Spectacled Bear Conservation–Wildlife Conservation Network

Spectacled bears are the only bear species in South America.

Lack of knowledge about these bears considerably compromises the conservation management for the species.

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Spectacled bears—also known as Andean bears—are named for the markings around their eyes.

Spectacled bears—also known as Andean bears—are named for the markings around their eyes that give them the appearance of wearing glasses. They are the only bear species found in South America and have left a cultural mark as the inspiration behind the popular Paddington Bear series of children’s books. Little is known about this elusive bear and while the mystery surrounding them may add to its mystique, it does little to further its conservation. Lack of knowledge about these bears considerably compromises the conservation management for the species.

This rare, charismatic bear is highly endangered, primarily due to habitat fragmentation that has caused bears to lose access to critical feeding areas. Although this bear is generally found in humid, alpine cloud forests, Spectacled Bear Conservation (SBC) discovered a population of more than 65 bears in the low elevation dry forest, providing a unique opportunity to observe these bears in the wild. Spectacled Bear Conservation has been able to characterize critical aspects of the bear’s biology and reproduction to identify their habitat needs and other factors impacting their conservation. SBC also works closely with the communities that live in and around bear habitat to build local people’s pride in conservation and introduce alternative behaviors that are less detrimental to the ecosystem.

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Using GPS, conservationists at SBC track spectacled bears.

Spectacled Bear Conservation is able to track and observe bears in the dry forest and use the information they gather to protect bears and their habitat. Robyn Appleton explains SBC's work to TV network HITN in this video.

We can prevent starvation and the suffering of spectacled bears by protecting their habitat and engaging local villages in conservation.

Robyn Appleton

Robyn Appleton, Founder and Research Director

Raised in western Canada, Robyn always had a love for nature and particularly bears. In 2003, she began her graduate work on black bears but after attending a couple of bear research conferences she realized almost nothing was known about spectacled bears. She quickly fell in love with this curious and charismatic species and became determined to try and help ensure their survival. In 2006 she moved to Peru and met animal tracker and ex-hunter Javier Vallejos. Together they discovered a viable bear population in the critically endangered dry forest of northern Peru. Shortly thereafter, she founded Spectacled Bear Conservation. Today, Robyn and her incredible field team continue to improve our knowledge of these shy animals through rigorous scientific research on spectacled bear biology, behavior, and habitat needs.

Conservation Solutions

Scientific Research

Expanding Education

Empowering Women

Boosting Local Economies

Guiding Policy

Honoring Culture

Survival Probability Assessments

SBC’s research helps to understand spectacled bear population size, demographics, life cycle, reproductive behavior, and critical resources needed for survival (like food, water and denning sites). Their field data guides conservation decisions by identifying prime habitat and key areas, like waterholes and sapote trees, that need protection, and sharing research findings with local community members and the broader conservation community.

Forest Guardians

After providing economic support with their Felti program, SBC listens to local people’s community-specific needs and interests, and adapts their Forest Guardians education and support programs. So far, SBC has helped Andean communities improve their school curriculum, train in wildfire prevention and response, and provide more fuel-efficient stoves, improving local perceptions about conservation along the way.

Felti

SBC collaborates with female Felti artisans from rural and indigenous communities. They become empowered by earning a fair and competitive wage, with many participants earning an income for the first time in their lives. Since 2010, more than 100 women have been engaged and trained to make Feltis, creating a space for social support and education as well, with many electing to learn new language skills.

Felti

SBC’s Felti program involves the production of small, hand-crafted, woolen animals using a method called dry-needle felting. The program results in a direct economic benefit for the communities to protect bear habitat. Providing communities with alternative economic opportunities reduces human pressure on wildlife and habitats, incentivizing conservation and building trust between SBC and local people.

Using Science for Management

SBC has earned a long-term permit to conduct scientific investigation on spectacled bears in any national park in Peru. With this research, SBC supports local authorities to train park personnel on data collection, conducting studies to provide information that guides their management decisions, and providing species inventories and detailed information on wildlife threats, such as poaching.

Archaeological Discoveries

SBC’s study area is an archaeological marvel and the seat of the pre-Incan Sican culture. Unfortunately, this area has seen extensive illegal excavations and theft for decades, which means a loss of artifacts and cultural knowledge. SBC works closely with the Sican National Museum and Peru’s Ministry of Culture to protect critical bear habitat while helping local communities defend and preserve their highly valuable cultural heritage.

Scientific Research

Survival Probability Assessments

SBC’s research helps to understand spectacled bear population size, demographics, life cycle, reproductive behavior, and critical resources needed for survival (like food, water and denning sites). Their field data guides conservation decisions by identifying prime habitat and key areas, like waterholes and sapote trees, that need protection, and sharing research findings with local community members and the broader conservation community.

Expanding Education

Forest Guardians

After providing economic support with their Felti program, SBC listens to local people’s community-specific needs and interests, and adapts their Forest Guardians education and support programs. So far, SBC has helped Andean communities improve their school curriculum, train in wildfire prevention and response, and provide more fuel-efficient stoves, improving local perceptions about conservation along the way.

Empowering Women

Felti

SBC collaborates with female Felti artisans from rural and indigenous communities. They become empowered by earning a fair and competitive wage, with many participants earning an income for the first time in their lives. Since 2010, more than 100 women have been engaged and trained to make Feltis, creating a space for social support and education as well, with many electing to learn new language skills.

Boosting Local Economies

Felti

SBC’s Felti program involves the production of small, hand-crafted, woolen animals using a method called dry-needle felting. The program results in a direct economic benefit for the communities to protect bear habitat. Providing communities with alternative economic opportunities reduces human pressure on wildlife and habitats, incentivizing conservation and building trust between SBC and local people.

Guiding Policy

Using Science for Management

SBC has earned a long-term permit to conduct scientific investigation on spectacled bears in any national park in Peru. With this research, SBC supports local authorities to train park personnel on data collection, conducting studies to provide information that guides their management decisions, and providing species inventories and detailed information on wildlife threats, such as poaching.

Honoring Culture

Archaeological Discoveries

SBC’s study area is an archaeological marvel and the seat of the pre-Incan Sican culture. Unfortunately, this area has seen extensive illegal excavations and theft for decades, which means a loss of artifacts and cultural knowledge. SBC works closely with the Sican National Museum and Peru’s Ministry of Culture to protect critical bear habitat while helping local communities defend and preserve their highly valuable cultural heritage.

Impact by the Numbers

1,900

acres of private land purchased by SBC that will be permanently protected as critical spectacled bear habitat

2,758

people reached through SBC's education programs in 2023

Where Your Money Goes

$50 Will train one local women in the art of dry needle felting. SBC’s felti program employs, educates, and empowers women and funds conservation.

$500 Will purchase one camera trap used to identify new bears and new species to the area as well as monitor existing populations.

$750 Fully outfits an SBC field team member with all the equipment needed for a multi-day backcountry scouting and research trips looking for new bear habitat, and monitoring current camera traps.

$5,000 Funds one team in the field monitoring known bears and exploring unknown bear habitat for a month.

Secure Land for Bears

As their habitat disappears, spectacled bears are cut off from vital food sources and unable to connect with other bear populations. There is a simple solution to save these bears: purchase the land to protect it from development.

SBC aims to procure key parcels of private land to safeguard the critical feeding areas and habitat connectivity that Peru’s dry forest bears need to survive in the wild.

You can make a lasting impact for these bears by helping SBC save their habitat.

Donate to SEcure land for Bears

Watch Robyn Appleton's Expo Presentation on Spectacled Bears

The rare, charismatic spectacled bear is highly endangered, primarily due to habitat fragmentation that have caused it to lose access to critical feeding areas. Spectacled Bear Conservation works with communities that live in and around bear habitat to build local people’s pride in conservation.

News & Stories

First Spectacled Bears Fitted with GPS Collars at Machu Picchu

Just last week, Spectacled Bear Conservation (SBC) deployed the first GPS collars on two spectacled bears living in Peru's Historic... Learn More

Protecting Wildlife Can Also Preserve History

Fossilized riverbeds in Botswana. An Andean cat geoglyph in Chile’s Atacama Desert. A pre-Incan burial site in a remote region... Learn More

Ancient Bears of Machu Picchu

The team bushwhacked their way through the forest, navigating well-worn Inca trails until broad stone walls materialized out of the... Learn More

A Change of Plans for Bear Habitat

Isai Sanchez squinted as he leaned closer to the computer screen, studying the camera trap footage for any signs of... Learn More

Protecting Forests for South America’s Wildlife

South America’s forests are an ark for some of the rarest species on Earth. The lush, green canopies of northern... Learn More

Creating a Bear Oasis

Shaded by a small cluster of fig trees, a waterhole is everything to the dry forest spectacled bears: a place... Learn More

Securing Land for Bears

Justina’s cub is never far from her side, hovering close like a shadow. Mother and cub spend most of their... Learn More

What They Don't Teach You In Science Class

When I studied environmental science at university, we learned about biodiversity, species competition, habitat degradation, population dynamics, invasive species, and... Learn More

Every Spectacled Bear Counts: Marco Shows the Danger of Isolation

It was a scene right out of a whodunit. Boulders lining the dry riverbed were ominously marked with blood. Conservationists... Learn More

Gatekeepers to the Bears

The truck bounces and shakes almost the entire way to Gramalote, the path is often more rocks and craters than... Learn More

A Fat Bear is a Healthy Bear

Leafy weeds engulfed Jose and Javier up to their chests as they tried to find the trail. It was as... Learn More

Wildfires Threaten Bears

The air was thick with smoke as the fire quickly closed in, before long Jose Vallejos would be trapped. Wildfires... Learn More

Feeding the Bears

First by motorbike and later on foot, Robyn Appleton spent months in Peru's dry forest looking for spectacled bears. Without... Learn More

A Bear Named Laura

When Robyn Appleton set out to find spectacled bears in Peru, she wasn’t expecting to find anything like Laura. Not... Learn More

From Fires to Floods: Spectacled Bear Conservation is Rebuilding After Back-to-Back Natural Disasters

In an almost biblical chain of events, our partners at Spectacled Bear Conservation (SBC) finished combating one major natural disaster... Learn More

Expanding the Network: WCN Steps Into Exciting New Territory

It's no exaggeration to say that the WCN network of conservationists, donors, and staff approach their commitment to protecting wildlife... Learn More

The Only Bear in South America

The spectacled bear is a household sight across the world, though most people don’t realize they have one in their... Learn More

Visiting the Spectacled Bear Conservation Society in Peru

In May this year—thanks to the support by the Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN)—I had the good fortune and privilege to... Learn More

Wildlife on Camera- WildFIRE on Camera

Our partners at Spectacled Bear Conservation set this camera trap out to catch pictures of wildlife. They got a picture... Learn More

Wildlife on Camera—Mountain Tapir

High in the cloud forests of Colombia, Ecuador, and northern Peru, a peculiar creature tromps through the landscape with surprisingly... Learn More

Photography Credits: Spectacled Bear Conservation