Black Bear

What is the scientific name?

Ursus americanus

• Pronounced UR-sus a-mer-i-CANE-us
• What does it mean? "American bear." Ursus is the Latin word for "bear." Americanus is the Latinzed version of America. This particular species of bear is found only in North America.

Where are they located? How many subspecies are there?

At one time the American black bear was found in every state, except Nevada (Hall 1981). Now it is found mostly in forested areas of the western U.S. and isolated forest patches in the east. There are 16 subspecies of black bear, all in North America. They are U.a. amblyceps, U.a. americanus, U.a. carlottae, U.a. emmonsii, U.a. eremicus, U.a. floridanus, U.a. hamiltoni, U.a. kermodei, U.a. luteolus, U.a. machetes, U.a. perniger, U.a. pugnax, U.a. vancouveri. The subspecies living in Oregon are U.a. altifrontalis, which occurs generally west of the Cascades; U.a. cinnamomum occurs east of the Cascades; and U.a. californiensis occurs in extreme south-central Oregon (Hall 1991).

Where do they live?

Mainly in forested areas where there is an abundance of food (Maser 1981).

What do they look like?

"Black" bears come in a variety of colors, but are usually all one color, black. In addition to its namesake, there are cinnamon, beige, white and blue color phases. The blue phase is really more of a slate gray color (Domico 1988).

How big are they?

Males are larger than females. Total length is between 5 and 7 feet. The black bear's little tail can grow up to 5 inches long (Nowak 1991). Black bears stand 35 to 40 inches at the shoulder when on all fours (Domico 1988). Males usually weigh between 253 and 594 pounds, females between 202 and 308 pounds (Nowak 1991). Occasionally, individuals can weigh up to 700 pounds (Pelton 1982).

How long do they live?

Males average three to five years, females average five to eight years. Occasionally black bears will live as long as 15 to 20 years (Pelton 1982). Potential longevity is 30 years (Maser 1981).

What do they eat?

Mostly vegetation such as grasses, flowering plants and fruits. They occasionally eat insects, mammals, birds, fish, and carrion if the opportunity arises. Animals make up less than 25% of its diet. (Pelton 1982; Domico 1988). One author described the black bear as a "four-legged garbage grinder" (Domico 1988), probably in reference to their renowned ability to steal food from campgrounds.

Interesting notes:

The black bear is the largest carnivore in Oregon (Maser 1981) and the smallest bear in North America. Dave Siddon refers to them as "an appetite surrounded by fur." One of their more unpopular habits is the peeling of bark off of trees to get at the cambrium layer, which lies just beneath the bark and contains many nutrients. This act has the unfortunate consequence of sometimes killing the tree, making the black bear seen as a nuisance to the timber industry.

In 1940, the Washington Forest Protection Association hired seven professional hunters to track down and kill an unlimited number of bears. On the Olympic Peninsula alone over 300 bears were killed each summer. One of these hunters was a man named Ralph Flowers who killed 1,125 bears in a 38-year period. Apparently he had his fill, for he stopped killing bears and began looking for ways to keep them from damaging trees. Most of the destruction seems to be done during the four or five weeks after the bears emerge from hibernation. The bears emerge hungry and seek out the cambrium in trees as a quick and readily available food supply.

To combat this, Ralph performed an experiment. He talked one timber company into letting him put a mixture of fruit pulp at various feeding stations around their land. When the bears came out from hibernation they preferred the fruit pulp mixture in place of the cambrium. This was especially evident since damage to the trees in the experimental area was vastly reduced. Ralph stated that the cost of feeding each bear came to less than $50.00, while the cost of tracking and killing each bear would have been over $600 (Domico 1988).