Sun bears, the world's smallest bears, have highly specialized foraging behaviors in the wild that captive settings must accommodate to achieve adequate welfare.
Sun bear welfare in captivity hinges on foraging. The motivational drive to forage - to explore, manipulate, and search for food - is so fundamental to sun bear nature that environments denying this drive cause severe chronic frustration expressed as stereotypies. Providing scatter feeds and puzzle feeders barely scratches the surface of what sun bears need - they require complex physical environments with objects to manipulate, surfaces to investigate, and the opportunity for sustained searching behavior. The Bornean model of large forested enclosures demonstrates that meaningful sun bear welfare requires scale and environmental complexity far beyond standard zoo exhibit design.