Sun bears are highly intelligent, arboreal bears from Southeast Asian forests that require specialised management to meet their behavioural needs in captivity.
Sun bears in captivity face welfare challenges if their arboreal and foraging needs are not adequately met. Without complex climbing structures and extensive food enrichment mimicking their natural insectivorous and frugivorous diet, sun bears develop stereotypic tongue-rolling — a reliable indicator of unmet foraging motivation. Their high intelligence and specific dietary needs require creative enrichment: honeycomb structures, buried food, complex foraging puzzles. Welfare-centred sun bear management draws on field knowledge of their natural ecology to design enrichment programmes that genuinely meet their behavioural requirements.