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Sloth Bears in Unprotected Gujarat Favoured Riverine Forest

Wild Sloth Bear resting on rocky ground in India
Research · Ecology

Sloth bears (Melursus ursinus) in unprotected parts of Gujarat, India, strongly favoured riverine forest, according to research presented on 6 August 2026 at the 29th International Conference on Bear Research and Management. Dry deciduous forest was used more moderately.

The researchers used sign surveys to examine habitat use outside protected areas, recording field evidence that bears had used particular places rather than following individually marked animals. They also compared land cover across a ten-year period. Agricultural area increased by 36% during that analysis, largely at the expense of barren land and moderately dense forest. The remaining forest also became more fragmented, with more edge habitat and less intact core forest.

Roads and terrain also shaped modelled movement habitat

A habitat-suitability model identified moderately dense forest farther from roads as more suitable for sloth-bear movement. High-elevation areas with steep slopes were modelled as the least suitable. These are modelled suitability results rather than direct tracks from individually monitored bears.

The study focuses on bears living beyond Gujarat’s protected-area network, where forest patches are increasingly broken up by other land uses. The conference abstract presents the results as baseline information for the state forest department and highlights the need for conservation planning at the landscape scale across these rapidly changing, non-protected areas.

Sources and image credit

  1. Desai, P., Giordano, A. J., & Dharaiya, N. (2026, August 6). Habitat use and movement ecology of sloth bears in non-protected landscapes of Gujarat, western India [Conference presentation]. 29th International Conference on Bear Research and Management.Primary conference abstract presented 6 August 2026. Sign surveys showed strong selection for riverine forest; agricultural area increased by 36% in the decadal land-cover analysis; fragmentation reduced core-forest integrity; and models identified moderate forest farther from roads as more suitable for sloth-bear movement.

Image: Rudraksha Chodankar — wild sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) at Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary, Karnataka, India, photographed 6 February 2016; Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Representative species image; not a bear from the Gujarat study. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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