Believe I would be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t know what a black bear is, especially in my ‘neck of the woods’ of Northwest New Jersey!  Having said that, ‘Knowing what something is AND knowing about something, might be an interesting comparative conversation!!??”  If I keep this conversation as a series of short facts along with some common questions and answers about our large Wildlife neighbors, Me thinks, this can be an enjoyable educational Family experience!!  They truly are a remarkable animal!!

Let us begin our conversation with, I would like to introduce and present to you, The Black Bear / Ursus americanus!!  The MOST COMMON and WIDELY DISTRIBUTED species of bears in North America!!  They can be found anywhere from forested areas, to the beach and to the alpine zone!!  While bears of the same species might look similar, EVERYTHING, from their size, coloring, diet and sleeping patterns depend on the bear and its location.  For example, a bear’s diet varies, depending on what foods are available during a specific season in a specific region.  A bear’s home range can vary depending on the location, season, and food availability.  Although, primarily nocturnal, this uniquely North American bear may be seen at any time, day or night!!  It occupies a range usually of 8 to 10 square miles, although sometimes as large as 15 square miles.  The range of the male is about double of the female.

Personally, if I was asked,  “What one word, would best describe a Black Bear??  **ADAPTABILITY!!!**  Keep this in mind throughout the article!!

DESCRIPTION:

        Height:  about 3 feet at the shoulders and 5 to 7 feet tall when standing upright

        Weight: Ranges from 100 to 600 pounds depending on age, sex and season  (Males much larger than females)

        Average Life Span:  15-25 years

        Did You Know?  Despite their name, black bears can be black, cinnamon, blonde, blue/gray or even white!!  They are mainly black in our area.

OBSERVATIONS:  (Remember the word ADAPTABILITY)  While the Black Bear’s walk is clumsy, its bounding trot can obtain speeds up to 30 mph!!  It is a powerful swimmer.  It also climbs trees, either for protection or food.  Although this animal is in the order of Carnivora, most of its diet, about 85%, consists of vegetation, including twigs, buds, leaves, nuts, roots, fruit, corn, berries and newly sprouted plants.  In Spring, the bear peels off tree bark to get at the inner, or cambium, layer.  It rips open bee trees to feast on honey, honeycombs, bees and larvae and it will tear apart rotting logs for grubs, beetles, crickets and ants.  A good fisher, the Black Bear often wades in streams or lakes snagging fish with its jaws or pinning them with a paw.  It rounds out its diet with small to medium-sized mammals or other vertebrates.  It will also eat carrion it comes across.  Guess you could say, its world is its pantry!!

QUESTION:  If someone asks you, what do black bears eat???

ANSWER:  Black bears will eat almost anything.  They are omnivores, meaning that they eat both plants and animals.  Their curved claws help them climb trees to search for food, but, they cannot dig for food as well as a brown bear. 

Black bears are very smart and can identify food not only by smell but also by appearance.  Bears that have been fed human food will begin to associate campsites, bags, garbage cans and even cars with food!!  These food-conditioned bears can become dangerous!!  IMPORTANT NOTE:  Please remember:  Don’t let bears get your food or garbage!!

QUESTION:  How well does a bear smell??

FIRST ANSWER:  I’ve been told they smell terrible and I don’t want to get that close to a wild bear to find out!!

SECOND ANSWER:  It’s believed that bears may have the best sense of smell of any animal on earth!  An average dog’s sense of smell is about 100 times better than a human’s (though a blood hound’s is 300 times better!)  BUT a bear’s sense of smell is seven times better than a blood hound’s or 2,100 times better than a human!!!

They use smell find food, mates, cubs and avoid danger, particularly between competing individuals.  They can smell an animal carcasses upwind and 20 miles away!!  You should just assume that they can smell the food in your food bag, too!!!

HIBERNATION: In the fall, the bear puts on fat and hibernates in a shelter, such as a cave, hollow tree or log, under the roots of a fallen tree, or even in a snowbank.  NOTE:  Excrement is never found in the wintering den!!  The bear stops eating a few days before retiring, but then consumes roughage, such as leaves, pine needles and bits of its own hair.  These pass through the digestive system and blocks everything up, only voided when the bear emerges in the Spring.

MATING:  Sows mate first on their third year, usually having one cub that first year and two after that. While their mother sleeps in the den, the almost naked newborns nestle into her fur.  The babies may nurse for about a year, during which time the female is not receptive to males.  Black Bears are solitary except briefly for mating or when congregating to feed at dumps.

STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO OF THE WEEK:  Saturday, July 18th, Looks like it is going to be a scorcher!! This means an Auto Tour, One of my ‘Looking for Stuff’ trips. Game plan to drive through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. I am heading out of Blairstown on Millbrook Road and drive by Birch Ridge Road, I also have driven around in there in the past. Well, for some reason, I turn around and decide to tour there first. GLAD I DID!!! No sooner turned in and down the road, come across a small black bear about 50 feet off the roadway. He could care less about me!! Interesting points, he overturned a large rock and was eating something out of the hole.  A couple of weeks earlier, I observed a Black Bear eating In a field, just sat down, grabbed some plants with his paws and then stripped the plants with his teeth!!  Just a beautiful animal and a Wildlife neighbor!!

Please visit my Flickr site for more photos:

Black Bear eating in field Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

Various bear encounters

Bear sow and cubs at Allamuchy Mountain State Park

Enjoy Your Open Space

Charlie Fineran

Charlie Fineran is Allamuchy’s Director of Open Space, Allamuchy Township Environmental Commission Chairman and Allamuchy Historical Society President.