Nice to see a sloth bear up a tree. It is good that you got eye contact. Wish you had got the hind legs as well.

It can climb down pretty fast. Many years ago I had observed one sloth bear climbing up a tree in Ranthambhore. However, when we moved closer, it took about 3 seconds to climb down. I was handholding my camera at that time and before I could steady myself and pull the trigger, it was gone.

The best observations about sloth bears - as far as my knowledge goes - have been made by Dunbar Brander in his book Wild Animals in Central India http://www.indiawilds.com/diary/wild...central-india/ . In that book, I remember Dunbar Brander mentioning that when a hunter approaches a sloth bear, the sloth bear climbs down pretty fast while keeping the tree between itself and the hunter. Infact, he gives pride of place to the Sloth bear as the opening chapter. In page 8 Dunbar Brander writes "When the bear is treed in this way or even found up a tree in teh day-time, the sportsman may imagine he has an easy task in hand, but this is not so, and the bear should be approached with the utmost caution. on realizing his danger, he slips behind the main trunk, and rapidly descending without exposing his person beyond one hurried glance round the edge of the stem, he will drop the last 15 feet and make off at a gallop, keeping the trunk of the tree between himself and his enemy."