The size of a female American black bear is about 7 feet tall standing on its back legs. A female black bear’s weight is between 90 and 400 pounds. A male black bear is about 7 feet tall, too and weighs between 250 and 600 pounds. A black bear has shaggy black hair, but the coat can have different colors such as brown or blonde.

 

Bears are being forced to adapt to living close to people because they are adapting to people and food. You can identify a black bear by its fur color, size, litter size (cubs), intelligence, sounds, and daily activity. A bear’s niche is it eats acorns, berries, nuts, mushrooms, grasses, and leaves. Humans are the black bear’s only predator. Bears do well in this environment because it does not have any predators and it is very easy to find lots of food.

 

Black bears are found all around North America. There are around 600,000 black bears. The population is growing. The thing that is contributing to this change is that they frequently keep moving to different parts throughout North America. Their role in the food web is that they are omnivorous. They eat things such as, grasses, roots, berries, insects, and sometimes fish.

 

Bears don’t really have to compete for food unless it is squirrels or other bears the eat berries and etc. The only predator that the American black bear has is a human. This animal does not need to depend on anything or hide unless humans are hunting them. Some interesting facts I learned while writing this report was that bears have to adapt to people and their food and how much they weigh. I learned that bears do not have any predators except for humans.

 

Author: Taylor M

Published: 02/2009

 

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_black_bear http://www.sdnhm.org/fieldguide/mammals/ursu-ame.html http://www.nhptv.org/Natureworks/blackbear.htm http://www.bearwithus.org/learn5.htm Photo Credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Black_bear_large.jpg