All Bear Facts

Weight

Typical weights Males of breeding age: 125-500 lbs or more Females of breeding age: 90-300 lbs or more Records Male: 880 lbs (399 kgs), Craven Co., NC, 1998 or 902…

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Classification of Black Bears

Ursus americanus  Kingdom: Animal  Phylum: Chordata  Class: Mammalia  Subclass: Theria  Infraclass: Eutheria  Order: Carnivora  Suborder: Fissipedia  Family: Ursidae  Subfamily: Ursinae (all living bears except giant panda and the spectacled bear)…

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Black Bear Range

Black bears historically ranged over most of the forested regions of North America, including all Canadian provinces, Alaska, all states in the conterminous United States, and significant portions of northern…

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Typical Year for Black Bears

January: The full moon in January is sometimes called the ‘bear moon’. Black bear cubs are generally born in January. The mother bear licks them clean, keeps them warm and…

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Quick Black Bear Facts

Folklore: Perhaps no other animals have so excited the human imagination as bears. References to bears are found in ancient and modern literature, folk songs, legends, mythology, children stories, and…

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Do Bears Really Snarl?

Do bears really snarl like we see in taxidermy? No. Bears don’t snarl like cats and dogs do. Misleading, angry-looking images increase fear and cause unnecessary killing worldwide. People will…

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Fear of the Unknown

When it comes to bears, most people err on the side of caution. Many people accept media exaggerations of bear danger and develop deeply ingrained fears, making no differentiation between…

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Articles That Demonize Bears

In 1998, Outdoor Life ran a story entitled “Grrrr, Outdoor Life Commemorates 100 Years of Bear Attacks.” Author James Driscoll wrote: By the dawning of the ‘40s. Outdoor Life had…

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Images vs Reality

Outdoor magazine artists typically depict bears as startled, angry, charging, or attacking. All typically are shown with their lips drawn back in some unnatural expression of supposed anger. The same…

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Why Do We Fear Bears?

Excessive Warnings About Attacks Attacks are rare and excessive warnings about them create unnecessary fear. Balanced and factual information about bears is hard to find. Providing that information is the…

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