Habitat:

Black bears are incredibly adaptable and able to live in a wide range of habitats, including suburban areas. Generally, they prefer forested environments, and tend to follow seasonal food abundance. Wetlands and riparian areas are often fertile bear habitat, simply because of the amount of food available within them. In areas where black bears share ranges with grizzly bears, black bears are thought to stay away from the grizzly-dominated open habitats, instead preferring wooded areas.

Behavior:

Black bears are solitary animals. Females will claim a large territory and live and raise their young within it, while males roam through multiple territories throughout the year.

Diet:

Black bears are true omnivores, and incredibly opportunistic. Diet varies significantly by season and location. Basically, bears will eat whatever they can find! In the spring, this is often young shoots and buds from awakening plants. In the summer, insects and small or young vertebrates, scavenged carrion, fruit and nuts are all on the table. Bears spend the fall fattening up for winter, and can eat tens of thousands of calories a day in order to do so. Human garbage is also a favorite food of bears, and human-wildlife conflicts can arise, particularly in the fall, as bears get bolder in the search for calories.

Reproduction:

Female black bears produce an average of two to three cubs every other year. Cubs are born tiny and defenseless in January or February, while the female hibernates, and grow large enough to emerge from the den with her in the spring. Cubs stay with the mother for two years before striking out on their own. Mating season is in the summer, and females only mate on the years they are not raising first or second year cubs. While breeding occurs in summer, embryo implantation is delayed until the winter, when the female bear's body determines whether or not she has enough fat stored up to support a pregnancy in addition to hibernation.

Associated Species:

Black bear tend to prey on insects and small vertebrates, but will take large ungulates like deer or elk as prey only when they are young or weak. Black bears are often found around human settlements, and run-ins between humans and bears are common in some parts of the United States.

Sources: https://www.bearbiology.org/bear-species/american-black-bear/, https://bear.org/bear-facts/black-bears/basic-bear-facts/, https://www.nps.gov/subjects/bears/black-bears.htm, https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/american-black-bear.htm, https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Mammals/Black-Bear, https://www.oregonzoo.org/discover/animals/american-black-bear

American Black Bear Life Cycle

By Season:

Winter - Spring - Summer - Fall

Food Requirements

Bears hibernate throughout winter, relying on fat stores.

In early spring bears leave their dens, relying on sparse new plant growth for food. Bears tend to hit their lowest weights in early spring, beginning to gain it back again as food supplies increase into the summer.

Bears spend summer fattening up on abundant food supplies.

Bears really pack on the pounds in autumn, eating as many calories as possible to prepare for the coming winter hibernation.

Habitat Use

Bears hibernate during the winter in snow, hollow logs, or in dug-out dens.

Bears wander far and wide looking for food.

Male bears seek out females during the summer breeding season, and both sexes enjoy the bounty of summer.

Bears begin to fatten up for the winter, often congregating around food sources and sometimes coming into conflict with humans as they range nearer to urban areas to find food.

Water Needs

Bear water need is minimal to non-existent in winter, as they are in a period of stasis and do not leave their dens.

Normal water use

Normal water use

Normal water use

Period of Highest Mortality

During hibernation, bears are vulnerable to predation and poaching, as well as starvation.

Young bears are vulnerable to predation in spring, and in early spring lack of food sources can endanger bears, already thin from hibernation, to starvation.

Competition between males for breeding can cause mortality.

As bears, fattening up for the winter, come closer to human settlement and may encroach into urban areas to find food, some mortality is seen from bear-vehicle collisions and euthanasia of problem bears. Fall is also bear hunting season in many states.

Reproduction

Bear cubs are born around January, tiny, hairless, and helpless.

Bear cubs are large enough to venture out of the hibernation den with their mothers.

Breeding season begins, though embryo development is delayed until hibernation.

Cubs born at the start of the year will spend roughly another year with their mothers before striking off on their own.

Social Dynamics

Bears spend the winter hibernating alone, though mother bears give birth in mid-winter to cubs who stay with them for about two years.

Bears wander out of their dens looking for food in the spring, mother bears taking their cubs out of the den for the first time ever. Male bears strike out on their own to find space.

Mating season is in the Summer, and one of the only time bears come together. Male and female pairs may spend several days together during and after breeding.

Bears may tolerate presence of other bears in locations where food is abundant, such as garbage dumps and patches of wild fruit.

Multi-year Life Cycle:

Neonate

Bears are born in January or February, and nurse throughout the winter before emerging from their dens with their mothers in springtime.

Juvenile

Juveniles stay with their mothers until about 17 months of age, at which point they may remain in her territory for several more years.

Adult

Bears reach sexual maturity at three to four years of age.

Recruitment

Male bears can mate every year, but females will only mate every other year, and less frequently if conditions are not ideal.