Richard Walla, age 12, of Gary, Indiana, for his question:

Does Africa have any native bears?

Wild bears enjoy life in many temperate forests around the globe. One species survives in the snowy Arctic and another lives quietly on the slopes of the Andes, south of the equator. Several others are at home in tropical and semitropical latitudes. The sturdy characters have adjusted to all types of climate suitable for large mammals. So you would expect to find at least one native bear in most regions of the world.

A survey of the wild bear population takes us on a world tour to dozens of countries and islands and to most, but not all, of the continents. North America, of course, has an abundance of native bears in assorted colors and sizes. The one we know best is the American black bear  ¬represented by Smoky. His shaggy coat may or may not be black. Mamma is never surprised to find a brown or cinnamon or even a creamy colored cub among her offspring. Like most of the world's bears, they roam through temperate forests and many of our so called black bears live in the western mountains. The males grow up to five feet and weigh from 300 to 500 pounds.

Several large brown bears live in the more desolate regions of the mountains as far north as Alaska. The mighty grizzly, Old Silvertip, may weigh 600 pounds, and, standing on his hind legs, may be eight feet tall. His giant cousin, the nine foot long Alaskan brown bear, may tip the scales at 1,600 pounds. Farther north around the Arctic sea, we have the huge but more slender, polar bear    shaggy white to match his frozen territory.

In the past, the cousins of our bid brown bears roamed through most of Europe and Asia. Some still survive there in remote mountain regions. The Asiatic black bear is found in parts of China and Japan, in the Middle East and even high on the Himalayas. This rather fierce fellow is five feet tall and wears a whitish emblem, like a crescent moon, on his black chest. The smallest of the bears is at home in many forests of Asia and on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. He stands no taller than four feet and weighs less than 100 pounds. His coat is smooth, usually and his socks may be light brown. On his chest, he wears a creamy colored emblem somewhat like a rising sun. Naturally this little fellow is known as the sun bear. The five foot sloth bear, alias the honey bear, is at home in the forests of India and Ceylon. This fellow is even more fond of honey than are other bears. The spec¬tacled bear    with white rings around his eyes    lives in the western Andes, which stretch from the equator far south into Chile. Many bears live in the tropics. None of them live in Africa. Our global bear survey also omitted two other major land masses. There are no native bears in Australia or in Antarctica.

The world's biggest and shaggiest bears are at home in the cool and cold temperate regions north of the equator. These fellows would be uncomfortable in sunny Africa. All bears are born wanderers and rather solitary characters. Africa, of course, teems with a vast assortment of sizeable animals. Perhaps this is why even the bears of the tropics chose to live on less crowded continents.