Kermode Bears (Ursus Americanus Kermodei) from the central coast of British Columbia
The American Black Bear (Ursus americanus americanus) has the largest range out of all the American bears. They live in almost every forested area of North America, although humans have driven them out of much of their former range. Presently they are found throughout Canada, 32 states, and northern Mexico.
Despite its name, the black bear can (and in some areas) actually be any range of colors, from the normal black, through brown, gray and even in the northwestern area of it’s range a creamy white color. Black bears are 50-76 inches long, and between 30 and 40 inches tall at the shoulder. Males can weigh up to 660lbs, while females are considerably smaller, usually weighing between 100-200 lbs. In the wild, black bears live for about 20-25 years.
Kermode Bears (Ursus Americanus Kermodei) from the central coast of British Columbia
Because bears have short stubby tails, and lots of long, thick fur, they are ill suited to use the body and tail signals that most mammals use to communicate. Thus, they primarily use facial, head, and vocal noises to communicate. A large variety of facial expressions, head positions, and growls are used to communicate with each other. Even as adults they are agile and capable climbers, although they use trees primarily as a safe place to rest, and not so much as a place from which to feed.
Black bears are omnivores, and will eat almost any thing; their diet mainly consists of vegetation. Depending on what time of year it is, their diet consists on between 80% and 95% vegetation. Though black bears may occasionally take small mammals and will occasionally take livestock, they are much more attracted to carrion. Thus, they are often wrongly accused of killing livestock, when in fact it was dead before they got to it.
Black bears are, for the most part at least, solitary animals. Except when females have cubs, or for short periods when they are mating, they live by themselves. A females home range is 1-15 square miles, and is usually exclusive to her, although she may allow her daughter to establish a home range within hers. Males have larger home ranges, which may overlap those of several females.
An Alaskan Black Bear
Females mature around 3-4 yrs of age, males an yr or so later. Mating takes place in June, July, and August. Pairs may remain together for only a few hours or several days. Pregnancy lasts for 220 days, before the cubs are born in a maternity den. She may give birth to 1-5 cubs, although 2 is the average.
Cubs weigh 7-11 ounces when they are born. By the time they emerge from the den, they are fully capable of following their mother around, although she often leaves them in trees when foraging for safety. Since cubs remain with their mother for 1 and half years, black bears can only mate at the most every two years (unless the cubs are lost prematurely).
Black bears are beautiful animals, which are slowly re-gaining much of their former range. Just over the past couple of years, they have been aloud to stay in Ohio (rather than trapping them and taking them back to West Virginia or Pennsylvania).
Sources:
American Black Bear – Ursus americanus americanus
Black Bear - Hinterland Who's Who - Canadian Wildlife Service - Environment Canada