The Florida black bear ( Ursus americanus floridanus ) is a unique subspecies of the American black bear, endemic to Florida. While the American black bear's ancestors were related to meat-eating canines, the Florida black bear's diet consists of about 80 percent plant matter, classifying them as true omnivores.
Physical Characteristics and Size
Bears are sexually dimorphic, with adult males larger than adult females. Average weights for adult bears in Florida range from 250 to 450 pounds for males and 125 to 250 pounds for females. Some exceptional males have been recorded as the largest in the state. As a general principle, bears follow Bergmann’s Rule. Species of larger size are found in colder environments, and species of smaller size are found in warmer regions. Arctic male polar bears generally weigh 779 to 1500 pounds, while male sun bears only weigh 100 to 140 pounds and live in equatorial regions.
Estimating the size of a bear in the wild can be difficult.
Seasonal Diet Variations
The Florida black bear's diet varies depending on fluctuations in plant productivity and geographic location within Florida. For example, saw palmetto berries are a significant part of the diet for bears in the Osceola population, but are insignificant in the Apalachicola population where the berries are not readily available.
Summer Diet
During the summer months, Florida black bears consume about 5,000 calories a day, the equivalent of two large cheese pizzas.
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Fall Diet: Hyperphagia
As fall approaches, bears prepare for winter by entering a state of increased feeding known as hyperphagia. During this time, both male and female bears forage for up to 18 hours a day and can gain up to 1½ times their summer weight. This weight gain is due to consuming up to 20,000 calories a day, equivalent to 8½ large cheese pizzas or what the average person eats in 10 days.
Winter Diet and Weight Loss
Food availability is low during the winter months, even in Florida, causing both male and female bears to lose weight. They can lose up to 25% of their body weight while denning in winter. The foods consumed during the summer and fall help bears survive the lean winter season. Male bears may stay active and search for food during the winter months.
Food Preferences and Eating Habits
Florida black bears are not very particular about what they eat and are always looking for food. They have a keen sense of smell and can detect odors over a mile away.
Common Food Items
Some foods a black bear may eat include acorns, insects, berries, saw palmetto and sabal palm fruits, armadillos and honey. Bears also consume hard mast, such as acorns and hickory nuts, and soft mast, such as saw palmetto, holly, and pokeweed berries. They also feed on colonial insects such as wasps, bees, termites, and ants.
Honey and Bee Larvae
While long thought to only be in search of honey, many bear biologists now believe that when a bear cracks open a beehive, it is actually looking for both the sweetness of the honey and the protein provided by the bee larvae.
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Human-Bear Conflicts and Food Attractants
A bear's search for food is the primary cause of conflicts with people. Bears are often attracted to the smells of garbage, beeyards, pet foods, barbeque grills, wildlife feeders, and other temptations, bringing them closer to human homes. This can result in property damage and safety concerns for both people and bears. It is important to know how to keep Florida bears wild and away from your home. Black bears can detect odors over a mile away. The calories they consume by picking through one garbage can often exceed what they would find naturally in an entire day. When black bears associate people with food, problems arise.
Conservation Status and Threats
While there are at least 600,000 wild black bears in North America, the Florida subspecies has among the smallest populations, estimated at only 2,500-3,000. Loss of habitat and increased contact with humans are among the greatest threats to Florida’s black bears.
Interesting Facts about Florida Black Bears
- Black bears are shy and secretive, hiding in dense vegetation and rarely seen in the wild.
- Black bears are curious animals, and often stand up on their hind legs to get a better view and smell of their surroundings. This behavior is not a sign of aggression.
- Black bears are not true hibernators. Instead, they experience what is often called torpor.
- Bears enjoy the water.
- Automobiles are a major cause of bear mortality.
Distinguishing Characteristics of Bears
Bears walk on the flat soles of their feet like humans (plantigrade). Rather than tearing and shredding food like their canine relatives, bears crush and grind their food.
American Black Bear: Distribution and Habitat
Historically, American black bears occupied the majority of North America's forested regions. Today, they are primarily limited to sparsely settled, forested areas. American black bears currently inhabit much of their original Canadian range, though they seldom occur in the southern farmlands of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. They have been extirpated on Prince Edward Island since 1937. The current range in the United States is constant throughout most of the Northeast and within the Appalachian Mountains almost continuously from Maine to northern Georgia, the northern Midwest, the Rocky Mountain region, the West Coast and Alaska. However, it becomes increasingly fragmented or absent in other regions.
Throughout their range, habitats preferred by American black bears have a few shared characteristics. They are often found in areas with relatively inaccessible terrain, thick understory vegetation and large quantities of edible material (especially masts).
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Physical Attributes
The skulls of American black bears are broad, with narrow muzzles and large jaw hinges. Females tend to have slenderer and more pointed faces than males. Their claws are typically black or grayish-brown. The claws are short and rounded, being thick at the base and tapering to a point. Claws from both hind and front legs are almost identical in length, though the foreclaws tend to be more sharply curved. The hind legs are relatively longer than those of Asian black bears. American black bears are highly dexterous, being capable of opening screw-top jars and manipulating door latches. They also have great physical strength. They move in a rhythmic, sure-footed way and can run at speeds of 25 to 30 miles per hour (40 to 48 km/h). American black bears have good eyesight and have been proven experimentally to be able to learn visual color discrimination tasks faster than chimpanzees and just as fast as domestic dogs.
Adults typically range from 120 to 200 cm (47 to 79 in) in head-and-body length, and 70 to 105 cm (28 to 41 in) in shoulder height. Weight tends to vary according to age, sex, health and season. Seasonal variation in weight is very pronounced: in autumn, their pre-den weight tends to be 30% higher than in spring, when black bears emerge from their dens.
Despite their name, black bears show a great deal of color variation. Individual coat colors can range from white, blonde, cinnamon, light brown or dark chocolate brown to jet black, with many intermediate variations existing.
Behavior and Communication
Their keenest sense is smell, which is about seven times more sensitive than a domestic dog's. They are excellent and strong swimmers, swimming for pleasure and to feed (largely on fish). They regularly climb trees to feed, escape enemies and hibernate. They may be active at any time of the day or night, although they mainly forage by night.
Bears may communicate with various vocal and non-vocal sounds. Tongue-clicking and grunting are the most common sounds and are made in cordial situations to conspecifics, offspring and occasionally humans. When at ease, they produce a loud rumbling hum. During times of fear or nervousness, bears may moan, huff or blow air. Warning sounds include jaw-clicking and lip-popping. In aggressive interactions, black bears produce guttural pulsing calls that may sound like growling.
Reproduction and Life Span
Sows usually produce their first litter at the age of 3 to 5 years, with those living in more developed areas tending to get pregnant at younger ages. The breeding period usually occurs in the June-July period, though it can extend to August in the species' northern range. The breeding period lasts for two to three months. Both sexes are promiscuous. The fertilized eggs undergo delayed development and do not implant in the female's womb until November. The gestation period lasts 235 days, and litters are usually born in late January to early February. Litter size is between one and six cubs, typically two or three. At birth, cubs weigh 280-450 g (0.62-0.99 lb) and measure 20.5 cm (8.1 in) in length. They are born with fine, gray, down-like hair and their hind quarters are underdeveloped. They typically open their eyes after 28-40 days and begin walking after 5 weeks. Cubs are dependent on their mother's milk for 30 weeks and will reach independence at 16-18 months.
The average lifespan in the wild is 18 years, and it is quite possible for wild individuals to survive for more than 23 years.