Spectacled bears are mostly vegetarian. They love to eat bromeliads (spiky tropical plants), berries, cactus fruits, and honey. Their powerful claws are perfect for climbing trees and pulling apart tough plants to find food. Occasionally they eat insects or small animals, but mostly it is fruit and plants for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The author Michael Bond based Paddington Bear on the spectacled bear — he even gave Paddington a Peruvian homeland and a love of marmalade sandwiches. Real spectacled bears do not eat sandwiches, but they do enjoy sweet things like honey and ripe fruit. Their round, gentle faces do look rather like a bear that might politely ask for directions at a train station.
These bears are excellent climbers and build platforms high up in trees by bending branches together. Sometimes they use these platforms to sleep on, or to sit and eat from. Imagine making your own treehouse every time you wanted a snack!
Spectacled bears are shy and quiet — they do not usually bother people. They live alone except when mothers are raising their cubs. Protecting the cloud forests where they live is very important, because as forests shrink, these bears have fewer places to find food and shelter.