O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
Late PlioceneHolocene
Conservation status
Binomial name
Ursus americanus
(Pallas, 1780)
Subspecies[2]
16, see text
Synonyms
Euarctos americanus
The American black bear (Ursus
Ursus americanus)
americanus is a medium-sized bear native to North
America.. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. Black bears
are omnivores with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They
typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in search of food. Sometimes they
become
ome attracted to human communities because of the immediate availability of food. The
American black bear is the world's most common bear species.
It is listed by the IUCN as a "least
least concern"
concern" species, due to its widespread distribution and a
large global population estimated to be twice that of all other bear species combined. Along
with the brown bear,, it is one of only two of the eight modern bear species not considered
globally threatened with extinction by the IUCN. American black bears often mark trees using
their teeth and claws as a form of communication with other bears, a behavior common to
many species of bears.[1]
Contents
6 Behavior
o 6.1 Reproduction and development
o 6.2 Longevity and mortality
o 6.3 Hibernation
o 6.4 Dietary habits
o 6.5 Interspecific predatory relationships
7 Relationships with humans
o 7.1 In folklore, mythology and culture
o 7.2 Attacks on humans
o 7.3 Livestock and crop predation
o 7.4 Bear awareness in towns
o 7.5 Hunting and exploitation
7.5.1 Hunting
7.5.2 Meat
8 See also
9 References
10 Bibliography
11 Further reading
12 External links
A small primitive bear called Ursus abstrusus is the oldest known North American fossil
member of the genus Ursus, dated to 4.95 mya.[6] This suggests that U. abstrusus may be the
direct ancestor of the American black bear, which evolved in North America.[3][7] Although
Wolverton and Lyman still consider U. vitabilis an "apparent precursor to modern black
bears",[8] it has also been placed within U. americanus.[7]
The ancestors of American black bears and Asiatic black bears diverged from sun bears 4.58
mya. The American black bear then split from the Asian black bear 4.08 mya.[3][9] The earliest
American black bear fossils, which were located in Port Kennedy, Pennsylvania, greatly
resemble the Asiatic species,[10] though later specimens grew to sizes comparable to
grizzlies.[11] From the Holocene to present, American black bears seem to have shrunk in
size,[3] but this has been disputed because of problems with dating these fossil specimens.[8]
The American black bear lived during the same period as short-faced bears (Arctodus simus
and A. pristinus) and the Florida spectacled bear (Tremarctos floridanus). These Tremarctine
bears evolved from bears that had emigrated from Asia to North America 78 ma.[12] The
short-faced bears are thought to have been heavily carnivorous and the Florida spectacled bear
more herbivorous,[13] while the American black bears remained arboreal omnivores, like their
Asian ancestors. The black bear's generalist behavior allowed it to exploit a wider variety of
foods and has been given as a reason why, of these three genera, it alone survived climate and
vegetative changes through the last ice age while the other more specialized North American
predators became extinct. However, both Arctodus and Tremarctos had survived several other
ice ages. After these prehistoric ursids became extinct during the last glacial period
10,000 years ago, black bears were probably the only bear present in much of North America
until the migration of brown bears to the rest of the continent.[11]
Hybrids
American black bears are reproductively compatible with several other bear species, and have
occasionally produced hybrid offspring. According to Jack Hanna's Monkeys on the
Interstate, a bear captured in Sanford, Florida, was thought to have been the offspring of an
escaped female Asian black bear and a male American black bear.[14] In 1859, a black bear
and a Eurasian brown bear were bred together in the London Zoological Gardens, but the
three cubs died before they reached maturity. In The Variation of Animals and Plants under
Domestication Charles Darwin noted:
In the nine-year Report it is stated that the bears had been seen in the zoological gardens to
couple freely, but previously to 1848 most had rarely conceived. In the reports published
since this date three species have produced young (hybrids in one case), ...[15]
A black bear shot in autumn 1986 in Michigan was thought by some to be a black bear/grizzly
bear hybrid, due to its unusually large size and its proportionately larger braincase and skull.
DNA testing was unable to determine whether it was a large black bear or grizzly.[16]
Subspecies
Listed alphabetically.[17]
American black bear sub-species
Sub-species
Common name
Distribution
name
Ursus
Olympic black Pacific Northwest coast
from central British
americanus
bear
altifrontalis
Columbia through
northern California and
inland to the tip of
northern Idaho and
British Columbia
Ursus
New Mexico
Native to Colorado, New
americanus
black bear
Mexico, west Texas, the
amblyceps
eastern half of Arizona
into northern Mexico,
and southeastern Utah
Ursus
Eastern black
Eastern Montana to the
Atlantic coast, from
americanus
bear
americanus
Alaska south and east
through Canada to the
Atlantic and south to
Texas. Thought to be
increasing in some
regions.
Ursus
California black Mountain ranges of
americanus
bear
southern California,
californiensis
north through the Central
Valley to southern
Oregon
Ursus
Haida Gwaii
americanus
black bear,
Haida Gwaii/Queen
carlottae
Queen Charlotte Charlotte Islands and
black bear
Alaska
Ursus
Cinnamon bear
americanus
cinnamomum
Ursus
americanus
emmonsii
Ursus
americanus
eremicus
Glacier bear
Ursus
americanus
floridanus
Florida black
bear
Mexican black
bear
Description
Ursus
americanus
hamiltoni
Ursus
americanus
kermodei
Ursus
americanus
luteolus
Ursus
americanus
machetes
Ursus
americanus
perniger
Ursus
americanus
pugnax
Ursus
americanus
vancouveri
Native names
Alexander Archipelago,
Alaska
Abenaki: awasos[23]
Algonquin: makwa[24]
Blackfoot: kiyo
Carrier: ss
Cree: maskwa
Creek: nokose[25]
Dene: tsah
Ojibwe: makwaa
Crow: daxpitche
Gwich'in: shooh-zhraii[26]
Hopi: hoonaw
Lakota (Sioux): mat
Navajo: shash (izhing)
Nez Perce: yaka
Sahaptin: yka
Shoshone: weda
Tlingit: see[27]
Tsalagi: gv-ni-ge-yo-na[28]
Nahuatl: tecuantl
Tarahumara: oju
Guarijio: oho
Kiliwa: kmkan
Kickapoo: mahkwa
Yoreme: jona
O'odham: judumi
Mohawk: ohkwri
The word baribal is used as a name for the black bear in French, Italian, German, Russian,
Czech and Polish. Although the root word is popularly written as being from an unspecified
Native American language, there is no evidence for this.[29]
stable or increasing, except in Idaho and New Mexico. The overall population of black bears
in the United States has been estimated to range between 339,000 and 465,000,[33] though this
excludes populations from Alaska, Idaho, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming, whose
population sizes are unknown.[30] In the state of California, there are an estimated 30,000
black bears, making it the largest black bear population in the Contiguous United States.[34]
As of 1993, known Mexican black bear populations existed in four areas, though knowledge
on the distributions of populations outside those areas have not been updated since 1959.
Mexico is the only country where the black bear is classified as "endangered".[30]
There have been several sightings quite far away from where the black bear is normally
found, such as Union County, North Carolina[35][36] and western Nebraska.[37]
Habitat
Throughout their range, habitats preferred by American black bears have a few shared
characteristics. They are often found in areas with relatively inaccessible terrain, thick
understory vegetation and large quantities of edible material (especially masts). The
adaptation to woodlands and thick vegetation in this species may have originally been due to
the black bear having evolved alongside larger, more aggressive bear species, such as the
extinct short-faced bear and the still living grizzly bear, that monopolized more open habitats
[38]
and the historic presence of larger predators such as smilodon and the American lion that
could have preyed on black bears. Although found in the largest numbers in wild, undisturbed
areas and rural regions, black bears can adapt to surviving in some numbers in peri-urban
regions as long as they contain easily accessible foods and some vegetative coverage.[5] In
most of the contiguous United States, black bears today are usually found in heavily vegetated
mountainous areas, from 400 to 3,000 m (1,300 to 9,800 ft). For bears living in the American
Southwest and Mexico, habitat usually consists of stands of chaparral and pinyon juniper
woods. In this region, bears occasionally move to more open areas to feed on prickly pear
cactus. At least two distinct, prime habitat types are inhabited in the Southeast United States.
Black bears in the southern Appalachian Mountains survive in predominantly oak-hickory and
mixed mesophytic forests. In the coastal areas of the southeast (such as Florida, The
Carolinas, and Louisiana), bears inhabit a mixture of flatwoods, bays, and swampy hardwood
sites. In the northeast part of the range (United States and Canada), prime habitat consists of a
forest canopy of hardwoods such as beech, maple, and birch, and coniferous species. Corn
crops and oak-hickory mast are also common sources of food in some sections of the
northeast; small, thick swampy areas provide excellent refuge cover largely in stands of white
cedar. Along the Pacific coast, redwood, Sitka spruce, and hemlocks predominate as overstory
cover. Within these northern forest types are early successional areas important for black
bears, such as fields of brush, wet and dry meadows, high tidelands, riparian areas and a
variety of mast-producing hardwood species. The spruce-fir forest dominates much of the
range of the black bear in the Rockies. Important nonforested areas here are wet meadows,
riparian areas, avalanche chutes, roadsides, burns, sidehill parks, and subalpine ridgetops. In
areas where human development is relatively low, such as stretches of Canada and Alaska,
American black bears tend to be found more regularly in lowland regions.[38] In parts of
northeastern Canada, especially Labrador, black bears have adapted exclusively to semi-open
areas that are more typical habitat in North America for brown bears (likely due to the
absence here of brown and polar bears as well as other large carnivore species).[5]
Description
American black bears can be distinguished from brown bears by their smaller size, their less
concave profiles, their shorter claws and the lack of a shoulder hump
Build
Some specimens may develop a white crescent moon mark on the chest. This white mark,
which is constant in Asian black bears, occurs in only 25% of American black bears[39]
Skull.
The skulls of American black bears are broad, with narrow muzzles and large jaw hinges. In
Virginia, the total length of adult bear skulls was found to average 262 to 317 mm (10.3 to
12.5 in).[38] Across its range, greatest skull length for the species has been reportedly
measured from 23.5 to 35 cm (9.3 to 13.8 in).[5] Females tend to have more slender and
pointed faces than males. Their claws are typically black or grayish brown. The claws are
short and rounded, being thick at the base and tapering to a point. Claws from both hind and
front legs are almost identical in length, though the foreclaws tend to be more sharply curved.
The paws of the species are relatively sizeable, with a rear foot length of 13.7 to 22.5 cm (5.4
to 8.9 in), being proportionly larger than other medium-sized bear species but much smaller
than the paws of large adult brown and especially polar bears.[5] The soles of the feet are black
or brownish, and are naked, leathery and deeply wrinkled. The hind legs are relatively longer
than those of Asiatic black bears. The vestigal tail is usually 4.8 inches (12 cm) long. The ears
are small and rounded, and are set well back on the head.
Black bears are highly dexterous, being capable of opening screw-top jars and manipulating
door latches. They also have great physical strength. They have been known to turn over flatshaped rocks weighing 310 to 325 pounds (141 to 147 kg) by flipping them over with a single
foreleg.[40] They move in a rhythmic, sure-footed way and can run at speeds of 2530 mph
(4050 km/h).[41] Black bears have good eyesight, and have been proven experimentally to be
able to learn visual discrimination tasks based on color faster than chimpanzees and as fast as
dogs. They are also capable of rapidly learning to distinguish different shapes, such as small
triangles, circles and squares.[42]
Size
Pelage
Behavior
In his Great Bear Almanac, Gary Brown lists 20 different sounds in eight different contexts.
Sounds expressing aggression include growls, woofs, snorts, bellows and roars. Sounds
expressing contentment include mumbles, squeaks and pants.[41] A black bear has better
eyesight and a better sense of hearing compared to humans. Their keenest sense is the sense of
smell, which is about seven times greater than a dog's.[61] American black bears tend to be
territorial and non-gregarious in nature. However, at abundant food sources (i.e. spawning
salmon or garbage dumps) black bears may congregate and dominance hierarchies form, with
the largest, most powerful males dominating the most fruitful feeding spots.[62] They mark
their territories by rubbing their bodies against trees and clawing at the bark. Annual ranges
held by mature male black bears tend to be very large but there is some variation. On Long
Island off the coast of Washington, ranges average 5 sq mi (13 km2), whereas on the Ungava
Peninsula in Canada ranges can average up to 1,000 sq mi (2,600 km2), with some males
bears travelling as far as 4,349 sq mi (11,260 km2) in times of food shortages.[5][62] Black
bears are excellent and strong swimmers, doing so for pleasure and to feed (largely on fish).
Black bears climb trees regularly to feed, escape enemies and to hibernate. Half of bear
species are habitually arboreal (the most arboreal species, the American and Asian black bears
and the sun bear, being fairly closely related).[5] Their arboreal abilities tend to decline with
age.[41] Black bears may be active at any time of the day or night, although mainly forage by
night. Bears living near human habitations tend to be more extensively nocturnal and bears
living near brown bears tend to be more extensively diurnal.[5][38]
Play media
Female with cubs in Parc Omega, Quebec
Hibernation
Black bears were once not considered true or "deep" hibernators, but because of discoveries
about the metabolic changes that allow black bears to remain dormant for months without
eating, drinking, urinating, or defecating, most biologists have redefined mammalian
hibernation as "specialized, seasonal reduction in metabolism concurrent with scarce food and
cold weather". Black bears are now considered highly efficient hibernators.[67][68]
Black bears enter their dens in October and November. Prior to that time, they can put on up
to 14 kg (30 lb) of body fat to get them through the seven months during which they fast.
Hibernation in black bears typically lasts 38 months, depending on regional climate.[18][69]
During this time, their heart rate drops from 4050 beats per minute to 8 beats per minute and
metabolic rate can drop to a quarter of a bears (nonhibernating) basal metabolic rate (BMR).
Many of the physiological changes a bear exhibits during hibernation are retained slightly
post-hibernation. Upon exiting hibernation, bears retain a reduced heart rate and basal
metabolic rate. The metabolic rate of a hibernating bear will remain at a reduced level for up
to 21 days after hibernation.[70] Reductions in metabolic rate and heart rate do not appear to
decrease the bear's ability to heal injuries during hibernation.[71] They spend their time in
hollowed-out dens in tree cavities, under logs or rocks, in banks, caves, or culverts, and in
shallow depressions. Females, however, have been shown to be pickier in their choice of
dens, in comparison to males.[72] Although naturally-made dens are occasionally used, most
dens are dug out by the bear itself.[60] The hibernating American black bear does not display
the same rate of muscle and bone atrophy relative to other nonhibernatory animals that are
subject to long periods of inactivity, due to ailment or old age.[73][74] A hibernating black bear
loses approximately half the muscular strength to that of a well-nourished, inactive human.
The bears bone mass does not change in geometry or mineral composition during
hibernation, this implies that the bears conservation of bone mass during hibernation is due to
a biological mechanism.[75] During hibernation bears retain all excretory waste,and a special
hormone, leptin is released into the black bear's systems, to suppress appetite.The retention of
waste during hibernation (specifically in minerals such as calcium) may play a role in the
bears resistance to atrophy.[73] The body temperature of the American black bear does not
drop significantly, like other mammalian hibernators (staying around 35 degrees Celsius) and
they remain somewhat alert and active. If the winter is mild enough, they may wake up and
forage for food. Females also give birth in February and nurture their cubs until the snow
melts.[76] During winter, black bears consume 2540% of their body weight.[77] The footpads
peel off while they sleep, making room for new tissue. In the most southernly areas (i.e.
Florida, Mexico, the Southeastern United States) of the black bear's distribution only pregnant
females and mothers with yearling cubs will enter hibernation.[5] The physiology of American
black bears in the wild is closely related to that of bears in captivity. Understanding the
physiology of bears in the wild is vital to the bear's success in captivity.[78] After emerging
from their winter dens in spring, they wander their home ranges for two weeks so that their
metabolism accustoms itself to the activity. In mountainous areas, they seek southerly slopes
at lower elevations for forage and move to northerly and easterly slopes at higher elevations
as summer progresses. Black bears use dense cover for hiding and thermal protection, as well
as for bedding.
Dietary habits
is breached, black bears will scrape the honeycombs together with their paws and eat them,
regardless of stings from the bees.[52] Black bears that live in northern coastal regions
(especially the Pacific coast) will fish for salmon during the night, as their black fur is easily
spotted by salmon in the daytime. However, the white furred black bears of the islands of
western Canada have a 30% greater success rate in catching salmon than their black furred
counterparts.[80] Other fish including suckers, trout and catfish are readily caught when
possible.[81] Although black bears do not often engage in active predation of other large
animals for much of the year, the species will also regularly prey on mule and white-tailed
deer fawns in spring given the opportunity.[82][83][84] In addition they have been recorded
similarly preying on elk calves in Idaho[85] and moose calves in Alaska.[86]
densely forested areas. Violent interactions resulting in the deaths of black bears have been
recorded in Yellowstone National Park.[92][93]
Black bears do compete with cougars over carcasses. Like brown bears, they will sometimes
steal kills from cougars. One study found that both bear species visited 24% of cougar kills in
Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, usurping 10% of carcasses.[94][95] Fights between the
two species are rare, though they can be violent. Cougars occasionally kill adult bears, a
behavior reportedly witnessed in the 19th century.[96] There are also 19th and early 20th
century records of bears killing cougar, either in defense or in territorial disputes, and
occasional fights, which ended in both combatants fatally wounded.[97]
Black bear interactions with wolves are much rarer than with brown bears, due to differences
in habitat preferences. The majority of black bear encounters with wolves occur in the species
northern range, with no interactions being recorded in Mexico. Despite the black bear being
more powerful on a one to one basis, packs of wolves have been recorded to kill black bears
on numerous occasions without eating them. Unlike brown bears, black bears frequently lose
against wolves in disputes over kills.[98] Wolf packs typically kill black bears when the large
animals are in their hibernation cycle.[43]
There is at least one record of a black bear killing a wolverine in a dispute over food in
Yellowstone National Park.[99] Anecdotal cases of alligator predation on bears have been
reported, though such cases may involve assaults on cubs.[100]
Harry Colebourn and Winnie, the bear from which Winnie the Pooh derives his name
Black bears feature prominently in the stories of some of America's indigenous peoples. One
tale tells of how the black bear was a creation of the Great Spirit, while the grizzly was
created by the Evil Spirit.[101] In the mythology of the Haida, Tlingit, Tsimshian people of the
Northwest Coast, mankind first learned to respect bears when a girl married the son of black
bear Chieftain.[102] In Kwakiutl mythology, black and brown bears became enemies when
Grizzly Bear Woman killed Black Bear Woman for being lazy. Black Bear Woman's children,
in turn, killed Grizzly Bear Woman's own cubs.[103] The Navajo believed that the Big Black
Bear was chief among the bears of the four directions surrounding Sun's house, and would
pray to it in order to be granted its protection during raids.[104]
Morris Michtom, the creator of the teddy bear, was inspired to make the toy when he came
across a cartoon of Theodore Roosevelt refusing to shoot a black bear cub tied to a tree.[105]
Winnie the Pooh was named after Winnipeg, a female black bear cub that lived at London
Zoo from 1915 until her death in 1934.[106] A black bear cub who in the spring of 1950 was
caught in the Capitan Gap fire was made into the living representative of Smokey Bear, the
mascot of the United States Forest Service.[107]
The American black bear is the mascot of The University of Maine and Baylor University,
where the university houses two live black bears on campus.
Sleeping Bear Dunes is named after a Native American legend, where a female bear and her
cub swam across Lake Michigan. Exhausted from their journey, the bears rested on the
shoreline and fell sound asleep. Over the years, the sand covered them up, creating a huge
sand dune.
Attacks on humans
See also: Bear attack and Bear danger
Although an adult bear is quite capable of killing a human, American black bears typically
avoid confronting humans when possible. Unlike grizzly bears, which became a subject of
fearsome legend among the European settlers of North America, black bears were rarely
considered overly dangerous, even though they lived in areas where the pioneers had settled.
Black bears rarely attack when confronted by humans, and usually limit themselves to making
mock charges, emitting blowing noises and swatting the ground with their forepaws. The
number of black bear attacks on humans is higher than those of the brown bear in North
America, though this is largely because the black species considerably outnumbers the brown
rather than greater aggressiveness.
The incidence of bear attacks in parks and campgrounds declined after the introduction of
bear-resistant garbage cans and other reforms
Compared to brown bear attacks, aggressive encounters with black bears rarely lead to serious
injury. However, the majority of black bear attacks tend to be motivated by hunger rather than
territoriality, and thus victims have a higher probability of surviving by fighting back rather
than submitting. Unlike grizzlies, female black bears do not display the same level of
protectiveness to their cubs, and seldom attack humans in their vicinity.[59] However,
occasionally, attacks by protective mothers do occur.[38] The worst recorded fatality incident
occurred in May 1978, in which a black bear killed three teenagers who were fishing in
Algonquin Park in Canada.[108] Another exceptional, spree-like attack occurred in August
1997 in Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park in Canada, when an emaciated black bear
attacked a child and mother, killing the mother as well as an adult man who tried to intervene.
This bear was shot while mauling a fourth victim.[109][110]
The majority of attacks happened in national parks, usually near campgrounds, where the
bears had become habituated to close human proximity and food conditioned.[59] Out of
1,028 incidents of black bears acting aggressively toward people, 107 resulted in injury, were
recorded from 1964 to 1976 in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and occurred
mainly in tourist hotspots where people regularly fed the bears handouts.[108] In almost every
case where open dumps or handouts that had previously attracted black bears were ceased, the
amount of aggressive encounters with bears have decreased precipitously over time.[38]
However, in the aforementioned case of the spree attack in Liard River Hot Springs, the
attacking bear was believed to have been previously almost fully dependent on a local
garbage dump that had closed and was starving as a result of the loss of that food source.[109]
Attempts to relocate bears are typically unsuccessful, as black bears seem to be able to return
to their home range even without familiar landscape cues.[38]
bear aware programs. Revelstoke, British Columbia is a community that demonstrates the
success of this approach. Before the community had an education program, an average of 27
bears were killed in Revelstoke each year; after the program began, the average mortality has
dropped to just 7 bears per year.[114] See Revelstoke Bear Aware for more information.
voters, and those living in more developed parts of the state.[118] In the western states, where
there are large black populations, there are spring and year-round seasons. Approximately
18,000 black bears were killed annually in the USA between 19881992. Within this period,
annual kills ranged from six bears in South Carolina to 2,232 in Maine.[30]
According to Dwight Schuh in his Bowhunter's Encyclopedia, black bears are the third most
popular quarry of bowhunters, behind deer and elk.[119]
Meat
Black bear meat
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
649 kJ (155 kcal)
Energy
Carbohydrates
0.00 g
Fat
8.30 g
Protein
20.10 g
Vitamins
(10%)
78 g
(14%)
0.160 mg
(57%)
0.680 mg
(21%)
3.200 mg
Vitamin A equiv.
Thiamine (B1)
Riboflavin (B2)
Niacin (B3)
Minerals
(55%)
7.20 mg
(23%)
162 mg
Iron
Phosphorus
Other constituents
Water
71.20 g
Units
g = micrograms mg = milligrams
IU = International units
Black bear meat had historically been held in high esteem among North America's indigenous
people and colonists.[52] Black bears were the only bear species the Kutchin hunted for their
meat, though this constituted only a small part of their diet.[26] According to the second
volume of Frank Forester's field sports of the United States, and British provinces, of North
America:
The flesh of the [black] bear is savoury, but rather luscious, and tastes not unlike pork. It was
once so common an article of food in New-York as to have given the name of Bear Market to
one of the principal markets of the city.
Frank Forester's field sports of the United States, and British provinces, of North America
p. 186
Theodore Roosevelt himself likened the flesh of young black bears to that of pork, and not as
coarse or flavourless as the meat of grizzlies.[120] The most favoured cuts of the black bear's
meat are concentrated in the legs and loins. Meat from the neck, front legs and shoulders is
usually ground into minced meat or used for stews and casseroles. Keeping the fat tends to
give the meat a strong flavour. As black bears can have trichinellosis, cooking temperatures
need to be high in order to kill the parasites.[121]
Black bear fat was once valued as a cosmetic article that promoted hair growth and gloss. The
fat most favoured for this purpose was the hard white fat found in the body's interior. As only
a small portion of this fat could be harvested for this purpose, the oil was often mixed with
large quantities of hog lard.[52] However animal rights activism over the last decade has
slowed the harvest of these animals; therefore the lard from black bear has not been used in
recent years for the purpose of cosmetics.[citation needed]
See also
References
1.
Garshelis, D.L., Crider, D. & van Manen, F. (2008). Ursus americanus. In: IUCN 2008.
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
Ursus americanus, Mammal Species of the World, 3rd ed.
Krause, J.; Unger, T.; Noon, A.; Malaspinas, A.; Kolokotronis, S.; Stiller, M.;
Soibelzon, L.; Spriggs, H.; Dear, P. H.; Briggs, A. W.; Bray, S. C. E.; O'Brien, S. J.; Rabeder,
G.; Matheus, P.; Cooper, A.; Slatkin, M.; Pbo, S.; Hofreiter, M. (2008). "Mitochondrial
genomes reveal an explosive radiation of extinct and extant bears near the Miocene-Pliocene
boundary". BMC Evolutionary Biology 8 (220): 220. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-8-220.
PMC 2518930. PMID 18662376.
Craighead, Lance (2003) Bears of the World, Voyageur Press, ISBN 0-89658-008-3
Hunter, Luke (2011) Carnivores of the World, Princeton University Press, ISBN
9780691152288
Woodburne, Michael O. (2004). Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic Mammals of North
America: Biostratigraphy and Geochronology. Columbia University Press. pp. 178, 252.
ISBN 978-0-231-13040-0.
Kurten, B., and E. Anderson (1980). Pleistocene mammals of North America. Columbia
University Press, New York, ISBN 0231516967.
Wolverton, S.; Lyman, R. L. (1998). "Measuring late Quaternary Ursid diminution in the
Midwest". Quaternary Research 49 (3): 322329. Bibcode:1998QuRes..49..322W.
doi:10.1006/qres.1998.1964.
Lisette Waits, David Paetkau, and Curtis Strobeck, "Overview" from Genetics of the
Bears of the World chapter 3 of Bears: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan, compiled
by Christopher Servheen, Stephen Herrero and Bernard Peyton, IUCN/SSC Bear Specialist
Group
Herrero, Stephen. "Aspects of Evolution and Adaptation in American Black Bears (Ursus
americanus Pallas) and Brown and Grizzly Bears (U. arctos Linne.) of North America" (PDF).
Environmental Sciences Centre (Kananaskis). Retrieved February 21, 2011.
"The American Black Bear". Grizzlybear.org. Archived from the original on March 15,
2010. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
Qiu, Z. (2003). "Dispersals of Neogene Carnivorans between Asia and North America".
Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 279: 1831. doi:10.1206/00030090(2003)279<0018:C>2.0.CO;2.
Schubert, B. W.; Hulbert, Jr.; MacFadden, B. J.; Searle, M.; Searle, S. (2010). "Giant
short-faced bears (Arctodus simus) in Pleistocene Florida USA, a substantial range
expansion". Journal of Paleontology 84: 7987. doi:10.1666/09-113.1.
Hybrid Bears. messybeast.com
Darwin, Charles (1868). The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication.
Volume 2 (1st ed.). London: John Murray. p. 151. ISBN 1-4068-4250-8.
Smith, Richard P. (2007) "Hybrid Black Bear" in Black Bear Hunting, Stackpole Books,
ISBN 0-8117-0269-3
Black Bear Subspecies, CoveBear
"Haida Gwaii Black Bear (Ursus Americanus Carlottae Subspecies)" (PDF). Retrieved
February 21, 2011.
"SPECIES VARIATION Editorial Comment". Wildlife1.wildlifeinformation.org.
Archived from the original on July 23, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
Black Bear, Parks Canada
"Spirit Bear Facts". Province of British Columbia. Archived from the original on
December 17, 2009. Retrieved December 3, 2009.
. ''Louisiana Black Bear''. (PDF). Retrieved September 15, 2011.
"Abnaki-Penobscot Animal Words". Native-languages.org. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
"Algonquin Animal Words". Native-languages.org. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
"Muskogee Creek Animal Words (Muscogee)". Native-languages.org. Retrieved August
8, 2014.
Nelson, Richard K. Hunters of the northern forest: designs for survival among the
Alaskan Kutchin, University of Chicago Press, 1986, ISBN 0-226-57181-5
"English-Tlingit Dictionary". Alaskool.org. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
English/Cherokee Dictionary. wehali.com
Diebold, A. Richard, Jr. (1982). "Alleged American Indian "Baribal" 'American Black
Bear': A Query". International Journal of American Linguistics 48 (1): 8991.
doi:10.1086/465718. JSTOR 1264753.
Pelton, Michael R.; Coley, Alex B.; Eason, Thomas H.; Doan Martinez, Diana L.;
Pederson, Joel A.; van Manen, Frank T.; Weaver, Keith M. "Chapter 8. American Black Bear
Conservation Action Plan" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 23, 2011.
Retrieved February 21, 2011.
Scheick, B. K.; W. McCown (2014). "Geographic distribution of American black bears in
North America". Ursus 25 (1): 2433. doi:10.2192/URSUS-D-12-00020.1.
Association of Zoo Veterinarians 44 (2): 324332. doi:10.1638/2012-0146R1.1. ISSN 10427260. PMID 23805551.
American Black Bear Fact Sheet National Zoo| FONZ. Nationalzoo.si.edu. Retrieved
September 15, 2011.
Bourton, Jody (November 6, 2009). "Spirit bears become 'invisible' by Jody Bourton,
Earth News reporter". BBC News. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
black bear. Pvci.org. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
Smith, R. (1983). Mule deer reproduction and survival in the LaSal Mountains of Utah,
M.S. thesis, Utah State University, Logan.
Mathews, N. E.; Porter, W. F (1988). "Black bear predation on white-tailed deer
neonates in the central Adirondacks". Canadian Journal of Zoology 66 (5): 12411242.
doi:10.1139/z88-179.
Ozoga, J. J.; Clute, R. K. (1988). "Mortality rates of marked and unmarked fawns".
Journal of Wildlife Management 52 (3): 549551. doi:10.2307/3801608. JSTOR 3801608.
Schlegel, M. (1976). "Factor affecting calf elk survival in north central Idaho" (PDF).
Western Association of State Game and Fish Commission 56: 342355.
Franzmann, Albert W.; Schwartz, Charles C.; Peterson, Rolf O. (1980). "Moose calf
mortality in summer at Kenai Peninsula, Alaska". Journal of Wildlife Management 44 (3):
764768. doi:10.2307/3808038. JSTOR 3808038.
Behrend, D.F.; Sage, R.W.; Jr (1974). "Unusual feeding behavior by black bears".
Journal of Wildlife Management 38 (3): 570. doi:10.2307/3800894. JSTOR 3800894.
Svoboda, Nathan J., Belant, Jerrold L., Beyer, Dean E., Duquette, Jared F., Stricker,
Heather K., Albright, Craig A.; Belant; Beyer; Duquette; Stricker; Albright (2011).
"American black bear predation of an adult white-tailed deer". Ursus 22 (1): 9194.
doi:10.2192/URSUS-D-10-00024.1.
Austin, M. A., Obbard, M. E. and Kolenosky, G. B. (1994). "Evidence for a black bear,
Ursus americanus, killing an adult moose, Alces alces". The Canadian Field Naturalist 108:
236238.
Roosevelt, Theodore (2007). Hunting the Grisly and Other Sketches.
ReadHowYouWant.com. pp. 33. ISBN 978-1-4250-7306-0.
"Bear Predation Description". Texnat.tamu.edu. Archived from the original on
October 17, 2006. Retrieved November 24, 2008.
Gunther, Kerry A.; Biel, Mark J. "Evidence of grizzly bear predation on a black bear in
Hayden Valley" (PDF). Retrieved February 21, 2011.
"Probable Grizzly Bear Predation On An American Black Bear In Yellowstone National
Park" (PDF). Retrieved February 21, 2011.
COSEWIC. Canadian Wildlife Service (2002). "Assessment and Update Status Report on
the Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos)" (PDF). Environment Canada. Retrieved April 8, 2007.
Murphy, Kerry M.; Felzien, Gregory S.; Hornocker, Maurice G.; Ruth, Toni K. (1998).
"Encounter Competition between Bears and Cougars: Some Ecological Implications". Ursus
10: 55. JSTOR 3873109.
"S. C. Turnbo: Finding a Panther Guarding a Dead Bear". thelibrary.org.
"Everything about the Cougar / Mountain Lion". freewebs.com. Archived from the
original on February 27, 2014.
Mech, L. David; Boitani, Luigi (2001). Wolves: Behaviour, Ecology and Conservation.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 448. ISBN 0-226-51696-2.
"In Yellowstone, It's a Carnivore Competition". The Washington Post. May 19, 2003.
Retrieved February 21, 2011.
Key West Florida Attractions | Alligator Exhibit. Key West Aquarium (November 30,
2012). Retrieved 2012-12-20.
Lippincott, Joshua B. (2009) Folklore and Legends of the North American Indian, Abela
Publishing Ltd, ISBN 0-9560584-6-9
Bastian, Dawn Elaine and Mitchell, Judy K. (2004). Handbook of Native American
mythology, ABC-CLIO, ISBN 1-85109-533-0
Averkieva, Julia and Sherman, Mark, Kwakiutl String Figures, UBC Press, 1992, ISBN
0-7748-0432-7
Clark, LaVerne Harrell (2001). They sang for horses: the impact of the horse on Navajo
& Apache folklore, University Press of Colorado, ISBN 0-87081-496-6
"Teddy Bears". Library Of Congress. Archived from the original on December 17, 2007.
Retrieved December 10, 2007.
A Bear Named Winnie Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.ca TV (2004)
"Zoogoer Nov/Dec 2002 Sidebar: Smokey Comes to Washington by Alex Hawes".
Nationalzoo.si.edu. Archived from the original on June 19, 2010. Retrieved February 21,
2011.
Kruuk, Hans (2002). Hunter and hunted: Relationships between carnivores and people,
Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-89109-4
Shockey, Jim (1 April 1999). "Black BearsSimple Fools or Cunning Killers". Outdoor
Life. Archived from the original on 30 April 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2008.
"Black Bear Kills Texas Woman, Canadian Man". Los Angeles Times. 17 August 1997.
Retrieved 25 December 2010.
Black Bear Attacks Dog. Wjhg.com. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Bears Denali National Park & Preserve.
Nps.gov. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
Encountering Black Bears in Arkansas. University of Arkansas.
"Revelstoke Bear Aware Annual Report - 2015" - Sue Davies, Community Coordinator
|url=http://revelstokebearaware.org/about-us/documents/
Partington, Charles Frederick (1835) The British Cyclopdia of Natural History:
Combining a Scientific Classification of Animals, Plants, and Minerals, Vol. 1, Orr & Smith.
Brown 1993, Ch. "Use of Bears and Bear Parts".
Sciarrino, Robert (July 21, 2010). "Black bear hunt gets final approval from Department
of Environmental Protection head". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved February 19, 2011.
"Bear Necessity? Public Approves of Bear Hunt". Publicmind.fdu.edu. Retrieved
February 19, 2011.
Schuh, Dwight R. (1992) Bowhunter's Encyclopedia, Stackpole Books, ISBN 0-81172412-3
Roosevelt, Theodore. Hunting Trips of a Ranchman: Hunting Trips on the Prairie and in
the Mountains, Adamant Media Corporation, ISBN 1-4212-6647-4
121.
Smith, Richard P. (2007) Black Bear Hunting, Stackpole Books, ISBN 08117-0269-3
Bibliography
Brown, Gary (1993). The great bear almanac. Lyons & Burford. ISBN 978-1-55821-210-7.
Further reading
Craighead, Lance (2000). Bears of the World. Voyageur Press. pp. 6380. ISBN 089658-503-4.
Powell, Roger A (1997). Ecology and behaviour of North American black bears :
home ranges, habitat, and social organization.
organization Chapman & Hall,. ISBN 0-412-579901.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ursus americanus.
Wikispecies has information related to:
Ursus americanus
(American black bear)
v
t
e
v
t
e
Navigation menu
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Article
Talk
Read
Edit
View history
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
In other projects
Wikimedia Commons
Wikispecies
Languages
Afrikaans
Azrbaycanca
Bn-lm-g
Brezhoneg
Catal
Cebuano
etina
Dansk
Deutsch
Din bizaad
Dolnoserbski
Eesti
Espaol
Esperanto
Euskara
Franais
Hornjoserbsce
Hrvatski
Bahasa Indonesia
Interlingua
Iupiak
slenska
Italiano
Latina
Latvieu
Lietuvi
Magyar
Nhuatl
Nederlands
Nhiyawwin /
Norsk bokml
Norsk nynorsk
Ozbekcha/
Polski
Portugus
Romn
Runa Simi
Scots
Simple English
Slovenina
Slovenina
Srpskohrvatski /
Suomi
Svenska
Taqbaylit
Tsetshesthese
Trke
Ting Vit
Winaray
Edit links
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view