The black bear Ursus americanus is one of the most familiar wild animals in North America today. Black bears are members of the family Ursidae, which has representatives throughout most of the northern hemisphere and in some parts of northern South America. Other members of this family that occur in North America are grizzly bears and polar bears. Both of these species are considerably larger than the black bear.

The black bear is a bulky and thickset mammal. Approximately 150 cm long and with a height at the shoulder that varies from 100 to 120 cm, an adult black bear has a moderate-sized head with a rather straight facial profile and a tapered nose with long nostrils. The ears are rounded and the eyes small. The tail is very short and inconspicuous.

A black bear has feet that are well furred on which it can walk, like a human being, with the entire bottom portion of the foot touching the ground. Each foot has five curved claws, which the bear cannot sheathe, or hide. These are very strong and are used for digging and tearing out roots, stumps, and old logs when searching for food.

Because bears are compact, they often appear much heavier than they really are. Adult males weigh about 135 kg, although exceptionally large animals weighing over 290 kg have been recorded. Females are much smaller than males, averaging 70 kg.

The normal colour is black with a brownish muzzle and frequently a white patch below the throat or across the chest. Although black is the most common colour, there are other colour phases, such as brown, dark brown, blond, cinnamon, and blue-black. Albino bears (having white fur and red eyes and noses) also occur, but they are rare. A unique non-albino white phase black bear population occurs on the Kermode islands, off the Pacific coast in British Colombia. The lighter colour phases are more common in the west and in the mountains than in the east. Any of these colour phases may occur in one litter, but generally all cubs in a litter are the same colour as their mother.

Signs and sounds

In some areas, bears have been reported to intensively mark trees using their claws and teeth. The exact significance of this behaviour is still debated in the scientific community, since tree-marking is not commonly observed in every bear population. Some biologists nevertheless think that trees repeatedly clawed and marked by bears serve as a form of communication. Adult males use these trees most frequently, presumably to advertise their presence to potential mates or potential rivals. Most markings are done during the breeding season in late spring or early summer.

Although rarely heard, the black bear has several distinct calls. These include growls, whining, jaw snapping, and loud snorts of many kinds. These sounds are usually emitted when the bear is afraid or threatened. A female with cubs may warn them of danger with a loud woof-woof and call them in with a whining or whimpering sound. The cry of a young cub in trouble is similar to the crying of a human baby.
 

Although found in a variety of habitats, the black bear prefers heavily wooded areas and dense bushland. Maximum numbers probably occur in areas of mixed coniferous–deciduous forests, where human presence is low. Bear population density estimates range from less than 1 bear per 10 km² to 10 bears per 10 km², but these values are rare extremes. Density usually averages two bears per 10 km² in most remote areas. Black bears are difficult to count, because they are shy and secretive.  No reliable estimates of the total black bear population exist in North America, but it probably numbers around 600 000 animals. More than 380 000 black bears live in Canada.

Black bears are capable of travelling great distances. Biologists who have live-trapped bears and moved them more than 200 km from their home ranges have sometimes been surprised by the bears’ return. The home ranges of females are usually quite restricted and typically average 10–40 km². Ranges of adult males encompass several female ranges and are often more than 100 km². Like most animals, they have customary routes of travel, which they regularly follow as they move from one area to another. Old-time bear hunters took advantage of this and frequently set their traps along these well-used trails.

The activity pattern of black bears varies from area to area depending on a number of factors, including human activities. In wilderness areas they are usually most active from dawn until dark, whereas bears in areas with high human activity may be mainly nocturnal to avoid contact with people.

In the autumn, when days become shorter and temperatures cooler, bears begin to search for a denning site. A suitable site may be under a tree stump or overturned log, or in a hole in a hillside. Most dens are only large enough to accommodate a bear when it is curled up. Generally, females line their dens with grass, ferns, or leaves; males usually do not. Females usually den earlier; males frequently wait until the first snowfall before entering a den. Juvenile (one-year-old) bears den with their mother. Imagine how crowded a den could be when packed with a mother and three or four yearlings!

Studies of black bear physiology have demonstrated that denned bears show some characteristics of true hibernators. Although body temperatures are only slightly lower than when the bears are active, heart and breathing rates are greatly reduced. In addition, unlike many small mammal hibernators, bears do not have to eat or eliminate waste, but subsist entirely on their stored fat. However, black bears are not true hibernators, and most bears can be roused if prodded sufficiently. If the weather becomes exceptionally warm, some bears may wake up and wander around for short periods during the winter months.

With the coming of spring and warmer weather, bears emerge from their dens and search for food when tree leaves and leafy plants are greening. During the winter they may have lost up to 30 percent of their pre-denning weight. Most bears continue to lose weight during the early summer period until mid-July when quantities of berries start to become available. Bears really gain weight, however, when they can forage for mast, foods such as beechnuts and acorns, during fall. Some bears will double their weight in less than two months when they have access to large amounts of food of this type.

Black bears are attracted by garbage and sometimes congregate at dumps. They will also occasionally approach homes and campgrounds when food and garbage are not stored properly out of their reach. Most bears are extremely shy and retiring and usually avoid direct contact with humans. They rarely move away from tree cover. Incidents of black bears attacking humans have been reported, but are extremely rare. If you are afraid to go in the woods where bears are living, just consider that in the past century, for each human killed by a black bear in North America, approximately 17 were killed by spiders, 25 by snakes, 65 by dogs, 180 by bees, and 350 by lightning. Just the same, when people watch bears in the wild they should never forget that these are wild animals that must be treated with caution. Do not try to approach or feed a bear that does not seem to be afraid of you. Bears are interesting to observe and photograph, but they can react suddenly to your presence at close quarters.

Occasionally bears cause trouble when they prey on livestock or upset beehives in an apiary, or bee farm. Usually incidents of this type are caused by one or two bears, and the problem is solved by adopting better farming practices, such as moving the apiary or livestock away from the forest, and by installing electric fencing around the beehives and pastures.

Unique characteristics

The lips of the black bear, unlike those of other animals, are free from the gums, and the bear can use them and a long, agile tongue to eat such foods as tiny blueberries and ants.

The eyesight of the black bear is relatively poor, but its senses of hearing and smell are well developed. A startled animal will usually attempt to get downwind from an intruder and stand up on its hind legs to smell and try to identify the source of danger. Under favourable atmospheric conditions and at considerable distances, bears can detect carrion, or the flesh of dead animals, which they scavenge.

Black bears appear awkward as they shuffle along, but can move with amazing speed when necessary. For short distances they have been clocked at speeds of up to 55 km/hour. They are good swimmers and frequently cross rivers and small lakes.

Climbing is second nature to a black bear. Young animals readily take to trees when frightened. They climb with a series of quick bounds, grasping the tree with their forepaws and pushing with their hind legs. When descending they travel backwards, frequently dropping from the tree from heights up to 4.5 m. Once on the ground, they quickly disappear into the underbrush, apparently unshaken by the abrupt descent.

 

Originally, the black bear was widely distributed in North America, from the east to the west coast, as far north as Alaska and as far south as Mexico. Now, the species occupies approximately 60 percent of its historical continental range. In Canada, the species has been extirpated from the most southern parts of the country. It is not found on Prince Edward Island, on Anticosti Island, in southern Ontario, in southern Saskatchewan, or in southern Alberta.

Range of Black Bear

Black bears will eat almost anything available. Most of their food is plant material, especially in the late summer and autumn when berries and nuts are available. Favourite fruits include blueberries, buffalo berries, strawberries, elderberries, Saskatoon berries, black cherries, and apples. Acorns, hazelnuts, and beechnuts are other preferred foods. Insects such as ants rate high, and black bears will overturn logs, old stumps, and stones while hunting for food.

Fish, small mammals, and birds are sometimes on the black bear’s menu. In the spring some bears may prey upon newborn moose calves, deer fawns, caribou calves, or elk calves. Bears are also attracted by carrion, or dead animal flesh. People often think that bears are honey-lovers (perhaps because of the story of Winnie-the-Pooh). In fact, bears are much more interested in insects, and they are probably more attracted by the larvae than by the honey they find in the hives.

Black bears are solitary animals, except for the close bond between females and cubs and the pairing that takes place during the mating season. Mating is in June or early July, and the cubs are born the following January or February while the mother is still in her winter den.

This may seem like a very long gestation period, but in fact the embryos stop growing a few days after fertilization and do not implant in the uterus until the beginning of the denning period in early November. This pause in embryo development, called "delayed implantation," is common to all bear species and is observed in some other mammals, notably the members of the weasel family. In late summer and fall, the female black bear eats as much food as she can find in her habitat in order to gain as much weight as possible. If she weighs at least 70 kg when she enters her den, there is good chance that the embryos will implant and gestation will continue.

Generally, two cubs are born, although there may be only one or as many as four or five. Only a female in very good condition, however, will give birth to more than three cubs. The amount of food in the habitat is therefore critical in determining the probability of giving birth and the number of young in the litter. At birth cubs are 15 to 20 cm long and weigh slightly more than 225 g (0.225 kg). Compared to other mammals, this is very small relative to the mother’s weight of 70 kg. For example, a woman weighing 70 kg could expect her infant to weigh about 3 kg, 12 times the mass of a newborn bear! The young bears grow rapidly and are quite active by the time they leave the den with their mother in the spring. At one year they weigh from 13 to 27 kg, but only slightly more at two years. Normally, cubs have an 80 percent chance of surviving to independence, but cubs orphaned during their first summer have only about a 30 percent chance.

Because young bears normally remain with their mother until they are 16 to 17 months old, female bears usually mate only every second year. Nursing and raising cubs require a lot of energy from the mother, and females in poor condition may not mate.

Males and females may attain sexual maturity between their second and fourth years in captivity, but often later in the wild, where the age of first breeding varies between their third and fifth years and also depends on the condition of the female. Male bears continue to grow until their seventh year; females stop growing somewhat earlier. Bears have lived for 25 or 30 years, but most animals in the wild would be less than 10 years old.

In areas where it is permitted, legal hunting is one of the major causes of death for black bears, especially for bears two years of age and older. Males are usually shot more often than females because they are less cautious and travel more widely. Females become more vulnerable with increased hunting pressure. Young bears in both hunted and unhunted populations sometimes die from accidents and predation by wolves and grizzly bears. Cannibalism of cubs and young bears by large male black bears has been reported.

The attitude of people toward bears has always been one of caution, respect, and even reverence. Many Aboriginal people have special veneration for the bear, and any hunter who kills a bear commands considerable respect.

In the early days of European settlement, bear hunters made their living hunting and trapping bears, wolves, and cougars because of their presumed danger to livestock and perhaps people. In fact, most black bears kill few large mammals and cannot be classified as predators in the same manner as wolves, weasels, or polar bears. They are now prized as game animals because they are large and elusive and test the skills of hunters, and also because bear meat, if properly prepared, is considered tasty by many people who enjoy eating wild game. Bears are often killed illegally, however, because people simply do not tolerate them near their livestock, cultivated fields, houses, cabins, or campgrounds.

Hunting is not considered a threat to bear populations because it is regulated. About 40 000 black bears are harvested by hunters each year in North America, and about half of them are hunted in Canada. The number of hunting seasons (fall, spring, or both), their duration, and the bag limits vary among provinces and states. Recently many jurisdictions in Canada and the United States chose to close the spring hunting season in order to maintain a healthy number of bears and to lower the risk of orphaning young cubs.

Bears are sometimes affected by parasites and diseases, but rarely die from them. From a public health viewpoint, trichinosis, which is caused by a nematode or roundworm, is probably the most important parasite of bears. Because people can become infected, all bear meat should be cooked carefully before consumption.

In the past, bear gall bladders, bear paws, and other parts were in demand in some parts of the world because they were believed to have medicinal value. This caused concern about the illegal killing of bears. To combat this practice, the black bear has been protected since 1992 under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). A hunter wishing to transport any part of a black bear through customs of any country that is a member of CITES must obtain a CITES export permit from the exporting country.

Apart from the intolerance of humans towards bears, the greatest threat to the maintenance of bears in areas where humans are living is the fragmentation of their habitat through the clearing of the forests for agriculture and urban settlement. Logging, if properly practised, however, will not negatively affect bears. It can even enhance the quality of the habitat if the mixture of mature forests and young regenerating stands is maintained. Mature trees provide cover and mast (in areas where hardwoods are present), and new growth provides food.

Thanks to the healthy status of the its population in Canada, the black bear is not considered a species at risk in Canada.

Online resources

Bear Aware British Columbia—Black Bears in BC

North American Bear Center—Black Bears

The Science Behind Algonquin’s Animals—Black Bear

Print resources

Larivière, S. 2001. Ursus americanus. Mammalian species no. 647. The American Society of Mammalogists.

Pelton, M. 2003. Black bear —Ursus americanus. In Wild mammals of North America:. Biology, management and conservation. G.A. Feldhamer, B.C. Thompson, and J.A. Chapman, editors. 2nd edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland.

Rogers, L. 1999. American black bear. In The Smithsonian book of North American mammals. D.E.Wilson and S. Ruff, editors. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.

© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the Minister of Environment, 1968, 1970, 1973, 1984, 1988, 1993, 2008. All rights reserved.

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The graceful white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus is well known to most North Americans. Hunters and nonhunters alike recognize the animal by its habit of flourishing its tail over its back, revealing a stark white underside and white buttocks. This "flag" of the white-tailed deer is often glimpsed as the high spirited animal dashes away from people. The tail has a broad base and is almost a foot long. When lowered, it is brown with a white fringe.

In summer, the white-tailed deer has a reddish pelage, or fur, on its back and sides and is whitish beneath. In winter the upper parts turn greyish. Full grown male deer frequently exceed 1 m at shoulder height and 110 kg in weight, with exceptional individuals weighing up to 200 kg in the northern part of their range.

The antlers of the mature male white-tail consist of a forward curving main beam from which single points project upward and often slightly inward. Perhaps one of every 1 000 females also bears small, simple antlers.

The white-tailed deer is hard to distinguish from the black-tailed deer. The black-tail has similar antlers and will sometimes show the characteristic "flag" of the white-tail but usually with less flare. Fortunately, for identification purposes, the black-tailed deer occurs only west of the Great Divide (its Canadian range is coastal B.C. and Vancouver Island), where the white-tailed deer is uncommon.

Confusion is less likely between the white-tailed deer and the darker stockier mule deer. The mule deer can be distinguished by a small white tail with a black tip and antlers that divide and redivide into paired beams and points. It also has large ears that are more like those of a mule than those of its more delicate cousin. Unfortunately people in different parts of Canada have given these two types of deer the same nickname, "jumper." In the Prairies the mule deer is dubbed "jumper," in recognition of its stiff-legged bouncing gait. Elsewhere people may mean the white-tail when they use the term, referring to that animal’s irregular jumping gallop when alarmed.

Signs and sounds

Abundant food makes almost any forested or bushy area suitable for white-tailed deer during the summer, but as snow deepens the deer concentrate in "deer yards," or areas that provide food and shelter from storms and deep snow. Sometimes the move from summer to winter range requires travelling many kilometres.

Unique characteristics

The doe leaves her fawn unattended for hours at a time. When the fawn remains bedded, the natural camouflage of its spotted coat and its almost scentless condition effectively conceal it from predators. The doe returns at intervals to suckle the fawn.

People sometimes chance to find fawns in their secluded hiding places and mistakenly believe they have been deserted by their mothers. In fact, a doe will rarely desert her fawn, and the little animals should not be touched. Human scent on the fawn may cause the doe to desert it.

Of all North America’s large animals, the white-tailed deer is the most widely distributed and the most numerous. Its range extends from the southern tip of the continent northward well into the boreal, or northern coniferous, forest. Scattered individuals occur as far north as Great Slave Lake. In southern Canada, the white-tailed deer can be found from Cape Breton Island westward to south-central British Columbia. There were at least 15 million white-tails in Canada and the United States in 1982. Average densities throughout its range exceeded three deer per square kilometre.

There are 16 recognized subspecies of white-tailed deer in North America. Only three of these are found in Canada. The northern white-tailed deer is found throughout eastern Canada, from about the Ontario-Manitoba border eastward to Cape Breton. The brushy draws (valleys), parklands, and forest fringes of the prairies, westward to the foothills of the Rockies, are inhabited by the Dakota white-tailed deer. The tawny northwestern white-tailed deer is found in southeastern British Columbia, occasionally straying down the eastern slopes of the continental divide into Alberta.

White-tailed deer are relative newcomers to much of the range they now occupy in Canada. When Europeans first explored the northern half of the continent they found deer in only the most southerly parts of Canada and this situation had not changed much at Confederation. At that time there were no deer in Nova Scotia and they were not numerous in New Brunswick. Deer were in southern Quebec and their range extended some distance down the St. Lawrence River and up the Ottawa River. Although deer were numerous in southern Ontario, none had penetrated northward beyond Lake Nipissing. There were a few white-tailed deer in south-central Manitoba, but most of the remainder of the Prairie Provinces was populated by only the mule deer.

Since then human activities, including the cutting and burning of blocks of forests, the seeding of agricultural crops, the winter feeding of cattle, the reduction of competitors such as mule deer, elk, moose, and bison, and the restriction on hunting of white-tails have helped this deer to extend its range northward and westward. Long-term easing of the severity of winters may have been an important factor. Whatever the exact combination of causes, the range of the white-tailed deer extended considerably during the late 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries. Extension of range and development of substantial populations have been somewhat more recent in Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia than elsewhere in Canada. Thus, the current range of most white-tailed deer in Canada represents a marked recent extension of northern limits. It is not surprising, therefore, that severe winters and changes in habitats cause marked sporadic declines in population levels through much of the currently occupied Canadian range.

The white-tailed deer shares some parts of its western range with its relations the black-tailed deer and the mule deer.

During the spring and summer the white-tailed deer’s diet consists of leafy material from a variety of woody plants, grasses, herbs, and forbs. It also includes such delicacies as fiddleheads, mushrooms, and blueberries. When summer’s lush vegetation turns brown and dry in autumn, the deer must depend largely on the twigs and buds that are within their reach. Acorns are a favourite autumn food for white-tailed deer living in eastern Canada, and in Western Canada grain piles left in fields attract white-tailed deer throughout the autumn and winter. Even in winter white-tailed deer consume green forage, such as winter-green forbs, grasses, and sedges.

Even the most favourable winter concentration areas have a limited food supply. If there are too many deer using the area, the most nutritious fodder disappears rapidly, leaving foods of only marginal value for the remainder of the winter. Deep snow worsens the problem. When snow is deeper than 40 cm, deer find it increasingly difficult to move about freely and tend to follow previously broken trails. The quantity and quality of food that can be reached from these trails further limit nutritional intake at the very time that intense cold and difficult travel tend to increase the deer’s energy requirements.

Converting surplus fat stored during the late summer and early autumn meets some of this energy requirement, but once this remaining source of energy has been depleted, there is less likelihood of the deer surviving until spring. If food remains scarce and the deer begin to break down muscle tissue for energy, then the chances of survival become extremely poor. It is not surprising that those that do survive a severe winter return to their summer ranges as little more than gaunt shadows of their sleek autumn form. The green growth of spring brings welcome relief.

Deer reproduce quickly. A healthy herd is capable of almost doubling its numbers during one favourable year. Under favourable conditions, female fawns tend to breed at six to seven months and at 12 months of age produce singletons, or one baby. Male fawns and male yearlings are sexually mature but are seldom given a chance to breed.

The white-tailed deer’s spotted, wobbly legged fawns, weighing 2 to 4 kg at birth, are born in late spring. Although birth may take place from late March to early August, most fawns are born during the last week of May or the first week of June. On high quality range twin fawns are the rule, although single births are quite common among younger females, especially those giving birth for the first time. Triplets are relatively uncommon and quadruplets occur only rarely. On poorer ranges or after a severe winter single births usually outnumber double births and multiple births do not occur.

The newborn fawn can get to its feet within minutes, and very soon takes its first nourishment from the doe’s rich milk; however, it remains relatively feeble during the first week or so of its life.

As the fawn grows stronger it begins to follow the mother about during her feeding and soon learns to supplement its milk diet by nibbling on succulent vegetation. The doe, meantime, like other adult members of the deer herd, has been feeding steadily on new spring vegetation. She has entered the spring period in lean condition and with a shabby, tattered winter coat. Gradually the coarse grey winter coat is replaced by the fine reddish summer coat. Improved food supply results in both doe and fawn becoming sleek and sturdy by midsummer.

In the early spring the antlers of the male begin to show as twin dark protrusions from the frontal bones of the head. Growth of the antlers and regaining of body weight continue rapidly through the late spring and early summer. Antlers are true bones and during growth have both an internal supply of blood through the pedicels, or branches, and an external supply in the hairy skin covering of the velvet. In late summer during advanced growth the antlers appear bulbous and distended under the velvet. The shortening days of late summer terminate growth of the antlers.

The velvet dries and begins to peel off, revealing the hard bony tissue beneath. Bucks rub their antlers against brush and small trees to speed this process. The antlers are usually shed in January although shedding may occur from December through March.

White-tailed deer are truly magnificent specimens in the early autumn. Their bodies are rounded out by reserves of fat stored for the lean months ahead. The new thick winter coat exaggerates the thickness and sturdiness of the body. Fawns have lost their spots and are now short-faced, smaller replicas of their parents. Most of the breeding occurs during the last three weeks of November although some fawns and yearlings breed in December and, rarely, into January. The peak of the rut, or period of male sexual activity, occurs during the last two weeks in November in Canada but is more variable in the southern U.S. Bucks with swollen necks, caused by hormones associated with the rut, travel almost incessantly, searching out the does and engaging in mock battles with their rivals. Sometimes a real battle develops, and occasionally the antlers of the combatants become hopelessly entangled, leaving both to die slowly.

Deer in Canada are relatively free of serious diseases or parasites. In much of their range their natural predators, such as the timber wolf, coyote, bobcat, and mountain lion, have been greatly reduced in number and infrequently exert substantial pressure on the deer. Most of the predation on fawns occurs during the first few weeks of life. Free-roaming dogs do sometimes take a heavy toll on deer of all ages, particularly in late winter when crusted snow aids the dogs but hinders the weakened deer.

Although a series of severe winters may tend to shrink the range of the white-tailed deer in Canada, a few favourable years permit it to rebuild substantial populations, and even extend its range farther northward.

Maintaining healthy stocks of white-tailed deer is primarily a matter of keeping numbers of deer in balance with their supply of winter food. People engaged in activities that alter the landscape can improve the availability of food and shelter for deer, particularly during harsh winters. For example, logging in the forest, which normally favours deer by opening the high canopy so that new growth will start on the forest floor, can be made even more beneficial to the deer if cover is left in place to shelter them from the deep snow. In eastern Canada, hemlock is the best cover, followed by cedar, balsam, spruce, and pine. In areas where brushy or woodland cover is scarce, such as on the prairies, suitable habitat can be saved from land clearing for agriculture.

Given adequate food and shelter, healthy deer populations grow rapidly if the annual increment of animals is not hunted. Overpopulation invariably leads to pressure on food supplies, which results in malnutrition, even in the face of heavy predation. Too many deer can do immense damage to their winter range, depleting suitable browse species and sometimes preventing regeneration of valuable forest trees. Moderately heavy hunting helps prevent these natural catastrophes by holding deer numbers in check while, at the same time, providing recreation and valuable meat.

Surveys indicate that the legal kill of white-tails in 1978 was 125 000 in Canada and 1 875 000 in the U.S. By 1982, the legal kill in the U.S. had risen to about 2.6 million.

Print resources

Banfield, A.W.F. 1974. Mammals of Canada. National Museum of Canada, Toronto.

Halls, L.K., editor. 1984. White-tailed deer. Wildlife Institute Management Book. Stackpole, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Hesselton, W.T., and R.A.M. Hesselton. 1982. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). In J.A. Chapman and G.H. Feldhamer, editors. Wild mammals of North America: Biology, management, and economics. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London.

Rue, L.L., III. 1962. The world of the white-tailed deer. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Taylor, W.P., editor. 1956. The deer of North America. Stackpole Co., Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.