The American Black Bear is commonly referred to as just the Black Bear. It can range from 4 to 7 feet in length in length. The American Black Bear’s weight varies due to time of the year. Males in the wild average between 125 pounds and 500 pounds. But if he has a good food supply he can get much bigger. According to Bear.org the record is a 880 pounder found in North Carolina. The females weigh between 90 and 300 pounds, with the biggest being 520 pounds, found in Minnesota.
The American Black Bear is usually black in color of course. But they can be brown, or blonde or in some cases, but rarely, white. The Black Bear differs from the Grizzly, by being smaller. There are other differences such as, having a furry instep, and a smaller hump.
Habits of the American Black Bear
The American Black Bears usually mate from May to July and have their cubs during January or February. Average litter size is 2 but can be as high as 6. Cubs weigh between ½ pound to 1 pound at birth.
Black Bears see in color and have good close up vision. Their best sense is their smell, which is excellent. They also have a good sense of hearing, around twice as well as Humans. They are good swimmers and will often swim to islands in lakes or rivers.
American Black Bears have a varied diet. They eat nuts, berries, greens, and insects. They love bee and ant larvae as well as honey. They will also eat meat either their own kills or sometimes carrion. And of course they will raid a campsite for food. My uncle Larry Gaddis had an interesting experience with such a bear. He was deer hunting in Old Fort North Carolina. He awoke in the middle of the night to some strange popping sounds. He went outside the camper and saw a Black Bear at another nearby campsite. The Bear had opened a cooler and was popping open Pepsi Cans and drinking them! I bet Pepsi would have loved to have that on tape, but alas he didn’t have a camera.
Most Black Bears do hibernate but not all do. The reason for hibernation is so they won’t be active when the food supply is diminished. Bears with long winters in the North may hibernate 6 to 7 months. Ones with lots of food will only hibernate for a couple of months if at all.
Black Bears are not likely to attack humans even in defense of their cubs. However don’t try messing with a Grizzly’s cubs. The mothers will do a fake out type bluff attack. That doesn’t mean go out and mess with Black Bear Cubs. I doubt mama bear read this article so she may not know she isn’t supposed to attack!
If you do encounter a Black Bear in the woods don’t panic. According to Americanbear.org, you are 180 times more likely to be killed by a bee than a bear. And 180,000 times more likely to die in a car accident. Go to the above mentioned site for what to do in a Black Bear Encounter.
Habitat of the American Black Bear
American Black Bears can be found only in North America. They are found in many states but seem more inclined to the Eastern and Southern States. They can also be found in Mexico in addition to the United States.
American Black Bears seem to like to live in forested regions. They can be found from sea level to 10,000 feet above sea level. They however will live in swamps and in almost desert of the South West. One close cousin of the American Black Bear, lives in the Tundra of Alaska and Canada.
American Black Bears may have a range of over 100 miles. This would possibly overlap the range of females in the area. Females have a smaller range and are more likely to defend it against intruders.
I hope you learned a little about American Black Bear Habits and Habitat in this article on Associatedcontent.com. Thanks and come back to read more articles on anything you can think of here.
