Black Bear

The black Bear ( Ursus americanus ) or Baribal is the most common Ours in North America. It meets in a geographical surface which extend from the north of the Canada and of the Alaska in the north of the Mexico. It is present Atlantic coasts at the peaceful coasts of North America. It meets in a great number of American States and in all the Canadian provinces. He prefers the forests and the mountains where he finds his food and can hide. The population of black bears was undoubtedly of two million individuals formerly. Today, the species is protected and it is estimated that there exists between: 500000 and: 750000 black bears on this continent. Smaller than the Brown bear and the Polar bear, this animal has a color of Fourrure more or less sunk according to the areas going from reddish to the silver plated gray. They are named wrongly " bear noirs". 16 subspecies, of which some threatened, are recognized. The black Bear does not hibernate in a strict sense, but spends the winter in a state of somnolence while living on its reserves of Graisse S accumulated during the autumn. It is Omnivore, even if its food Régime is dominated by the vegetable . Contrary to the generally accepted ideas, the black Bear is a good swimmer and it climbs easily with the trees to escape a danger. Driven out a long time for its fur, it undergoes today the reduction of sound Natural environment.

Physical characteristics

The black Bear generally measures between 140 and 200 cm length. Its size with the Garrot lies between 100 and 120 cm.

The black Bear is smaller than the Polar bear and the Brown bear. Its Masse depends on the age, of the sex of the animal and the season: in Fall, the black Bear grows bigger and made reserves of grease in order to spend the winter. The females weigh between 40 kg and 180 kg (average of 70-80 kg.

The color of peeling varies black with the white, while passing by many nuances: chocolate, brown, grooves, fair are more frequent colors in the forests of the Western American and the Canada, a subspecies of black Bear whose fur is of a cream-coloured white tone. Bears of a bluish gray occupy the Baie of the Glaciers in Alaska. All these animals belong well to the species of the American black Bear. The Albinos are very rare. Certain individuals carry one or more white spots on the neck or the chest) that the front legs. Each leg is equipped with five fingers with nonretractile Griffe S used to tear, dig, scrape the ground and to climb with the trees. A blow of a front leg is enough to kill a adult stag.

The black Bear has small eyes, round ears, a length pointed Museau of brown color, naseaux lengthened and a relatively short tail (8-14 cm. He also lives in the mixed forests of south-east of Canada and the North-East of the United States, but also in the south of the mountains the Appalachian Mountains. He is on the other hand almost absent from zones Aride S of the continent of North America.

The winter spent, the black Bear leaves its shelter and puts in search food at average altitudes and in the Vallée S exposed to the sun. As the summer approaches, it regains higher altitudes. The bear is an animal Plantigrade, i.e. it goes while entirely posing the plant feet on the ground. It uses the step with the Amble. He is moreover an excellent swimmer and is able to cross a lake to join an island. In August 2004, a wild black bear was found drunk after having drunk 36 beer quills in the State of Washington, in the North-West of the United States. The bear had opened the refrigerator of a camper and had used his claws and its teeth to perforate the quills.

The black Bear is most of the time a solitary animal except for the period of Rut and in the relation which the mother with her bear cubs maintains. The bears can gather occasionally in the zones of food abundance. They generally leave during the day, except in the sectors where there are many men: they then prefer the night to avoid them. Contrary to the generally accepted ideas, the attacks of black bears against the men are rare: less than 36 attacks mortals were listed throughout the 20th century. This duration varies according to the climate: the longer the winter is, the more the period of somnolence is prolonged. Also, this one does not exist in the areas of the safe south for the pregnant ourses. They also have great requirements out of water.

The bear cubs are born from at the end of November at February and up to 6 in the east from the United States. They measure 15 to 20 cm with the birth and the hunter was be sorry before killing a bear. Amerindian art represented this animal venerated on the Totem S. During certain ceremonies, they practiced the dance of the bear. At the end of the 17th century, the Compagnie of Hudson Bay encouraged the Amerindians to make the trade of the furs of bear: they exchanged covers of Laine against skins of black bears. The black Bear was also driven out to make the famous hats of the British guard and certain regiments of the Canadian Armée and British Armée. The use of the fur of the bears for these cover-chief, the animals killed in collisions with cars or catches of hunting, is criticized by associations of protection of the animals like PETA. Tests of hats in synthetic fur were carried out. Lastly, the legs and the Bile of the plantigrade are still very required today in Asia: one gram of bile, used in the Chinese Pharmacopeia, costs 155 dollars.

Predatory and mortality

In nature, the average Life expectancy of the mammal is of approximately 10 years; it can sometimes live up to 30 years the number of black bears on the American continent. Their weak Fruitfulness and their late sexual maturity constitutes threats with the survival of the species.

The leading causes of mortality are the collisions with the cars or hunting. The bear cubs can die of hunger or a fall since a tree. They constitute preys for the predatory ones such as the Loup, the Puma, the Lynx, the Coyote.

The populations of the west of the United States are still numerous whereas those of the east of the country tend to be reduced dangerously. These last live primarily in the mountains, the forests like in the national parks and natural reserves. The areas in the east of the the Mississippi indeed are anthropisées whereas broad zones of the Rocky Mountains the tops plates and Grand Basin remain wild. The animal is absent from eleven States out of 50 of which Hawaii, both Dakota, States very urbanized like the Maryland or the Delaware, and several States of center-is where the mountains and the forests are non-existent. This population is currently stable, even in very light progression. The Ranger S count it about fifteen in the Vallée Yosemite, i.e. the sector more attended by the tourists. The black Bear adapts easily to the presence of the men and does not neglect their food. It can then penetrate in the camp-sites and the vehicles stationed on the carparks. Formerly, the bears were nourished by the men, which caused attacks and many casualties. Today, of many panels of information and the messages of prevention disadvise nourishing the wild animals, in particular the plantigrades. The dustbins of the park were consolidated and closed hermetically; boxes were arranged in the camp-sites to store food. The incidents are falling, however two to three aggressive bears must be shot down each year in Yosemite.

In another American National park, with the Yellowstone, one nourished also the bears, which constituted an appreciated attraction of the tourists. Today, the park gave up this practice. One currently counts 600 black bears in Yellowstone.

In the east from the United States, 400 to 600 black bears in the National park of Great Smoky Mountains. It is during the years low in Faîne S that the incidents with the visitors multiplied. In this area, the black Bear undergoes the competition of invasive species such as the Sanglier of Europe, which is an important consumer of Gland S. the rangers deaden the he-bears most dangerous and move them towards wild sectors.

In the New Hampshire, the Naturaliste Ken Killian opened an establishment which collects and looks after the wounded black bears or the stray bear cubs. A similar experiment is undertaken in the Minnesota where: 3000 black bears live in the Superior National Forest.

biological Corridors and écoducs were arranged for the black Bear of Florida to prevent its extinction.

The American black Bear is protected by the law in several American States from the Southern like the Louisiana, the the Mississippi or the Texas. To kill a black bear illegally is punished by an important fine and a custodial sentence.

Classification and subspecies

Common noun

In English, the black Bear is usually called American Black Bear , Black bear or Cinnamon Bear ( cinnamon means “Cannelle”) for the animals of brown-russet-red coloring. It also bears the name of “Baribal”.

Taxonomy

The phylogenic relations with the other species of the family of ursidés are not clearly defined. The black Bear is however very close to the Ours to collar, polar and brown. However, it is much smaller than the Polar bear whose mass can reach 700 kg for a male:

Ursus americanus altifrontalis : north-western coast of the Pacific, since the Colombia-British in the north of the California and the north of the Idaho;
Ursus americanus amblyceps : Colorado, Mexico, Western Texas and Eastern half of the Arizona, south-east of the Utah;
Ursus americanus americanus : Eastern Montana to the Atlantic Ocean, of the south and the east of Alaska and Canada to the Atlantic Ocean and with the south towards Texas;
Ursus americanus californiensis : central valley of the California and south of the Oregon;
Ursus americanus carlottae : Alaska;
Ursus americanus cinnamomum : Idaho, Western Montana, Wyoming, is Washington, Oregon and the North-East of Utah;
Ursus americanus emmonsii : south-east of Alaska;
Ursus americanus eremicus : the North-East of Mexico;
Ursus americanus floridanus (black Bear of Florida): Florida, southernmost Georgia and Alabama;
Ursus americanus hamiltoni : island of Newfoundland;
Ursus americanus kermodei : central coast of the Colombia-British;
Ursus americanus luteolus (black bear of Louisiana): Eastern Texas, Louisiana, the southernmost Mississippi;
Ursus americanus machetes : Mexico;
Ursus americanus perniger : Peninsula Kenai in Alaska;
Ursus americanus pugnax : Archipelago Alexander in Alaska;
Ursus americanus vancouveri : Vancouver Island as a Colombia-British.

The black Bear in the culture

The Amerindian S Ojibways made baribal them Totem.

In 1902, the US president Theodore Roosevelt went in the the Mississippi in order to regulate a bearing conflict on the layout of the limits separating the States from Louisiana and of the Mississippi. During its stay, it took part in a shooting party during which it decided to save a wounded black bear. The episode was reported in an article of the Washington Post . Clifford K. Berryman illustrated it by a drawing called Drawing the Line in the Mississippi ( to see the image ) which represented the President and the black bear in question. Quickly, the anecdote became popular. Two Russian emigrants, Rose and Morris Mictchom, created a Teddy bear which they baptized “Teddy”, the diminutive of the Theodore first name, in homage to the 26e President of the United States. In 1950, the Ranger S of Lincoln National Forest in the State of New Mexico saved a young black bear of a fire which devastated the Capitan Mountains. The animal had to be neat for its burns but he survived and inspired the creation of the bear Smokey, the mascot of the prevention of forest fires in the United States. The black Bear is moreover the emblem of the Université of Maine; one of the three mascots of the Winter Olympics of 2002 with Salt Lake City was a black bear of the name of Coal (“coal”).

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