Bear Facts
The first time I saw black bear in the wild was when I was seven years old. My family was vacationing in the Great Smokey Mountains when we came upon a mother and her cub. She chased the cub up a tree and stood her ground. We retreated. The beauty and power of those creatures filled me with a holy and overwhelming sense of awe. The awe remains still.
The Black Bear is exclusive to North America, being found in mountains and forests throughout the U.S. and Canada and down into the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico. The black bear also inhabits the wetlands of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
When European settlers arrived in the Americas, they found a new type of bear. It was a medium sized, shy creature with a glossy black coat. They named it the "black bear" for reasons that seemed obvious. However, as pioneers pushed further west, they began to see "black bears" that were a rusty brown to light ginger brown, these were called "cinnamon bears." Later they would encounter more exotic color variations such as the creamy white black bear (the Kermode or spirit/ghost bear of British Columbia, Canada) and the Blue or Glacier bears of Yakutat Bay, Alaska. At first these color variations were taken to be new species but now we know that the color differences are mostly geographical variations of the same bear.
Bears have broad, flat feet with 5 toes and curved non-retracting claws. They have a barely visible tail. The muzzle may be brown or black. They have 42 teeth. Females weigh between 130-265 lbs and males weigh 150-400lbs. Black bears are about 35-40 inches high at the shoulder and 5-6 feet from nose to tail. The largest black bear on record weighed over 600 lbs and was 7'8" feet long from nose to tail.
A healthy bear must take in about 15 pounds of food a day. Though mostly vegetarian (75% of diet is plant material) bears will eat any animal smaller and slower than themselves that they can catch. Bears eat grubworms, insects, snakes, frogs, berries and carrion. Bears are fond of honey and can eat a beehive, bees included with no ill effects. Unfortunately, black bears in National and State parks have come to associate campers with food handouts. This presents problems if the bear becomes testy from not getting what he/she wanted.
Several years ago, a black bear at Yellowstone Park discovered that a Volkswagen's doors would pop open if he jumped up and down on the roof of the car. There was usually food in the car. This bear eventually had to be killed after carjacking a number of VWs in the parking lot. This is the reason parkgoers are warned not to feed the bears. It encourages bad behavior. Always store food away from your sleeping area when camping in bear country.
Adult bears tend to be solitary creatures, though females travel with their cubs until the cubs are grown and independant at two years old. Males and females come together to mate in early Summer, usually June-July, and go their own ways afterwards. The cubs are born January-February. The female raises the young alone.The average litter is two cubs though the range is 1-4, the female bear has 6 teats which suggests the possibility of larger litters. Cubs weigh about 4 pounds at birth, they are born with eyes closed and nearly naked (they have a fine hair coat). Eyes open at 25-30 days. They are weaned by August.
The mother bear must protect the cubs from adult males who will kill the cubs when small. The highest mortality for cubs occurs within 60 days of venturing from the den. They are subject to attack from male bears, bobcats, eagles and mountain lions. Females will not mate when traveling with cubs.
Black bears produce cubs every other year. The cubs will stay with their mother from 1.5-3 years with female cubs lingering longer in their mothers home range. Sometimes siblings will travel together for a while after leaving their mother. Females are sexually mature at 3-5 years, males at 7.
Bears do not "hibernate" in the strictest sense of the word. They undergo a deep sleep from which they can be woken easily. They may den for up to 7 months in colder areas or remain active all year long as they do in Florida and Alabama where the winters are milder. Bears gain about 30 pounds in preparation for denning, during which their temperature and heartbeat will drop. During this time they will not eat, drink or eliminate waste. Pregnant females will sleep until the birth of their cubs and will doze heavily while caring for the cubs until spring.
A modest estimate of the current American Black Bear population is around 750,000.
Before you go...
Click here for recommeded books on bears.
Infobear--Black Bear Facts
American Bears Association
Adirondack Black Bear
Florida Black Bear
Bears & other Top Predators Magazine (great photos)
Info. from PBS special on
Spirit Bear and the Marvelous Rainforest page