Editing Sloth bear (section)

=== Dietary habits ===
Sloth bears are expert hunters of [[termites]], [[ants]], and [[bee]]s, which they locate by smell.<ref name="brown2"/><ref name=ADW>{{cite web | url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Melursus_ursinus/ | title=Melursus ursinus (Sloth bear) | website=[[Animal Diversity Web]] }}</ref> On arriving at a mound, they scrape at the structure with their claws until they reach the large combs at the bottom of the galleries, and disperse the soil with violent puffs. The termites are then sucked up through the muzzle, producing a sucking sound which can be heard 180 m away.<ref name="india"/> Their sense of smell is strong enough to detect grubs 3&nbsp;ft below ground. Unlike other bears, they do not congregate in feeding groups.<ref name="brown2"/> Sloth bears may supplement their diets with fruit, plant matter, carrion, and very rarely other mammals. In March and April, they eat the fallen petals of [[mowha]] trees and are partial to [[mango]]es, [[maize]], [[sugar cane]], [[jackfruit]], and the pods of the [[golden shower tree]].<ref name=ADW/> Sloth bears are extremely fond of honey.<ref name="india"/> When feeding their cubs, sows are reported to regurgitate a mixture of half-digested jack fruit, [[Aegle marmelos|wood apples]], and pieces of [[honeycomb]]. This sticky substance hardens into a dark yellow, circular, bread-like mass which is fed to the cubs. This "bear's bread" is considered a delicacy by some of India's natives.<ref name="Anderson">{{cite book | author= Anderson, Kenneth | title=Nine Man-Eaters and One Rogue | year=1954 | page= 131 | publisher=John Culler & Sons |isbn= 1-887269-11-8 }}</ref> Rarely, Sloth bears can become addicted to sweets in hotel waste, visiting rubbish bins, even inside populated towns, all year long.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Prajapati|first1=Utkarsh|last2=Koli|first2=Vijay Kumar|last3=Sundar|first3=K.S. Gopi|date=2021|title=Vulnerable sloth bears are attracted to human food waste: a novel situation in Mount Abu town, India |journal=Oryx|volume= 55|issue=5 |pages=699–707 |doi=10.1017/S0030605320000216 |doi-access=free |s2cid=233677898}}</ref> Their diet includes animal flesh.<ref>{{cite book|title=Wild Animals I Have Met: A Book of Natural History and Thrilling Hunting|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nA9EAQAAMAAJ&dq=sloth+bear+consume+flesh&pg=PA48|year=1901|author=Frederick H. A. Seymour|publisher=The Ohio State University|quote=Although they generally subsist entirely on vegetable substances and insects, they will occasionally eat flesh.|access-date=30 October 2023|archive-date=14 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231114043332/https://books.google.com/books?id=nA9EAQAAMAAJ&dq=sloth+bear+consume+flesh&pg=PA48|url-status=live}}</ref>

In Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala, seeds of six tree species eaten and excreted by sloth bears (''Artocarpus hirsuta'', ''A. integrifolia'', ''Cassia fistula'', ''Mangifera indica'', ''Zizyphus oenoplina'') did not see significantly different percentages of germination (appearance of cotyledon) when compared to germinated seeds that had not been passed through the gut of the bears.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Sreekumar|first1=P. G.|last2=Balakrishnan|first2=M.|date=2002|title=Seed dispersal by the Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus) in South India|journal=Biotropica|volume=34|issue=3|pages=474–477|doi=10.1111/j.1744-7429.2002.tb00564.x|bibcode=2002Biotr..34..474S |s2cid=247666325 }}</ref> However, seeds germinated much faster after being ingested by bears for three species, ''Artocarpus hirsuta, Cassia fistula,'' and ''Zizyphus oenoplina''. This experiment suggests that sloth bears may play an important role in seed dispersal and germination, with effects varying by tree species.<ref name=":1" />