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Their fur is soft and dense with long, thick guard hairs. On its muzzle and around its eyes, the hair is light-colored. A typical black bear has long, lustrous jet-black hair over most of the body from its head down to its tiny tail. Black bear males will continue to grow until they are 10 to 12 years old.įur: The black bear is also unique in that it comes in a wide range of colors. When standing up, they are about five to seven feet tall. Black bears stand 27 to 36 inches high at the shoulder, and are 4 to 5 1/2 feet in length. Males are larger than females and tend to average 400 pounds, while a female's average weight is 175 pounds. The 875 pound bear is the largest known black bear and it was discovered in Pennsylvania. Black bears weigh anywhere between 90 and 875 pounds. Size: The size of a black bear varies greatly based on their geographic area, food source, age, sex, health, and season.
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The oldest known wild black bear was 39 years old and the oldest black bear in captivity was 44 years old. Lifespan: The average life span of a black bear in the wild is 18 years. The black bears front claws are about 1 1/4 inches in length. There are five toes on each foot, each armed with a strong, curved, nonretractable claw. They are also able to walk standing upright like a human. The black bear is plantigrade, meaning it walks on the soles of its feet. The canines are long and well pointed the premolars are rudimentary or even missing and the molars have flat crowns. Black bears have 42 teeth: 12 incisors, 4 canines, 16 premolars and 10 molars. Black bears do not have the prominent shoulder hump which characterizes the brown bear, and their rumps are higher than their shoulders. They can see and hear much better than a human and they have an excellent sense of smell that can range up to 20 miles. Its eyes are small and the ears are tall and well-rounded. They first existed in Asia, and those black bears that migrated across the Bering Land Bridge about 500,000 years ago became known as the North American Black Bear.ĭescription: Black bears have a convex (straight) face when seen in profile.
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Though known to attack when provoked, for the most part however, black bears generally give humans a wide berth.Įvolution: It is believed that black bears evolved directly from Ursus minimus. Black bears tend to be the most timid of the North American bears due to their smaller stature, but they are still a strong and bold opponent. This is because they have had to learn to adapt to man as we expand into their home ranges. Habitat: Black bears originally lived in a wide variety of habitats due to their large geographic distribution, but now they are typically found in largely forested areas and mountainous terrain. There are approximately 600,000 black bears native to North America, and they live in most of the United States, all of Canada and in parts of Mexico. The American black bear is the smallest and most widely distributed of the North American bears. Further evolution of North American bears differs and more information is provided for each of these species below. The earliest known bear ancestor is Ursus minimus, a small bear that steadily grew in size and diversity as it spread across Asia and Europe over time. Although scientifically debated, it is believed that bears evolved from a canine approximately 5.3 million years ago. Those ancestors, known as Ursavus, were part of a family called Miacids that also included canines. The evolution of bears as we know them today began about 30 million years ago. Within each species there are also differences such as size, color, and diet based on where they live and the abundance of quality nutritious foods even the season can make a difference. Each bear species has its own scientific name, and in the case of brown bears, many of its isolated populations have regional names as well.Įach of the North American bear species are distinctively different from each other and are unique to their habitats. North America is home to 1) American Black Bears ( Ursus americanus), 2) Brown Bears ( Ursus arctos), and 3) Polar Bears ( Ursus maritimus). Only three of these species live in North America.
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They are all part of a family scientifically called Ursidae. Sun bears, brown bears, sloth bears, spectacled bears, American black bears, Asian black bears, panda bears, and polar bears - these are the world's eight species of bears.