Category Archives: Bear Facts
Quick Black Bear Facts
Folklore: Perhaps no other animals have so excited the human imagination as bears. References to bears are found in ancient and modern literature, folk songs, legends, mythology, children stories, and…
Typical Year for Black Bears
January: The full moon in January is sometimes called the ‘bear moon’. Black bear cubs are generally born in January. The mother bear licks them clean, keeps them warm and…
Black Bear Range
Black bears historically ranged over most of the forested regions of North America, including all Canadian provinces, Alaska, all states in the conterminous United States, and significant portions of northern…
Classification of Black Bears
Ursus americanus Kingdom: Animal Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Subclass: Theria Infraclass: Eutheria Order: Carnivora Suborder: Fissipedia Family: Ursidae Subfamily: Ursinae (all living bears except giant panda and the spectacled bear)…
Weight
Typical weights Males of breeding age: 125-500 lbs or more Females of breeding age: 90-300 lbs or more Records Male: 880 lbs (399 kgs), Craven Co., NC, 1998 or 902…
Size and Appearance
General: Black bears are 4 to 7 feet from nose to tail, 2 to 3 feet high at the shoulders, and have small eyes, rounded ears, a long snout, a…
Skull of a Black Bear
Saggital crest: This protrusion is for attachment of chewing muscles. Animals with a large saggital crest have a powerful bite. The saggital crest is much bigger on male black bears…
How to Age a Bear
The most accurate way to tell the age of a bear is to count the rings in a cross section of a tooth root using a microscope. This cross-section is…
Activities and Social Organization
Daily Activity Period: Most bears become active a half-hour before sunrise, take a nap or two during the day, and bed down for the night an hour or two after…
Senses and Abilities
Vision: Bears see in color and have sharp vision close-up. Their distance vision (over two hundred yards) has not been tested. Hearing: Hearing is the black bear’s first line of…
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