Why Are These Bears Losing Their Fur?

Posted by Editor on 11/05/2009

The Leipzig Zoo in Germany is facing a very bizarre problem - Their female bears, Dolores and Lolita are losing all their fur and nobody knows why it is happening.

The two bears that are native to South America, normally have fluffy dark brown hair, which grows even thicker, during the winter months, but instead these two have been left with just tufts of hair all over their body.

While the condition is not life threatening, the poor bears are developing nasty rashes and inflammation on their skin due to the lack of fur. The zoo officials have no idea what to do and are appealing to animal experts all over the world, for help.

The only bright side is, that the Zoo is attracting a lot more visitors, all flocking to see this unusual phenomenon.

Also known as Andean Bear, the Spectacled Bear is one of the smaller species of the animals, that are native to South America. They get their name from the distinctive lighter coloring around their eyes which often resemble 'spectacles'.  The primarily vegetarian animals are pretty docile, attacking only if they perceive a threat to their young ones. They are very proficient climbers and are often found nestling on trees in the Andes Mountains .

sources:telegraph.co.uk,bbcnew.co.uk, latimesblog.com

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  1. StarFire9898 7 minutes later:
    Poor bear that is sorta odd
  2. pat 8 minutes later:
    weird i wonder whats wrong?
  3. BIG H 13 minutes later:
    PPPPPPPPPOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRR BEAR I GO EGANST GLOBLE WARMING
  4. notin 43 minutes later:
    That is so discusting duds?
  5. kangaroo about 2 hours later:
    dermatisis, exema, mites, stress, or poison put into water
  6. 1997girl about 5 hours later:
    That's really weird. I feel bad for them.
  7. patty about 5 hours later:
    i dont care how it looks i love animals so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!111
  8. Ilikepie about 6 hours later:
    this really sad not fair to bears thier gonna be cold durin da winter
  9. makenna about 7 hours later:
    patty person your awsome!
  10. Ellie about 7 hours later:
    Poor bears. I hope they don't get cold.
  11. ldhgbfyrb about 8 hours later:
    poor bears i wish i could help them
  12. Bob about 8 hours later:
    I love animals!
  13. jonas fan number1 about 18 hours later:
    poor bears i feel so bad
  14. KitKat about 18 hours later:
    Awwwwww. Poor bear! None soft and furless!
  15. i pineapple about 19 hours later:
    uh oh!!! i hope that this doesn't get worse! EEK! EEK! EEK!
  16. i pineapple about 19 hours later:
    AWWWWWWWWWW i feel sooo bad for her!
  17. cool dude wonder about 19 hours later:
    that iz soo friz man! like TOTTALLY dude!
  18. ms.mystery about 19 hours later:
    oh nooo! no no no no NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!
  19. Ally about 19 hours later:
    I feel so bad for the bears :-( I wish somebody could know what is wrong. maybe their fur will come back before Winter... :[ :[ :[
  20. peace about 19 hours later:
    awwwwwwww i feel bad for the bear
  21. TJiscool about 19 hours later:
    AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! YOU ARE SCAING ME!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
  22. Ally about 19 hours later:
    I feel so bad for the bears :-( I wish somebody knew what was wrong with them. I hope their fur comes back before Winter... :[ :[ :[
  23. CHANCE about 21 hours later:
    THAT REALLY STINKS IT LOOKS DEAD LOL.....
  24. SeTh about 22 hours later:
    Dude thats sooo messed ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
  25. james about 22 hours later:
    this was cool to see the bald bears
  26. melissa about 22 hours later:
    awwwe poor bear it looks like a rinkly old person i feel bad for it :(
  27. The guy who is not nick about 23 hours later:
    Who could make this happen?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? I am mad now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And beat that madness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  28. Sara 1 day later:
    Oh!Poor
  29. Sara 1 day later:
    Man!
  30. Jinxer2299 1 day later:
    that was really weird and sad.
  31. adsfe 2 days later:
    awesome
  32. Elisibet 4 days later:
    Nice to know this news. This is a comment from Her Majesty Queen Elisibeth.
  33. joey strucker 5 days later:
    so yea and i was like oh no u didnt so then i got the brush and swooped a big guy in his tedy and u know what i mean. Its right below u, u know so dont give me that face popm pomp
  34. elcarmleo guy i think 5 days later:
    who ever got this current event than dont bother to take i areldy got this currnet event so yea buzz off people and i fell bad for the bears too
  35. 49yrold 5 days later:
    Ya, this is a really weird thing to have happened, I hope it is resolved shortly.
  36. PedroBear 5 days later:
    THOS POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR BEEEEEEEARRRRRRRRRRRS
  37. I love ANIMALIASSS ALOT 5 days later:
    This site has alot of cool info on the hairless bears
  38. yogo 5 days later:
    awesome! I used this for my current events at school.
  39. absit 5 days later:
    that's weird how can that happen?! write back and give me an answer!
  40. sienna 5 days later:
    yuck! they look nasty without any fur- yuck again!!!!!!!!!! my teacher love this
  41. sienna 5 days later:
    i have current events at sundown just like yogo cool ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  42. a 6 days later:
    I feel very bad for the bears I do hope they get better
  43. X 6 days later:
    SOOO! SAAAD!
  44. kasey 6 days later:
    poor bears. I feel so sorry. :(
  45. jazzmine 6 days later:
    that bear is ugly
  46. jazzmine 6 days later:
    thats sad
  47. miley 11 days later:
    that is so sad but they sure r ugly i would be scared if they were near me
  48. keegan stein @ school #84 12 days later:
    Awww. So sad.... I wish they still had hair. Well.... I just saw a tick get smashed.... eww! I almost threw up but i gagged
  49. keegan stein @ school #84 12 days later:
    and the time is.... 9:16p.m. Tuesday night
  50. Miley Lover 12 days later:
    I feel so bad for those bears. They look so creepy!
  51. lizz9120 12 days later:
    wow! some ugly bears but it is sad
  52. Hunter 13 days later:
    I will never eat bear again.
  53. peace!!!!! 15 days later:
    awwwwww so ahhhhhhhhh cuddly aw poor poor poor bears wwho would do that 2 them who ever did this will have carma real badly and i will laugh no bear desurves this they should be ashamed of them selfs i am so MAD!!!!!!!! ahhhhhhhhhh awwwww the r probablly laughing bout this
  54. alli marie 15 days later:
    awww i feel soooo bad 4 them pooooorrrrrrrr bears how ashemed they should they should b of them selfs thts worse than animal abuse these ppl have no lifes
  55. alli marie 15 days later:
    awwwwwwwww those poor bears loosing their furr i feel so sad
  56. alli marie 15 days later:
    fun
  57. alli 15 days later:
    not how rude of ppl
  58. Kayla Jayne 16 days later:
    I think bears look so bad with no fur, maybe penguins will look better I supppose.
  59. alli 21 days later:
    how dare
  60. kayla 25 days later:
    i feel soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo bad
  61. ROXY 27 days later:
    POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LITTLE BEAR
  62. HGEGFRU 27 days later:
    POOOOOORRRR BEAR ,I FEEL SORRY FOR HER
  63. SKYLER 27 days later:
    I DON'T NO WHAT TO WRITE?8)
  64. PASTINA LOVER about 1 month later:
    tHATS SO SAD!!!!:( I hope they find out why. then they can find a cure.Give them some blankets. help them stay warm.:):)
  65. Justin Bieber about 1 month later:
    That is nasty!
  66. TaylorLautner is hot about 1 month later:
    OMG this bears are freaking me out!!!! hey justin bierber<3 poor poorr bearssss.... they eat werid!
  67. olbama about 1 month later:
    i need to find out what happened! these poor bearsss!!!! <3 AWW
  68. MS. Olbama about 1 month later:
    MY HUSBAND is working on the case!
  69. Ariy girl ariana about 1 month later:
    that is sad
  70. ghhghgh about 1 month later:
    sad
  71. cake about 1 month later:
    that is disgusto
  72. jeeyoo 3 months later:
    oh my
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