests of the Chancay - La Leche valleys. In this area also the Chaparrí Ecological Reserve can be found, which has played an important role in the conservation of the Andean bear for many years. Until 1940 you could even find bears fishing on beaches for example north of Lima, however, nowadays they will not reach the coast anymore as their habitat there is not intact anymore.
Andean bears in Peru inhabit the widest range of habitat types and elevations of any bear species in the world: from the coast at sea level, to below permanent snow sites at 4750 masl and from the Andean to Amazonian areas. The bear in the image lives in the Rio Abiseo National Park (Amazonia), where bears can live undisturbed in absolute freedom in an area of about 275,000 ha. The park includes various altitudes ranging from 350 to 4200 masl, and a large variety of ecosystems including Paramo, dwarf forests, rainforests, cloud forests, and dry forests.
Besides in Peru you can find the Andean Bear also in the Andes in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and the northwestern tip of Argentina.
It is important to note that Andean bears generally do not use areas inhabited by humans, unless they are particularly attractive ones such as corn plantations.