The site of Yoga's study is Panna National Park, some 200 square miles of sloth bear habitat, sheltering 30 to 40 of the animals. It is also home to a considerable number of humans. The government plans to remove all people living in the park, but it has no timetable. Yoga chose Panna as his study site in part because of the presence of humans, so that he can create for his country a sloth bear conservation plan. For, while in any single bear-human encounter the bear usually wins, often by gruesomely mauling the individual, the species as a whole is fighting a losing battle against human encroachment.
Yoga maintains that the sloth bear is a shy creature.
Time and again the bears have run off after making a bluff charge at him. Do they think that I'm another bear . To purchase a copy of the January 2000 issue, click here . Abstract of an article by Adele Conover, originally published in the January 2000 issue of Smithsonian . All rights reserved.