They can stand erect and have powerful limbs and long, curved claws. Bears have poor eyesight, and most have only fair hearing. Their sense of smell, however, is extremely keen. Bears are closely related to the dog and the raccoon and are the most recently evolved of the carnivores. The diet of bears generally is varied and flexible.
Most species are especially fond of ants and honey.
Bears also eat bees, seeds, roots, nuts, berries, and insect larvae. Their meat diet includes rodents, fishes, deer, pigs, and lambs. Grizzlies and Alaskan brown bears fish for salmon, but the largely herbivorous spectacled bear rarely eats anything other than vegetation. Although they possess a fierce and aggressive reputation, the bear is more often a peaceful and solitary creature. They prefer to roam in areas undisturbed by humans.