Spectacled bear, normal-style.
  • Spectacled bear, normal-style.

As you probably know (PAY ATTENTION), I care very deeply about bear issues.

Today in the Daily Mail: Leipzig’s bespectacled lady-bears are going bald! AND NOT EVEN SCIENCE KNOWS WHY.

The sudden hair loss has affected all female bears at the zoo.

Some experts believe it could be due to a genetic defect though the animals do not seem to be suffering from any other affliction.

A picture of Dolores, one of the afflicted, is after the jump. JUST WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE IT, MAN!!!

baldbear.jpg

So sad! Poor, poor, poor Dolores! You should really look at the whole thing HERE. Get well soon, Dolores.

Slog Tip from the intrepid Matt Hickey.

Lindy West was born an unremarkable female baby in Seattle, Washington. The former Stranger writer covered movies, movie stars, exclamation points, lady stuff, large frightening fish, and much, much more....

18 replies on “Bald! Bears! Bad Times!”

  4. My guess is it has something to do with gay marriage, since it can’t possibly be global warming since Rush tells us that’s a myth.

  5. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita.

  10. Most things that normally have fur do not look good without it (see: hairless dogs & cats, newborn mice). I guess bears are no exception.

  11. The article doesn’t make clear whether other bear species at the same institution are affected, or just spectacled bears.

    Presumably the vets are well ahead of the hack reporters who failed to ask obvious questions (but why should they? this is tabloid stuff).

    I imagine the inquiry will look first for ectoparasites. Ursocoptic mange comes to mind, but it could be a mite that has made the leap from another species. Normally ectoparasites are very species-specific, though.

    Then nutrition–look at diet for possible missing micronutrients. Start/increase feeding of appropriate fresh fruits and veg, to see if improvements. There may also be chemical contaminants in a highly processed diet of biscuits or canned foods.

    Behavioral aspects–elevated stress hormones from inappropriate social groupings and/or lack of behavioral enrichment.

    Novel infectious agents–various tests on skin biopsies w/ banked tissue or hair samples as controls.

    A genetic defect is unlikely. Management of captive populations of endangered/threatened species is pretty sophisticated these days and involves regular planned exchanges of animals among different institutions for breeding purposes.

  13. So I read the piece before the jump. And I look at the picture of the healthy bear. And I try to imagine what this bear will look like without any hair on its head.

    The picture of the bear balding *everywhere* completely freaked me out.

  15. rob@11. the failure to ask obvious questions. ah, yes. “just get a quote and a picture”: the motto of most modern media outlets.

    thanks to you for the in depth analysis. interesting.

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