The sun bear is the smallest of the world's eight bear species. Its common name comes from the white or yellowish crescent marking on its chest, which many people think looks like the rising or setting sun. Each bear’s crest is individual, like fingerprints. The sun bear’s powerful jaws are used to tear into trees to get at the burrowing insects beneath the bark. They have a distinctive pigeon-toed walk, an adaptation to their arboreal lifestyle, and they are amazing climbers. Like other bears, sun bears have an incredible sense of smell, thought to be several thousand times better than that of humans.