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Ursus americanus
Black bears are not always black. Some are brown and the rare Kermode black bear is white. Some individuals may get up to 600 lbs in fall as they prepare for their winter hibernation, but most are much smaller based upon geography and food resources.
American black bears are widely distributed across North America. They live in forests, but may leave forests to graze on grasses and, in some instances, crops, such as corn and alfalfa.
Spotted on Jul 18, 2010
Submitted on Apr 23, 2010
5 Comments
Awesome, thanks.
Black bears evolved in an environment of lots of big predators, such as grizzly bears, dire wolves, short-faced bears, cave bears, etc. that would have posed a significant threat. As a result, they are actually very timid animals that typically hide, climb a tree, or run away when encountering a person. In fact, of the hundreds of miles I've hiked and 1600 miles I've canoed in bear country. I've only seen a couple of black bears, but have run into several grizzly bears. Black bears have fantastic hearing, excellent sense of smell, and much better eye sight than many people give them credit for. Most human-bear encounters are only known of by the bears--they see, hear, or smell us and move away long before we are aware of them.
This isn't necessarily true, however, of habituated black bears.
Nice. Whenever I see a black bear it runs away, is that most often the case? Or are they just running from my camera? :)
Truly an excellent shot.
Fantastic photo Gordon!