Habitat and Range

Wild black bears live in most U.S. states and Canadian provinces and territories. Black bears were once plentiful through North Carolina. In Colonial times, there may have been as many as 100,000 black bears throughout the State. Now there are approximately 4,000. Today black bears occupy only about 1,900 square miles of its historic range of 48,800 square miles in the mountains and along the coast. They need large expanses of uninhabited woods or swamp with dense cover: 2,000 to 3,000 acres for females and 11,000 to 15,000 acres for males. Too many people live in the North Carolina Piedmont region for bears to find a home.

Life Cycle

Baby black bears are born in January or February, in litters of one to three babies (but sometimes up to five). The newborn babies weigh six to 12 ounces, but in six months they gain over 50 pounds. After a year and a half, they are ready to live on their own. Wild bears usually live four to five years, and only rarely past ten (the oldest known wild bear lived to be 26). In captivity, bears in their late teens are old, but many captive bears have lived to their late 20s or even 30 years old.

Diet

Black bears are omnivores. They will eat almost anything, including fruits, berries, acorns, nuts, corn, leaves, roots, honey, insects, frogs, reptiles, grasses, grubs, larvae, seeds, carrion, fish and small mammals. They have varied teeth to handle their varied diet. Sharp front canine teeth tear meat; flat molars in the back grind up plants. Since people and bears eat the same kind of diet, our teeth are very similar.

Hibernation

Do black bears hibernate? Well, it depends on how you define “hibernate.” In North Carolina they go into a deep winter sleep. Their breathing slows, their heartbeat drops from 40 beats per minute to ten, and body temperature falls from 100 degrees F to 90 degrees F. But because the bears are in a state where they can wake up very suddenly, some scientists don’t think it should be called 'hibernating.'

Adaptations

Black Bears are good climbers and diggers. They can run at 32 mph on all fours, or stand and walk upright. Like people, bears walk on the soles of their feet, not their toes. They have strong senses of smell and hearing, but they have poor eyesight.

Black bears use their paws to catch food and put it in their mouths. Bears can move each claw separately, almost like fingers. This allows them to make surprisingly careful movements, such as overturning a single leaf. They also use their claws to dig, to climb a tree or as dangerous weapons when they attack prey.