Black Bear      Ursus americanus

Nature's built-in back scratcher. Ahhh.

Someone doesn't feel like playing right now.

Surprisingly, it is estimated that only 8 of 10 black bears are actually black.  The more easterly its home, the more likely the bear is black.  No other native mammal exists in so many color phases.  Colors range from black to chocolate brown, tan, cinnamon, honey, and even blonde.

Except for the claws, the hind footprint of an average size black bear is strikingly similar to that of a human, as black bears use the same walking pattern as humans do.  Plantigrade is the term used to describe this “flat-footed” walking pattern.  Canines and felines, for example, walk “on their toes”, and are referred to as digitigrades (walking with a digitigrade pattern).

Bears, for the most part, are solitary animals, congregating only to breed in the summer.  Once mating is finished, the female is left to tend to her pregnancy and delivery alone.  It only takes about a month for a black bear embryo to develop, but the female has the ability to delay the implantation until conditions are right.  Implantation is usually delayed 6 months, and if successful, black bear mothers, or sows, give birth to their litter in January.  She awakens from her winter nap just long enough to feed the newborns and tuck them into a warm place.  At birth, bear cubs are blind, deaf, furless, and have very poorly developed muscles. The cubs grow quickly with their mother’s nourishment, and by spring the cubs are ready to leave the den with the mother.  Cubs typically nurse for a year, and then spend another year with their mother after weaning, learning how to hunt and collect food.

Contrary to popular belief, bears are not “true” hibernators.  Bears spend a considerable amount of the winter resting in a den, but all body processes function normally, as opposed to rodents for example, whose body processes almost completely shut down.  On warm winter days, bears may leave the den for brief periods to forage.  In early spring, black bears emerge from their den for the season, equipped with a large appetite for many types of foods.