The American Black Bear: Its Habits and Habitat

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.