Bears

April 18, 2006

Bear Diet

Home Range

Reproduction

Hibernation

Bear Research

People & Bears

Classroom Activities

Links

Facts

Glossary

References

All About Bears
There are 8 different kinds of bears - American black bears, polar bears, giant panda bears, Asiatic black bears, sloth bears, spectacled bears, sun bears and brown bears which are also known as grizzly bears.

Where Do Bears Live?
Black bears or their relatives live on all continents except Africa, Australia, & Antarctica. Approximately 630,000 - 725,000 American black bears live in 42 states. They also inhabit 11 Canadian provinces. Grizzly bears (also known as brown bears) and polar bears also inhabit North America. The most common bear in Idaho is the Ursus americanus otherwise known as the American black bear. Baby bears are called cubs, female bears are called sows and male bears are called boars.

Bears in Idaho
People who live in Idaho are lucky to share their forests with a few grizzlies and a lots of black bears. As many as 20,000 black bears inhabit Idaho, but if you go looking for truly black bears, you might be surprised!

In Idaho, you are as likely to see a black bear that is brown as you are to see a black bear that is black. Black bears that live in the western states are often various shades of brown similar to grizzly bears.

Eastern bears are usually black. Black bears also come in white (the Kermode bear of coastal British Columbia) and blue (the glacier bear of west-central British Columbia and southeastern Alaska) color phases.

In Idaho, black bear habitat spreads over 30,000 square miles of forest, mostly north of the Snake River Plain. Less than one fourth of bear habitat is on private lands. The rest is managed by a variety of state and federal agencies, including the United States Forest Service which oversees three-fourths of the bear habitat in Idaho. Idaho's forests can support 20,000 - 25,000 bears, but the actual population is probably lower than that.

Idaho's black bears are creatures of the forest. Camouflaged by its dark fur, a black bear easily fades into the shadows. It can move quietly on its soft, broad foot pads.

Being able to navigate the forest quietly and unseen helps a bear avoid other bears as it searches for food. If a young bear accidentally encounters a large adult male, who could consider the youngster a competitor, the younger animal needs to retreat before being detected. If necessary, it can run 30 miles (48 km) per hour or paddle across a lake!

Bear Senses
In the forest, bears rely on their acute hearing and super sense of smell. Their noses perceive smells much fainter than humans can detect. With this super sense of smell, they can detect other animals that are near by, and they can find fruit, insect larvae, and the other foods.

Bears can probably see as well as humans can. They can recognize shapes but not details at a distance, and they observe moving objects better than stationary objects. When you've got to find lots of food on the ground, sharp eyes that see color can come in handy. And that's exactly what the black bear has. Although their night vision is also excellent, bears forage for fruit during the day when they can perceive colors.

Brown bears and polar bears are the biggest bears. They can be over 6 feet long and can weigh from 100 to 600 pounds. Sun bears which live in southeast Asia are the smallest bears. They weigh about 100 pounds or 45 kg.

Massiveness isn't the only myth about bears. We see them everywhere depicted as cuddly stuffed toys, as humanlike characters in fairy tales and cartoons, and as ferocious beasts. But few people ever see the real thing as a beautiful, shy animal that is far from both its cute toy image and its man-killing myth.

Bear weight estimates of more than 400 pounds are common. Even bear researchers have a tough time judging the size of a bear.

According to John Beecham - bear researchers often have contests to see who could come closest to guessing a bear's weight, and they often over guessed the weight by 50 pounds.

How Big Is A Bear?

Newborns
Eight ounces (0.22 kg)

One-year-old females
30-50 pounds (13.5-22.5 kg)

One-year-old males
50-70 pounds (22.5-31.5 kg)

Mature females
120-140 pounds (54-63 kg)
51-54 inches (127.5-135 cm)

Mature males
240-280 pounds (108-126 kg)
56-61 inches (140-152.5 cm)

Bear Feet
Bears walk on their feet as humans do, with their soles flat on the ground. (If you look at other mammals, such as a cat or dog, you'll see that they walk on their toes.) Look for tracks like these:

Also look for scat deposited in piles of thick cords that resemble horse manure except that it is full of insect parts and, in late summer, berry pieces.