Yes, sometimes. Or at least we think so. Despite their name, and their voracious appetite for it in captivity, honey does not seem to form a large part of a honey bear's diet in the wild, and in fact, direct observations of honey-eating or beehive-raiding are hard to find.
It is, however, reported that honey has been found in their stomach contents, and one function of their long, slender tongue is widely believed to be to help them reach inside bees’ nests.
What do honey bears eat?
Honey bears are actually primarily frugivorous (fruit-eating), with as much as 90 per cent of their diet consisting of ripe fruits, with leaves, flowers, and insect larvae making up the rest.
Their favourite food appears to be figs, but perhaps fig bear wasn’t catchy enough!
Are honey bears real bears?
Of course, they are not really bears either, but a type of rainforest mammal in the Procyonidae family, along with coatis and racoons. So, neither bears nor honeyeaters, these curious creatures prove that names cannot always be trusted
