Bee-Eater Bear rough sketch By Viergacht Watch

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Bee-eating bear



Probably not Caranoctian, this is a critter I came up with jamming with Chimpeetah. This is just a colored-in rough sketch.



The bee-eating bear evolved from the north American black bear in concert with flightless bees that build their honeycombs underground. Where the ancestral bear was an opportunistic omnivore, the bee-eater lives exclusively on the bees, their larvae and grubs (it will eat ants, termites and other little bugs in a pinch). Because of this rather poor diet, the bee-eaters are solitary. In the winter both bear and bee hibernate.



The bee-eater is quite a small animal, about the same size as a collie. The long claws on the forepaws are used to rip open the underground hives, and force the animal to walk on the sides of its paws. As you might expect, it is slow and clumsy but a good if not particularly acrobatic climber. The powerful forelimbs and hooked claws are about its only means of defense. The jaws are slender and weak, and teeth have been reduced to little pegs. Luckily for the bear, it also has leathery, tough skin under a dense, coarse pelt. Predators tend to get a mouthful of fur.



The fur protects it from stings, but the bees are smart (or well-programmed by their genes, rather) and have a tendency to go for the face when harassed. Therefore the bear had developed thick, warty, calloused bare skin on its head an neck, almost impervious to stings and devoid of pain nerves. The animals small eyes, almost entirely absent ear flaps, and nostrils can also slam shut to deny the bees access (it usually eats blind and deaf).

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Published : Feb 14, 2009