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Black Bears

Everyone has heard of teddy bears, but the wild species that inspired them is still something of a mystery to many people.

Black bears are the smallest, commonest and most widespread of North America's bears. Far more than their relatives, they are capable of tolerating us, but the favour is all too seldom returned. Even today, bears are shot by the hundred for straying near rural villages, regardless of whether they are actually posing a threat.

Moving to science-based bear management principles that protect both people and bears is long overdue.

Black Bears in the Back Yard: What living with bears is really like

Background to the Bear: Habitat

The black bear is a creature of the forest. For vast eons it has been excluded from prairies and northern tundra by bigger, more aggressive competitors - the grizzly and the now-extinct giant short-faced bear.

Trees provide safety; black bears are superb climbers, and a mother will send her cubs up a tree rather than charge an attacker. This is a crucial difference between black bears and grizzlies. A grizzly sow will always defend her cubs with great force, as this species evolved in open country where attack is the best defence. Most black bears are very timid in comparison.

Trees also provide food. Black bears eat acorns and other nuts as well as deciduous leaves. In addition, old trees are the preferred denning sites for the winter sleep.

Diet

Bears need to gorge themselves on available food sources in order to put on sufficient fat for their winter sleep. On the west coast of Canada, their diet varies by season, but includes:

• Berries - thimbleberries, huckleberries, etc

• Fish - migrating salmon

• Wild estuary grasses

• Clams

Given an opportunity to scavenge on a deer carcass, a black bear will certainly take it. They are occasionally active hunters as well.

Bear Cubs

Black bears mate in mid-summer but, due to delayed implantation, the embryos do not start to develop until the female enters hibernation. This remarkable strategy allows bears to concentrate solely upon feeding in the autumn, when food sources are at their richest.

A black bear usually has two cubs per litter, although up to six is possible (but extremely rare). Female black bears cannot breed until they are at least four years old, and males until they are six years of age. Cub survival is usually very low in a bear's first litter, due to inexperience.

Female bears raise their cubs alone. They spend their first winter denning with their mother and will disperse the following spring. These adolescents wander together for a while before parting company. Sadly, many young bears perish at human hands at this vulnerable period in their lives.

Interesting Bear Facts

A black bear naturally lives from 20 - 25 years, and can survive until its 30s.

Claw marks from a bear's climb of a beech tree can be visible for years.

Bears are plantigrade - they walk on the whole of their foot, like humans. Dogs and cats walk only on their toes.

The half-eaten salmon carcasses left behind by bears in the coastal rainforest are vitally important for enriching the soil.

White black bears make up 10% of the population on some islands.

Contrary to myth, bears have good vision - and an outstanding sense of smell and hearing.

The biggest black bear on record came from Manitoba and weighed 900lb / 408kg, more than an interior grizzly.

All photos, text and other content © Adele B. (www.thesittingfox.co.uk) 2006 - 2010. Inspired by stuff found at www.webcodingtech.com.