The reason I chose bears is because they are both the largest natural carnivore and have evolved in jungles, forests, even the artic. I'm just fantasizing their mad evolutionary skillz, so they won't burn up.
As for what they eat, I'm thinking of a large extremophilic worm-like race (unintellegent) that live in various lava tubes and feed on dead plant matter.
The werecrocodiles are lycanthropic humans that shapeshift from human to crocodile uncontrollably. They're basically like a fantasy leper colony.
For tree-related animals, I'm probably going to go incectoid, and that little guy you see as my picture might be there too. Although, I'll change him a bit to avoid copyright issues.