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| Black Bear |
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Bear Planet Poll
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What you think when is okay to kill bears?
Total votes: 3996
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American black bear
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Smaller than the brown bears but more widespread in their native
North America are the American black bears, which range from Mexico to Alaska and from the
mountains of California to the swamps of Florida and the forests of Maine.
A familiar tourist attraction n many national parks, black bears come in as many color
variations as their more aggressive brown cousins. In the West they are often
cinnamon-colored; an Alaskan variety called the glacier bear is silvery blue; the Kermode, living on Gribble
Island off the coast of British Columbia, can be pure white.
American black bear habitat American black bear (scientific name: Ursus americanus) is the most common bear in North America
.Though most people assume that the black bear is found primarily in the remnant wilderness
of the eastern UnitedStates, the animal is in fact one of the most widely distributed large mammals in
North America. It has adapted to widely differing habitats and ranges from Alaska to Florida,
though it favors forested regions where it can feed on and take regue in trees. They have been living
in North America as a distinct species for at least 2.5 million years and during this time
they have colonized a wide range of habitats and have had time to adapt
to local conditions.
They avoided grizzlies, animals that recently evolved in open habitats, by staying in the forest.
Only in Northern Labrador, where there are not grizzly bears, do black bears now inhabit the open tundra (american black bear map picture below).
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American Black Bear
Contrary to popular belief, black bears have both a good sense of smell and good eyesight. Despite the fast that
their lumbering gait (a result of having hind legs longer than forelimgs) gives them an awkward
appearance, they are extremely intelligent. They are found in variety of colors and there are 16 curently
recognized subspecies, which is considered threatened. As a whole, though, the species is increasing in numbers after reaching
a low point caused by human persecution.
Black bears caught poaching
outside a national wildlife refuge in Georgia, according to one refuge manager, show real sagacity.
Although many people do not regard black bears as dangerous animals, they can unquestionably kill human
beings as readily as their grizzly cousins.
(black bear cubs pictures)
The black bears seeming lack of aggression,
scientists have therized, may
be connected with their abriginal, forested habitat. Black bears having adapted to trees and
thick mountain foliage, learned to take advantage of vegetation as an escape.
They feed primarily on plants althought in some areas they prey on mammals such as deer fawns or moose calves
and in ithers they rely on salmon.
However, a wounded or cornered black bear or one whose cubs might be endangered
can be a fearsome spectacle.
As large as many grizzlies, at a top weight of 273 kilogram and with cinnamon and dark-brown colorings that
frequently occur among black bears, blacks are occasion-substantial. The black bears head is smaller and narrower
and is held up higher as the animal ambles along. Blacks also lack the shoulder hump of the grizzlies and have
shorter, more curved claws that are razor-sharp to make tree-climbing swift and efficient.
American black bear cubs wrestle and climb as they play and these activities
develop skills they will need to survive. Cubs learn to climb at an early age and
their mother send them up trees while she feeds or when danger may be present.
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Black Bear Pictures
Black bear protection
Although humans are the only threat to black bears (unfortunately, because many take black bear hunting as very popular hobby/sport), they are more than enough and are not considered to
be threatened or endangered, but their range has been greatly reduced as humans
have expanded and black bear hunts increase.
Today, the American black bear is driven out illegally to provide furs to the
Asian market: its legs would have a medicinal value in China, in Japan and in Korea.
While the black bears are abundant in the west of the United States,
some Eastern populations are increasingly rare and in the process of disappearance.
Two subspecies were found in south-east of the United States: the bear of black
of Louisiana and the bear of black of Florida, but they are in process of extinction.
The American black bear is protected by the Law in the states concerned
(Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas).
Optimal black bear habitat is found where the terrain is rugged and difficult for humans to gain access.
Not only humans but also low productivity of habitat or other sources of mortality can cause populations to decline but
the main reason today for population sinks are humans. And not only for black bears but humans are
the main reason for population skins for all bear species.
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American Black Bear Facts
- Name: American Black Bear (Ursus americanus)
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Subphylum: Vertebrata
- Class: Mammalia
- Subclass: Theria
- Order: Carnivora
- Family: Ursidae
- Age at Maturity: 4 o 5 years males, 3 to 4 years females
- Length of life: 20 - 25 years in the wild.
- Size: 130 to 190 cm
- Weight: 60 to 300 kg males
40 to 80 kg females
- Habitat: Forest
- Diet: Nuts, berries, insect, grasses, roots and other vegatation, young deer and moose calven, spawning salmon.
- Gestation: 6 to 8 months
- Cubs: 1 to 5 cubs, average 2
- SubFamily: Ursinae
- Genus: Ursus
- Distribution: Throughout North America and Canada, northern Mexico
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