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The American black bear ( Ursus americanus), or simply black bear, is a species of medium-sized bear which is Endemism to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. It is an omnivore, with a diet varying greatly depending on season and location. It typically lives in largely forested areas; it will leave forests in search of food and is sometimes attracted to human communities due to the immediate availability of food.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the American black bear as a least-concern species because of its widespread distribution and a large population, estimated to be twice that of all other bear species combined. Along with the brown bear ( Ursus arctos), it is one of the two modern bear species not considered by the IUCN to be globally threatened with extinction.
The earliest American black bear fossils, from the Early Pleistocene of Port Kennedy, Pennsylvania, greatly resemble the Asian species, though later specimens grew to sizes comparable to . Once described as a precursor species ( Ursus vitabilis), these specimens have been synonymized with U. americanus. The American black bear lived during the same period as the giant and lesser Arctodus ( Arctodus simus and A. pristinus, respectively) and the Florida spectacled bear ( Tremarctos floridanus). These Tremarctinae bears evolved from bears that had emigrated from Asia to the Americas 7–8 mya. The giant and lesser short-faced bears are thought to have been heavily carnivorous and the Florida spectacled bear more herbivorous, while the American black bears remained arboreal omnivores, like their Asian ancestors. From the Holocene to the present, American black bears seem to have shrunk in size, but this has been disputed because of problems with dating these fossil specimens.
The American black bear's generalist behavior allowed it to exploit a wider variety of foods and has been given as a reason why, of these three genera, it alone survived climate and vegetative changes through the last Ice Age while the other, more specialized North American predators became extinct. However, both Arctodus and Tremarctos had survived several other, previous . After these prehistoric ursids became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene, American black bears, brown bears and polar bears were the only remaining bears in North America.
In The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Charles Darwin noted:
A bear shot in autumn 1986 in Michigan was thought by some to be an American black bear/grizzly bear hybrid, because of its unusually large size and its proportionately larger brain case and skull. DNA testing was unable to determine whether it was a large American black bear or a grizzly bear.
| +American black bear subspecies
!Image !! Scientific name!! Common name!! Distribution!! Description | ||||
| Ursus americanus altifrontalis | Olympic black bear | the Pacific Northwest coast from central British Columbia through northern California and inland to the tip of northern Idaho and British Columbia | ||
| Ursus americanus amblyceps | New Mexico black bear | Colorado, New Mexico, western Texas and the eastern half of Arizona into northern Mexico and southeastern Utah | ||
| Ursus americanus americanus | Eastern black bear | Eastern Montana to the Atlantic coast, from Alaska south and east through Canada to Maine and south to Texas. Thought to be increasing in some regions. | Common to Eastern Canada and the eastern U.S. wherever suitable habitat is found. A large-bodied subspecies; almost all specimens have black fur. May very rarely sport a white blaze on the chest. | |
| Ursus americanus californiensis | California black bear | the mountain ranges of southern California, north through the Central Valley to southern Oregon | Able to live in varied climates: found in temperate rain forest in the north and chaparral shrubland in the south. Small numbers may feature cinnamon-colored fur. | |
| Ursus americanus carlottae | Haida Gwaii black bear or Queen Charlotte Islands black bear | Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands) and Alaska | Generally larger than its mainland counterparts with a large skull and molars and found only in a black color phase. | |
| Ursus americanus cinnamomum | Cinnamon bear | Colorado, Idaho, western Montana and Wyoming, eastern Washington and Oregon and northeastern Utah | Has brown or reddish-brown fur, reminiscent of cinnamon. | |
| Ursus americanus emmonsii | Glacier bear or blue bear | Southeast Alaska | Distinguished by its fur being silvery-gray with a blue luster found mostly on its flanks. | |
| Ursus americanus eremicus | East Mexican black bear | Northeastern Mexico and U.S. borderlands with Texas. | Most often found in Big Bend National Park and the desert border with Mexico. Numbers unknown in Mexico but are presumed to be very low. Critically Endangered. | |
| Ursus americanus floridanus | Florida black bear | Florida, southern Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi (except the southern region) | Has a light brown nose and shiny black fur. A white blaze on the chest is common in this subspecies. An average male weighs . | |
| Ursus americanus hamiltoni | Newfoundland black bear | Newfoundland | Generally bigger than its mainland relatives, ranging in size from and averaging . It has one of the longest hibernation periods of any bear in North America. "Black Bear" , Parks Canada Known to favor foraging in fields of Vaccinium species. | |
| Ursus americanus kermodei | Kermode bear or island white bear, spirit bear | the central coast of British Columbia | Approximately 10% of the population of this subspecies have white or cream-colored coats due to a recessive gene. The other 90% appear as normal-colored black bears. | |
| Ursus americanus luteolus | Louisiana black bear | Eastern Texas, Louisiana and southern Mississippi. The validity of this subspecies has been repeatedly disputed. | Has relatively long, narrow and flat skull and proportionately large molars. Louisiana Black Bear (PDF). Retrieved September 15, 2011. Prefers hardwood bottom forests and as habitat. | |
| Ursus americanus machetes | West Mexican black bear | north-central Mexico | ||
| Ursus americanus perniger | Kenai black bear | the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska | Considered an "Apparently Secure Subspecies" by NatureServe. | |
| Ursus americanus pugnax | Dall Island black bear | Dall Island in the Alexander Archipelago, Alaska | ||
| Ursus americanus vancouveri | Vancouver Island black bear | Vancouver Island, British Columbia | Darker and slightly bigger than the other five subspecies found in British Columbia; it is most common in the north, but appears occasionally in the southern parts of Vancouver Island. |
The current range in the United States is constant throughout most of the Northeast and within the Appalachian Mountains almost continuously from Maine to northern Georgia, the northern Midwest, the Mountain States, the West Coast and Alaska. However, it becomes increasingly fragmented or absent in other regions. Despite this, American black bears in those areas seem to have expanded their range in recent decades, such as with recent sightings in Ohio, Illinois, southern Indiana, and western Nebraska. Sightings of itinerant black bears in the Driftless Area of southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, and southwestern Wisconsin are common. In 2019, biologists with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources confirmed documentation of an American black bear living year-round in woodlands near the town of Decorah in northeastern Iowa, believed to be the first instance of a resident black bear in Iowa since the 1880s.
Surveys taken from 35 states in the early 1990s indicated that American black bear populations were either stable or increasing, except in Idaho and New Mexico. The population in the United States was estimated to range between 339,000 and 465,000 in 2011, though this estimate does not include data from Alaska, Idaho, South Dakota, Texas or Wyoming, whose populations were not recorded in the survey. In California there were an estimated 25,000-35,000 black bears in 2017, making it the largest population of the species in any of the 48 contiguous United States. In 2020 there were about 1,500 bears in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where the population density is about two per square mile. In western North Carolina, the black bear population has dramatically increased in recent decades, from about 3,000 in the early 2000s to over 8,000 in the 2020s.
As of 1993, known black bear populations in Mexico existed in four areas, though knowledge on the distribution of populations outside those areas has not been updated since 1959. Mexico is the only country where the species is classified as "endangered".
In most of the contiguous United States, American black bears today are usually found in heavily vegetated mountainous areas, from in elevation. For American black bears living in the American Southwest and Mexico, habitat usually consists of stands of chaparral and pinyon juniper woods. In this region, bears occasionally move to more open areas to feed on Opuntia. At least two distinct, prime habitat types are inhabited in the Southeastern United States. American black bears in the southern Appalachian Mountains survive in predominantly oak-hickory and mixed Mesophyte forests. In the coastal areas of the southeast (such as Florida, the Carolinas and Louisiana), bears inhabit a mixture of flatwoods, and swampy hardwood sites.
In the northeastern part of the range (the United States and Canada), prime habitat consists of a forest canopy of such as beech, maple, birch and species. Maize crops and oak-hickory mast are also common sources of food in some sections of the northeast; small, thick swampy areas provide excellent refuge cover largely in stands of white cedar. Along the Pacific coast, redwood, Picea sitchensis and Tsuga predominate as overstory cover. Within these northern forest types are early successional areas important for American black bears, such as fields of brush, wet and dry , high , Riparian zone and a variety of mast-producing hardwood species. The Spruce forest dominates much of the range of the American black bear in the Rocky Mountains. Important non-forested areas here are wet meadows, riparian areas, avalanche chutes, roadsides, burns, sidehill parks and subalpine ridgetops.
In areas where human development is relatively low, such as stretches of Canada and Alaska, American black bears tend to be found more regularly in lowland regions. In parts of northeastern Canada, especially Labrador, American black bears have adapted exclusively to semi-open areas that are more typical habitat in North America for brown bears (likely due to the absence there of brown and polar bears, as well as other large carnivore species).
Their claws are typically black or grayish-brown. The claws are short and rounded, being thick at the base and tapering to a point. Claws from both hind and front legs are almost identical in length, though the foreclaws tend to be more sharply curved. The paws of the species are relatively large, with a rear foot length of , which is proportionately larger than other medium-sized bear species, but much smaller than the paws of large adult brown, and especially polar bears. The soles of the feet are black or brownish and are naked, leathery and deeply wrinkled.
The hind legs are relatively longer than those of Asian black bears. The typically small tail is long. Audubon Field Guide. Audubonguides.com. Retrieved September 15, 2011.Kronk, C. (2007). Ursus americanus . Animal Diversity Web. Retrieved September 15, 2011. "American black bear videos, photos and facts – Ursus americanus" . ARKive. Retrieved September 15, 2011. The ears are small and rounded and are set well back on the head.
American black bears are highly dexterous, being capable of opening screw-top jars and manipulating door latches. They also have great physical strength; a bear weighing was observed turning flat rocks weighing by flipping them over with a single foreleg. They move in a rhythmic, sure-footed way and can run at speeds of . American black bears have good eyesight and have been proven experimentally to be able to learn visual color discrimination tasks faster than chimpanzees and just as fast as domestic . They are also capable of rapidly learning to distinguish different shapes such as small triangles, circles and squares.
Weight tends to vary according to age, sex, health and season. Seasonal variation in weight is very pronounced: in autumn, their pre-den weight tends to be 30% higher than in spring, when black bears emerge from their dens. Bears on the East Coast tend to be heavier on average than those on the West Coast, although they typically follow Bergmann's rule, and bears from the northwest are often slightly heavier than the bears from the southeast. Adult males typically weigh between , while females weigh 33% less at .
In California, studies indicate that the average mass is in adult males and in adult females. Adults in Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge in east-central Alaska were found to average in males and in females, whereas on Kuiu Island in southeastern Alaska (where nutritious salmon are readily available) adults averaged .Peacock, Elizabeth (2004). "Population, Genetic and Behavioral Studies of Black Bears Ursus americanus in Southeast Alaska" . PhD Thesis, University of Nevada, Reno In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, adult males averaged and adult females averaged per one study. " Ursus americanus (Pallas); Black Bear" . Discoverlife.org. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
In one of the largest studies on regional body mass, bears in British Columbia averaged in 89 females and in 243 males. In Yellowstone National Park, a study found that adult males averaged and adult females averaged .Barnes, V. G. and Bray, O. E. (1967) "Population characteristics and activities of black bears in Yellowstone National Park". Final report, Colorado Wildl. Res. Unit, Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins; cited in "Characteristics of Black Bears and Grizzly Bears in YNP" . nps.gov Black bears in north-central Minnesota averaged in 163 females and in 77 males. In New York, the males average and females . Black bears in New York State . New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, page 1. Retrieved November 11, 2021. It was found in Nevada and the Lake Tahoe region that bears closer to urban regions were significantly heavier than their arid-country dwelling counterparts, with males near urban areas averaging against wild-land males which averaged whereas peri-urban females averaged against the average of in wild-land ones. In Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, adults averaged .Silva, M., & Downing, J. A. (1995). CRC handbook of mammalian body masses. CRC Press.
The biggest wild American black bear ever recorded was a male from New Brunswick, shot in November 1972, that weighed after it had been dressed, meaning it weighed an estimated in life and measured long. Another notably outsized wild American black bear, weighing in at , was the cattle-killer shot in December 1921 on the Moqui Reservation in Arizona. The record-sized American black bear from New Jersey was shot in Morris County December 2011 and scaled .Stabile, Jim (December 16, 2011) "829-pound bear takes record in N.J. hunt". Daily Record The Pennsylvania state record weighed and was shot in November 2010 in Pike County. "Record-busting, 879-pound bear bagged in Poconos" . Pocono Record. November 19, 2010. Retrieved 2013-08-19. The North American Bear Center, located in Ely, Minnesota, is home to the world's largest captive male and female American black bears. Ted, the male, weighed in the fall of 2006. Honey, the female, weighed in the fall of 2007.
Despite their name, black bears show a great deal of color variation. Individual coat colors can range from white, blonde, cinnamon, light brown or dark chocolate brown to jet black, with many intermediate variations existing. Silvery-gray American black bears with a blue luster (this is found mostly on the flanks) occur along a portion of coastal Alaska and British Columbia. White to cream-colored American black bears occur in the coastal islands and the adjacent mainland of southwestern British Columbia. Albino individuals have also been recorded. Black coats tend to predominate in humid areas, such as Maine, New England, New York, Tennessee, Michigan and western Washington. Approximately 70% of all American black bears are black, though only 50% in the Rocky Mountains are black. Many in northwestern North America are cinnamon, blonde or light brown in color and thus may sometimes be mistaken for grizzly bears. Grizzly (and other types of brown) bears can be distinguished by their shoulder hump, larger size and broader, more concave skull.Macdonald, D. W. (2006). The Encyclopedia of Mammals. Oxford University Press, Oxford .
In his book The Great Bear Almanac, Gary Brown summarized the predominance of black or brown/blonde specimens by location:
| Michigan | 100% black |
| Minnesota | 94% black, 6% brown |
| New England | 100% black |
| New York | 100% black |
| Tennessee | 100% black |
| Washington (coastal) | 99% black, 1% brown or blonde |
| Washington (inland) | 21% black, 79% brown or blonde |
| Yosemite National Park | 9% black, 91% brown or blonde |
American black bears tend to be territorial and non-social animal in nature. However, at abundant food sources (e.g. spawning salmon or garbage dumps), they may congregate and dominance hierarchies form, with the largest, most powerful males dominating the most fruitful feeding spots.Nowak, R. M. (1991). Walker's Mammals of the World. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London. They mark their territories by Scent rubbing their bodies against trees and clawing at the bark. Annual ranges held by mature male bears tend to be very large, though there is some variation. On Long Island off the coast of Washington, ranges average , whereas on the Ungava Peninsula in Canada ranges can average up to , with some male bears traveling as far as at times of food shortages.
Bears may communicate with various vocal and non-vocal sounds. Tongue-clicking and grunting are the most common sounds and are made in cordial situations to conspecifics, offspring and occasionally humans. When at ease, they produce a loud rumbling hum. During times of fear or nervousness, bears may moan, huff or blow air. Warning sounds include jaw-clicking and lip-popping. In aggressive interactions, black bears produce guttural pulsing calls that may sound like growling. Cubs squeal, bawl or scream when anxious and make a motor-like humming sound when comfortable or nursing. American black bears often mark trees using their teeth and claws as a form of communication with other bears, a behavior common to many species of bears.
The fertilized eggs undergo delayed development and do not implant in the female's womb until November. The gestation period lasts 235 days, and litters are usually born in late January to early February. Litter size is between one and six cubs, typically two or three. At birth, cubs weigh and measure in length. They are born with fine, gray, down-like hair and their hind quarters are underdeveloped. They typically open their eyes after 28–40 days and begin walking after 5 weeks. Cubs are dependent on their mother's milk for 30 weeks and will reach independence at 16–18 months. At 6 weeks, they attain , by 8 weeks they reach and by 6 months they weigh . They reach sexual maturity at 3 years and attain their full growth at 5 years.
With the exception of the rare confrontation with an adult brown bear or a Wolf pack, adult black bears are not usually subject to natural predation. Scats with fur inside of them and a carcass of an adult sow with puncture marks in the skull indicate black bears may occasionally be killed by jaguars in the southern parts of their range. In such scenarios, the big cat would have the advantage if it ambushed the bear, killing it with a crushing bite to the back of the skull. Cubs tend to be more vulnerable to predation than adults, with known predators including , , cougars, gray wolves, brown bears and other bears of their own species. Many of these will stealthily snatch small cubs right from under the sleeping mother. There is record of a golden eagle snatching a yearling cub. Once out of hibernation, mother bears may be able to fight off most potential predators. Even cougars will be displaced by an angry mother bear if they are discovered stalking the cubs. Flooding of dens after birth may also occasionally kill newborn cubs. Bear fatalities are mainly attributable to human activities. Seasonally, thousands of black bears are hunted legally across North America, and some are illegally poached or trapped unregulated. Auto collisions also may kill many black bears annually.
The bears enter their dens in October and November, although in the southernmost areas of their range (i.e. Florida, Mexico, the southeastern United States), only pregnant females and mothers with yearling cubs will enter hibernation. Prior to that time, they can put on up to of body fat to get them through the several months during which they fast. Hibernation typically lasts 3–8 months, depending on regional climate.
Hibernating bears spend their time in hollowed-out dens in tree cavities, under logs or rocks, in banks, caves, or culverts, and in shallow depressions. Although naturally-made dens are occasionally used, most dens are dug out by the bear. During their time in hibernation, an American black bear's heart rate drops from 40 to 50 beats per minute to 8 beats per minute, and the metabolic rate can drop to a quarter of the bear's (non-hibernating) basal metabolic rate. These reductions in metabolic rate and heart rate do not appear to decrease the bear's ability to heal injuries during hibernation. Their circadian rhythm stays intact during hibernation. This allows the bear to sense the changes in the day based on the ambient temperature caused by the sun's position in the sky. It has also been shown that ambient light exposure and low disturbance levels (that is to say, wild bears in ambient light conditions) directly correlate with their activity levels. The bear keeping track of the changing days allows it to awaken from hibernation at the appropriate time of year to conserve as much energy as possible.
The hibernating bear does not display the same rate of muscle and bone atrophy relative to other nonhibernatory animals that are subject to long periods of inactivity due to ailment or old age. A hibernating bear only loses approximately half the muscular strength compared to that of a well-nourished, inactive human. The bear's bone mass does not change in geometry or mineral composition during hibernation, which implies that the bear's conservation of bone mass during hibernation is caused by a biological mechanism. During hibernation American black bears retain all excretory waste, leading to the development of a hardened mass of fecal material in the colon known as a fecal plug. Leptin is released into the bear's systems to suppress appetite. The retention of waste during hibernation (specifically in minerals such as calcium) may play a role in the bear's resistance to atrophy.
The body temperature does not drop significantly, like other mammalian hibernators (staying around ) and they remain somewhat alert and active. If the winter is mild enough, they may wake up and forage for food. Females also give birth in February and nurture their cubs until the snow melts. During winter, American black bears consume 25–40% of their body weight. The footpads peel off while they sleep, making room for new tissue.
Many of the Physiology changes an American black bear exhibits during hibernation are retained slightly post-hibernation. Upon exiting hibernation, bears retain a reduced heart rate and basal metabolic rate. The metabolic rate of a hibernating bear will remain at a reduced level for up to 21 days after hibernation. After emerging from their winter dens in spring, they wander their home ranges for two weeks so that their metabolism accustoms itself to the activity. In mountainous areas, they seek southerly slopes at lower elevations for forage and move to northerly and easterly slopes at higher elevations as summer progresses.
The time that American black bears emerge from hibernation varies. Factors affecting this include temperature, flooding, and hunger. In southern areas, they may wake up in midwinter. Further north, they may not be seen until late March, April, or even early May. Altitude also has an effect. Bears at lower altitudes tend to emerge earlier. Mature males tend to come out earliest, followed by immature males and females, and lastly mothers with cubs. Mothers with yearling cubs are seen before those with newborns. (1998). 9781559716673, NorthWord Press. ISBN 9781559716673
During the autumn hyperphagia, feeding becomes virtually the full-time task. Hard mast becomes the most important part of the diet in autumn and may even partially dictate the species' distribution. Favored mast such as , Acorn and Whitebark pine may be consumed by the hundreds each day by a single bear during the fall. During the fall period, bears may also habitually raid the nut caches of . Also extremely important in fall are berries such as Huckleberry and Shepherdia. Bears living in areas near human settlements or around a considerable influx of recreational human activity often come to rely on foods inadvertently provided by humans, especially during summertime. These include refuse, birdseed, agricultural products and honey from Apiary.
The majority of the diet consists of insects, such as bees, yellow jackets, ants, beetles and their larvae. American black bears are also fond of honey and will gnaw through trees if hives are too deeply set into the trunks for them to reach it with their paws. Once the hive is breached, the bears will scrape the together with their paws and eat them, regardless of stings from the bees. Bears that live in northern coastal regions (especially the Pacific Coast) will fish for salmon during the night, as their black fur is easily spotted by salmon in the daytime. Other bears, such as the white-furred Kermode bears of the islands of western Canada, have a 30% greater success rate in catching salmon than their black-furred counterparts. Other fish, including Catostomidae, trout and catfish, are readily caught whenever possible. Although American black bears do not often engage in active predation of other large animals for much of the year, the species will regularly prey on Mule deer and white-tailed deer fawns in spring, given the opportunity. Bears may catch the scent of hiding fawns when foraging for something else and then sniff them out and pounce on them. As the fawns reach 10 days of age, they can outmaneuver the bears, and their scent is soon ignored until the next year. American black bears have also been recorded similarly preying on elk calves in Idaho and moose calves in Alaska.
Predation on adult deer is rare, but it has been recorded. They may even hunt prey up to the size of adult female moose, which are considerably larger than themselves, by ambushing them. There is at least one record of a male American black bear killing two bull elk over the course of six days by chasing them into deep snow banks, which impeded their movements. In Labrador, American black bears are exceptionally carnivorous, living largely off Reindeer, usually young, injured, old, sickly or dead specimens, and rodents such as . This is believed to be due to a paucity of edible plant life in this sub-Arctic region and a local lack of competing large carnivores (including other bear species). Like brown bears, American black bears try to use surprise to ambush their prey and target the weak, injured, sickly or dying animals in the herds. Once a deer fawn is captured, it is frequently torn apart alive while feeding. If it is able to capture a mother deer in spring, the bear frequently begins feeding on the udder of lactating females, but generally prefers meat from the viscera. Bears often drag their prey to cover, preferring to feed in seclusion. The skin of large prey is stripped back and turned inside out, with the skeleton usually left largely intact. Unlike gray wolves and coyotes, bears rarely scatter the remains of their kills. Vegetation around the carcass is usually matted down, and their droppings are frequently found nearby. Bears may attempt to cover remains of larger carcasses, though they do not do so with the same frequency as cougars and grizzly bears. They will readily consume eggs and nestlings of various birds and can easily access many tree nests, even the huge nests of bald eagles. Bears have been reported stealing deer and other game from human hunters.
American black bears do occasionally compete with cougars over carcasses. Like brown bears, they will sometimes steal kills from cougars. One study found that both bear species visited 24% of cougar kills in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, usurping 10% of the carcasses. Another study found that American black bears visited 48% of cougar kills in summer in Colorado and 77% of kills in California. As a result, the cats spend more time killing and less time feeding on each kill.
American black bear interactions with Wolf are much rarer than with brown bears, due to differences in habitat preferences. The majority of American black bear encounters with wolves occur in the species' northern range, with no interactions being recorded in Mexico. Despite the American black bear being more powerful on a one-to-one basis, packs of wolves have been recorded to kill black bears on numerous occasions without eating them. Unlike brown bears, American black bears frequently lose against wolves in disputes over kills. (2025). 9780226516967, University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226516967 Wolf packs typically kill American black bears when the larger animals are in their hibernation cycle.
There is at least one record of an American black bear killing a wolverine ( Gulo gulo) in a dispute over food in Yellowstone National Park. Anecdotal cases of alligator predation on American black bears have been reported, though such cases may involve assaults on cubs. "Key West Florida Attractions | Alligator Exhibit" . Key West Aquarium (November 30, 2012). Retrieved 2012-12-20. At least one jaguar ( Panthera onca) has been recorded to have attacked and eaten a black bear: "El Jefe", the jaguar famous for being the first jaguar seen in the United States in over a century.
Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan is named after a Native American legend, where a female bear and her two cubs swam across Lake Michigan to escape a fire on the Wisconsin shore. The mother bear reached the shore and waited for her cubs, but they did not make it across. Two islands mark where the cubs drowned, while the dune marks the spot where the mother bear waited.National Park Service. (2020, September 10). The story of Sleeping Bear Dunes
Terrible Ted was a de-toothed and de-clawed bear who was forced to perform as a pro wrestler and whose "career" lasted from the 1950s to the 1970s. The American black bear is the mascot of the University of Maine and Baylor University, where the university houses two live bears on campus.
American black bears rarely attack when confronted by humans and usually only make mock charges, emit blowing noises and swat the ground with their forepaws. The number of attacks on humans is higher than those by brown bears in North America, but this is largely because black bears considerably outnumber brown bears. Compared to brown bear attacks, aggressive encounters with black bears rarely lead to serious injury. Most attacks tend to be motivated by hunger rather than territoriality and thus victims have a higher probability of surviving by fighting back rather than submitting. Unlike female brown bears, female American black bears are not as protective of their cubs and rarely attack humans in the vicinity of the cubs. However, occasionally such attacks do occur. The worst recorded attack occurred in May 1978, in which a bear killed three teenagers fishing in Algonquin Park in Ontario. Another exceptional attack occurred in August 1997 in Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park in British Columbia, when an emaciated bear attacked a mother and child, killing the mother and a man who intervened. The bear was shot while mauling a fourth victim.
The majority of attacks happened in national parks, usually near campgrounds, where the bears had habituation to close human proximity and food. Of 1,028 incidents of aggressive acts toward humans, recorded from 1964 to 1976 in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 107 resulted in injury and occurred mainly in tourist hot spots where people regularly fed the bears handouts.Kruuk, Hans (2002). Hunter and Hunted: Relationships Between Carnivores and People, Cambridge University Press, In almost every case where open garbage dumps that attracted bears were closed and handouts ceased, the number of aggressive encounters dropped. However, in the Liard River Hot Springs case, the bear was apparently dependent on a local garbage dump that had closed and so was starving to death. Attempts to relocate bears are typically unsuccessful, as the bears seem able to return to their home range, even without familiar landscape cues.
Although they occasionally hunt adult cattle and horses, they seem to prefer smaller prey such as sheep, goats, pigs and young calves. They usually kill by biting the neck and shoulders, though they may break the neck or back of the prey with blows with the paws. Evidence of a bear attack includes claw marks and is often found on the neck, back and shoulders of larger animals. Surplus killing of sheep and goats is common. American black bears have been known to frighten livestock herds over cliffs, causing injuries and death to many animals; whether this is intentional is not known. Occasionally bears kill pets, especially domestic dogs, which are most prone to harass a bear. "Black Bear Attacks Dog" . WJHG. Retrieved December 21, 2012. It is not recommended to use unleashed dogs to deter bear attacks. Although large, aggressive dogs can sometimes cause a bear to run, if pressed, angry bears often turn the tables and end up chasing the dogs in return. A bear in pursuit of a pet dog can threaten both canid and human lives. "Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Bears". Denali National Park & Preserve, National Park Service. Retrieved December 21, 2012. "Encountering Black Bears in Arkansas" . University of Arkansas.
Some Native American tribes, in admiration for the American black bear's intelligence, would decorate the heads of bears they killed with trinkets and place them on blankets. Tobacco smoke would be wafted into the disembodied head's nostrils by the hunter that dealt the killing blow, who would compliment the animal for its courage. The Kutchin typically hunted American black bears during their hibernation cycle. Unlike the hunting of hibernating grizzly bears, which was fraught with danger, hibernating American black bears took longer to awaken and hunting them was thus safer and easier. During the European colonization of eastern North America, thousands of bears were hunted for their meat, fat and fur. Theodore Roosevelt wrote extensively on black bear hunting in his Hunting the Grisly and other sketches, in which he stated,
He wrote that black bears were difficult to hunt by stalking, due to their habitat preferences, though they were easy to trap. Roosevelt described how, in the southern states, Planter class regularly hunted bears on horseback with hounds. General Wade Hampton was known to have been present at 500 successful bear hunts, two-thirds of which he killed personally. He killed 30 or 40 bears with only a knife, which he would use to stab the bears between the shoulder blades while they were distracted by his hounds. Unless well trained, horses were often useless in bear hunts, as they often bolted when the bears stood their ground. In 1799, 192,000 American black bear skins were exported from Quebec. In 1822, 3,000 skins were exported from the Hudson's Bay Company.Partington, Charles Frederick (1835). The British Cyclopædia of Natural History: Combining a Scientific Classification of Animals, Plants, and Minerals, Vol. 1, Orr & Smith. In 1992, untanned, fleshed and salted hides were sold for an average of $165.
In Canada, black bears are considered as both a big game and furbearer species in all provinces, save for New Brunswick and the Northwest Territories, where they are only classed as a big game species. There are around 80,900 licensed bear hunters in Canada. Canadian black bear hunts take place in the fall and spring, and both male and female bears can be legally taken, though some provinces prohibit the hunting of females with cubs, or yearlings.
Currently, 28 of the U.S. states have American black bear hunting seasons. Nineteen states require a bear hunting license, with some also requiring a big game license. In eight states, only a big game license is required. Overall, over 481,500 American black bear hunting licenses are sold per year. The hunting methods and seasons vary greatly according to state, with some bear hunting seasons including fall only, spring and fall, or year-round. New Jersey, in November 2010, approved a six-day bear-hunting season in early December 2010 to slow the growth of the population. Bear hunting had been banned in New Jersey for five years before that time. A Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll found that 53% of New Jersey voters approved of the new season if scientists concluded that bears were leaving their usual habitats and destroying private property. Men, older voters and those living in rural areas were more likely to approve of a bear hunting season in New Jersey than women, younger voters and those living in more developed parts of the state. In the western states, where there are large American black bear populations, there are spring and year-round seasons. Approximately 18,000 American black bears were killed annually in the U.S. between 1988 and 1992. Within this period, annual kills ranged from six bears in South Carolina to 2,232 in Maine. According to Dwight Schuh in his Bowhunter's Encyclopedia, American black bears are the third most popular quarry of Bowhunting, behind deer and elk.Schuh, Dwight R. (1992). Bowhunter's Encyclopedia, Stackpole Books,
Theodore Roosevelt likened the flesh of young American black bears to that of pork, and not as coarse or flavorless as the meat of grizzly bears.Roosevelt, Theodore. Hunting Trips of a Ranchman: Hunting Trips on the Prairie and in the Mountains, Adamant Media Corporation, The most favored cuts are concentrated in the legs and loins. Meat from the neck, front legs and shoulders is usually ground into minced meat or used for stews and casseroles. Keeping the fat on tends to give the meat a strong flavor. As American black bears can have trichinellosis, cooking temperatures need to be high in order to kill the parasites.Smith, Richard P. (2007). Black Bear Hunting, Stackpole Books,
Bear fat was once valued as a cosmetic article that promoted hair growth and gloss. The fat most favored for this purpose was the hard white fat found in the body's interior. As only a small portion of this fat could be harvested for this purpose, the oil was often mixed with large quantities of hog lard. However, animal rights activism over the last decade has slowed the harvest of these animals; therefore the lard from bears has not been used in recent years for the purpose of cosmetics.
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