America Black Bear

Habitat

• Forested areas are the black bear’s primary habitat, but they can adapt to live within a variety of habitats.
• Generally prefer forests with an under-story which provides both food and protection.
• May live in low elevation swamps or high mountain meadows.
• Adapt well to a variety of habitats as long as they have a good supply of food, water, shelter, and space to live in.
• Each year humans move farther into black bear habitat, forcing bears to learn how to live in a new setting where natural food sources, dens, and water are harder to access.

Distribution

• About 400,000 black bears live across North America.
• Range from northern Mexico to the edge of the tree line in sub-arctic Canada.
• In the United States, black bears live in 28 states from the southeast to the Appalachian Mountains, in New England, the lower MIssissippi valley, the upper Midwest, throughout the Rocky Mountains, the southwest and the West Coast.

Physical Characteristics

Color

• Variable – range from black or brown to even bluish or white.
• Habitat can dictate coat color.
• Females can give birth to cubs that are different colors.
• They keep warm and dry because of a layer of soft thick fur next to the skin called under-fur.
• Guard fur on top of the under fur is much thicker and protects the bears from moisture, insect bites and stings; also acts as camouflage.
• Because of the confusion in colors, it is best to call brown black bears exactly that.

Size

• Fourth largest of the world’s eight bear species.
• Adult males can weigh between 175 and 500 pounds (78-225 kg), both average 250-300 pounds (112-135 kg) in the fall.
• Females range between 100 and 300 pounds (45-135 kg) and average 175 pounds (78 kg).
• Two to three feet (60-91 cm) tall at the shoulders standing on all fours.
• Five feet (152 cm) tall when standing upright.

Features

• Often mistaken for brown bears; you cannot distinguish black bears from brown bears based on color alone. In some areas bears of the brown phase are called “brown bears,” but they are not.
• Relatively long muzzle, small eyes, and large nostrils and large prominent ears.
• When standing on all fours, rump is higher than front shoulders.
• Often have dark colored, sharp, curved claws that do not always show in their tracks.
• Claws are usually less than 2 inches in length.
• The pure white phase of the black bear along the British Columbia coast is also called “the Spirit Bear.”

Diet

• Omnivorous; diet varies by season and includes grasses, roots, forbs, berries and nuts to insects, fish, carrion, rodents, moose, deer fawns and elk calves.
• When meat is difficult to find, diet will consist primarily of plant matter.
• When food is scarce, may raid farms, garbage cans or dumps, or beehives, when people are careless.

Behavior

Daily Activity

• Usually active in the morning and later in the evening.
• Often rest in day beds made in dense vegetation within secluded forest areas to escape summer heat.
• Very agile and can move quickly, up to 40 miles per hour, for short distances.
• Excellent tree climbers, black bears can climb trees to escape predators and other bears and to feed on fruit and nuts.

Hibernation

• Most sleep during cold months to conserve energy when food is scarce.
• Not true hibernators because they sometimes wake up during the winter and may leave the den to roam.
• Dens are often constructed on an insulated spot on the side of a hill.
• May den in caves or large hollowed-out trees.
• During summer and early fall, black bears eat all they can and store it in their body as fat.
• This fat will provide them with nutrition needed to get  through the long winthemter (while “hibernating” in the den).

Reproduction

• Mate in late spring or early summer.
• Embryo does not start to grow until the female enters her den in the fall.
• Cubs are born in January or February while the female is denned.
• Cubs weigh about 1/2 pound at birth.
• Litters range from one to four cubs (two cubs average).
• By April or May, cubs are ready to leave their winter den.
• Females usually build a day bed at the base of a tree, so that they are hidden.
• At several months of age, cubs play together, climb trees and begin to feed themselves.
• They stay close to their mother for another year or so.

People and North American Black Bears

• They are not an aggressive species.
• Black bears can be found living in forest habitats not far from cities like Washington D.C., Minneapolis, Seattle, and even New York City.
• Generally they are shy and try to avoid contact with humans.
• They can easily become habituated to eating human food, and may eventually stop foraging in the forest and become a nuisance to humans.
• Relocating a problem bear is difficult since they return to their own area. Often, the only solution is to destroy the bear.
• Each fall, people are allowed to hunt black bears in areas where they are abundant.
• Limited hunting is encouraged in order to control the population of bears in certain areas.
• May be poached to sell parts such as bear paws or the gall bladder to satisfy a large Traditional Chinese Medicine market.
• Black bear habitat is shrinking as humans develop houses and resorts.
• Educating people about co-existing with bears and other wildlife is critical for the long-term persistence of wild bear populations.