Rare sighting of mom and baby creature at Thailand campground stuns officials. See them
Wildlife officials at a national park in Thailand noticed a family of vulnerable animals wandering through a campground. The rare sighting was captured in photos and left officials stunned.
The mother sun bear and cub appeared at the edge of an empty campground in Kaeng Krachan National Park, Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation said in a Jan. 17 Facebook post.
Photos show the two bears walking along the edge of the clearing and venturing under concrete furniture.
Sun bears are a vulnerable species found throughout Southeast Asia, according to the Thai National Parks department. They are the “smallest of the bears,” reaching up to 5 feet in length and weighing up to 150 pounds. They have shaggy black fur and a distinctive tan patch on their chests.
Sun bears are rarely seen in the wild so the sighting of a mother and cub excited rangers, national park officials said. They viewed the encounter as a conservation success and a demonstration of how safe the mother sun bear felt at the park.
Generally, sun bears are “solitary” animals, except for mothers and their young, wildlife officials said.
Sun bears are known to live at Kaeng Krachan National Park but are only seen “from time to time,” the parks department said.
Kaeng Krachan National Park is in southern Thailand and a roughly 120-mile drive southwest from Bangkok.
Google Translate was used to translate the Facebook post from Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.
This story was originally published January 21, 2025 at 6:11 AM with the headline "Rare sighting of mom and baby creature at Thailand campground stuns officials. See them."
