Gobi Bear

The Gobi bear (Ursus arctos gobiensis), known in Mongolian as the Mazaalai (Мазаалай), is a subspecies of the brown bear (Ursus arctos) that is found in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. It is listed as critically endangered by the Mongolian Redbook of Endangered Species and by the Zoological Society of London. The population included only around 30 adults in 2009, and is separated by enough distance from other brown bear populations to achieve reproductive isolation. In 1959, hunting of the animal was prohibited in order to preserve the dying subspecies.