Black Bear (Ursus americanus)

The black bear usually tries to avoid people. But sometimes they bother humans when they eat orchard fruit or break up bee hives. Most bears lives in forests and wooded areas. These secretive animals also eat nuts, berries, and even garbage.

Identification

General description: A large black mammal that has big ears and a big nose. It is found in forests and in other dense, remote places.

Length: Four and half to five feet long.

Weight: Between 100 and 300 pounds.

Color: Black or dark brown.

Sounds: Growling noise

Reproduction

Black bears mate in June and July. After seven to eight months, the mother gives birth. The cubs, often twins, are blind, hairless, and have pinkish skin. Their eyes do not open for more than a month. Black bears are fully independent at 18 months.

Food

Nuts, roots, berries, grasses, buds, insects, mice, small mammals, fish, and garbage.

Predators

None. Some people hunt bears for their meat and fur.

Habitat and range

Forests, swamps, wooded parklands, and remote areas with dense cover. Black bears are found in the northern half of Minnesota, but are most common in the northeastern third of the state.

Population and management

There are roughly 30,000 black bears in Minnesota. Sport hunting helps keep the bear population from getting too large. In 1999, Minnesota hunters harvested 3,620 black bears.

Fun facts

Black bears love honey bee larvae and will rip open a beehive to obtain it. Its thick coat protects the animal from bee stings. Bears hibernate in their dens during winter, living off their stored body fat.

For more information...

Find out more about the Black Bear from:

• Minnesota D.N.R. - Black Bear
• About Those Bears (Minnesota Conservation Volunteer article)
• eNature.com
• Environmental Education for Kids
• The Mammals of Minnesota. Evan Hazard. 1982
• Walker's Mammals of the World. R.M. Nowak and J.L. Paradise.