The sun bear
A golden chest patch like the sun.
Siew Te Wong, Thye Lim Tee, and Lin May Chiew, BSBCC — CC BY-SA 3.0 de · Siew Te Wong, Thye Lim Tee, and Lin May Chiew, BSBCC — CC BY-SA 3.0 de · CEphoto, Uwe Aranas — CC BY-SA 3.0 · CEphoto, Uwe Aranas — CC BY-SA 3.0
A unique centre devoted to the sun bear, the world's smallest bear, named for the golden patch on its chest that resembles a rising sun. Malaysian wildlife biologist Wong Siew Te founded it in 2008, after a nationwide survey showed that many sun bears were being kept captive in poor conditions, to care for them, rehabilitate them and release them to the wild wherever possible. Dozens of bears live here, most of them rescued former pets, in enclosures of natural forest within the Kabili-Sepilok reserve. From raised observation platforms and boardwalks visitors watch them climb trees and rip into rotting logs with their long claws in search of insects and honey, while staff at the platforms explain and answer questions. Orangutans, macaques and squirrels often show up in the trees around them too. A foreign adult ticket is fifty ringgit and a child's twenty-five, and the money goes towards the bears' care. It opens daily from nine in the morning to half past three in the afternoon, public holidays included. It is a few steps from the orangutan centre, so visit between the morning and afternoon feedings there; together the two fill a rewarding half day.
A golden chest patch like the sun.
Watch the bears in the forest.
Bears once kept as pets.
Sepilok, next to the Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, about 25 km west of Sandakan
Because the centre is a non-profit that relies on visitor fees and donations to feed, treat and care for the bears. Foreign residents of Malaysia with a work pass or student card pay a reduced rate.
