The Louisiana black bear ( Ursus americanus luteolus ) is a subspecies of the American black bear. It is primarily found in the forested wetlands of the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, though sightings have occurred in nearly every parish in Louisiana. Their range has expanded into upland areas, including piney woods habitat west and east of the Mississippi River. These bears generally require the dense cover and diversity of food resources that healthy forests provide.
Physical Characteristics
The black bear is a large, bulky mammal with long black hair and a short, hairy tail. They have a blunt facial profile, small eyes, and a broad nose pad with large nostrils. Like all bears, they are plantigrade (flat-footed) and have five toes on each foot, with short, curved claws on the front and hind feet. The front claws are longer than the rear claws, aiding in climbing. When on all fours, male black bears stand about 2-3 feet high at the shoulder and may be up to 6 feet long. Adult males average between 300 and 400 pounds but can weigh more than 500 pounds. Adult females average 120 to 200 pounds.
Habitat and Territory
Louisiana black bears are often found in the deep woods, in areas with large tracts of mature bottomland hardwoods near or in the Lower Mississippi River Valley. They prefer areas that include some wetlands, such as swamps, rivers, streams, or lakes. They will live in second-growth forests if better habitat is limited. The home range of males is up to 100 square miles.
Omnivorous Diet
Although classified as carnivores, black bears are best described as opportunistic omnivores because they eat almost anything that is available, including vegetation, berries, insects, and nuts that naturally occur in forests and other productive ecosystems. Their diet varies based on the region where they live and the changing seasons. Black bears are very intelligent and resourceful, especially when it comes to feeding. Those that live near urban areas will raid trashcans or bird feeders for food.
Seasonal Food Preferences
In Louisiana, black bears rely heavily on soft mast such as blackberries, dewberries, and leaf buds during spring and early summer. In late summer, Louisiana black bears still forage on berries but also eat agricultural crops. In fact, a study in the Tensas River Basin suggested that corn, a non-native agricultural crop, comprised the majority of black bear diets during late summer (33.3%) and early fall (30.6%). In late fall, bears mainly feed on hard mast (fruit of forest trees) such as oaks and hickories, as well as palmetto fruit and corn. During winter, there is very little hard mast available.
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Insects and Other Protein Sources
Throughout all seasons, Louisiana black bear frequently eat beetles and other insects. Researchers have found evidence from examining bear scat that bears in the Tensas River Basin subpopulation feed on wild hogs and white-tailed deer in the fall. Bears will eat carrion and garbage and sometimes kill livestock.
Detailed Look at Seasonal Eating Habits
Black bears are opportunistic feeders who will eat just about anything. The bulk of their diet includes vegetation and grasses, berries, and nuts. A black bear’s diet is heavily dependent upon seasonally-available forage.
Spring: When black bears first emerge from the den in the spring, they'll eat tender grasses and vegetation like dandelions to recover the weight they lost during the den cycle. They’re also eating a lot of grasses and doing a lot of rock-rolling to find insects.
Summer: There are different plants that fruit at different times in the summer, and bears just transition from one to the next. Blackberries are one of the first wild berries to ripen in the summer, and are a preferred food source for black bears. Berries from the devil’s club, or devil’s walking stick, are just one of the soft masts black bears are known to favor.
Fall: After the mating season (usually May through July) and as fall approaches, black bears enter what’s called hyperphagia, where bears just gorge themselves on whatever they can eat to build their fat stores ahead of the next den cycle. As the mast crop hits, there’s nothing you can put in a bait barrel that a bear will go to before a bear goes to acorns.
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The Importance of Fat
To prepare for hibernation, bears need to gain a sufficient amount of weight. Gaining enough weight is particularly critical for pregnant females in order to guarantee successful reproduction and the health of her cubs.
The Role of Insects
Of the 10 to 20 percent of a black bear’s diet that does not come from plant matter, most of that animal protein comes from insects. Bears are more interested in the larvae. The honey is a great reward, but the larva has all the protein.
Meat Consumption
The true meat in a bear’s annual diet accounts for maybe one percent. Bears will eat carrion. They’d pounce on a deer fawn if they had an opportunity. But bears don’t really actively hunt fawns. They’re so consumed with just getting whatever food they can. Still, black bear predation rates of mammals like deer fawns and elk calves differ regionally.
Baiting and Attractants
The best bear bait is anything you can have out there - dog food or pastries or whatever - that a bear can get to before the mast crop hits. Corn doesn’t really have that much nutritional value to a bear. They can’t really assimilate corn like a deer can. Black bears like cat food. It doesn’t matter if it’s wet or dry cat food, either. Black bears love an easy meal, so if a bear stumbles across a bowl of Meow Mix in your backyard, he’s going to help himself.
Black Bear Behavior and Adaptations
Black bear activity revolves around the search for food, water, cover, and potential mates. Black bears are good swimmers and can also climb trees. They have short, non-retractable claws that enable them to easily climb trees. Cubs can climb trees when they are as young as 6 weeks old.
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Hibernation and Denning
Black bears do not truly hibernate. Instead, they go through a dormancy period called “carnivoran lethargy”-a prolonged period of inactivity that enables bears to survive food shortages and adverse weather conditions during the winter (December through March). During this time, a bear’s body temperature drops, metabolism decreases by half, and heart rate is reduced. Dormant bears do not eat, drink, urinate, or defecate. Bears will lose about a quarter of their body weight during the winter.
In Louisiana, bears den in heavy cover or tree cavities during the winter. They select dens based on habitat type and proximity to water. They enter dens between November and early January, depending on latitude, food availability, gender, age, reproductive status, and weather conditions. Adult females that are expected to give birth to cubs generally enter dens first, followed by adult females with yearlings (cubs less than two years old), female subadults, male subadults, and finally adult males. At the end of the dormancy period (March through April), females with cubs are usually the last to leave the den. Bear dens are much smaller than most people think-only about 2 feet high by 6 feet long. In the winter, bears den in shallow caves; beneath brush piles, rotten logs, or blow-downs; or in depressions, hollow trees, or culverts. Leaves or grass sometimes are used as bedding.
Reproduction
Black bears typically breed during the summer (May through August). Females first reproduce around 2 to 3 years of age; males typically do not reach reproductive maturity until they are 3 to 4 years old. Females begin giving birth at around 4-years-old, and can have a litter of one to five cubs. The cubs are born in January or February during hibernation. Females wake for the birth and stay alert enough thereafter during the hibernation period to care for them in the den. Black bears have been known to have up to 6 cubs, but most females have only 2. Newborn cubs are blind, toothless, and weigh only a pound. The birthing period is late January to early February. They den with their mother their first winter. The amount of time young remain with parents beyond weaning date is their first winter.
Conservation Status
The Louisiana black bear ( Ursus americanus luteolus ) was placed on the Endangered Species Act list in 1992. Loss of habitat was the primary reason the bear was placed on the federal endangered species list. Programs and initiatives have resulted in the conservation and restoration of over 600,000 acres (240,000 ha) of forestland in the Mississippi River floodplain of Louisiana. Fish and Wildlife Service have acquired land for Wildlife Management Areas and National Wildlife Refuges. The subspecies was removed from the Endangered Species Act from 1992-2016. Under this ruling, all bears within the historic range of the Louisiana black bear, from eastern Texas to southern Mississippi, have been protected.
Human-Bear Interactions
Most complaints are associated with their feeding. Bears eat bird seed and destroy feeders, especially in the early spring and late fall. They may enter porches seeking stored bird seed, and raid dumpsters, garbage cans, coolers, tents, camps, and picnic tables looking for an easy meal. This is common at campgrounds and resorts throughout the summer and early fall. At restaurants, bears raid dumpsters, garbage cans, and the containers that hold cooking grease. Bears eat corn and grain, and may cause additional damage to the field while they’re feeding. Sometimes this damage may make it hard to harvest the crop. Bears eat fruits, such as cherries and apples. Most “nuisance bear” complaints are caused by food-based attractants like bird seed and trash.
Preventing Conflicts
- Use bear-proof garbage containers, or place regular cans in bear-proof storage facilities.
- Use plastic bags inside garbage cans to help hide odors.
- Remove garbage regularly.
- If people are feeding bears, persuade them to stop.
- Don’t feed birds during the spring and summer.
- Keep livestock in buildings and pens, especially during the birthing seasons.
- When camping, store food and organic wastes in bear-proof containers, on elevated platforms (“bear poles”), or in an airtight container that’s suspended on a rope between two tall trees that are downwind of your camp site.
- Bear poles should be 15 to 20 feet above ground. The pole should be at least 6 inches wide.
- Turn off kitchen exhaust fans that vent to the outside when they’re not in use.
- Don’t eat or cook in your tent.
- Wash your hands before you handle your gear.
- Clean everything that touched food, such as dirty dishes and pots.
- Keep anything that might smell good to a bear far away from your tent.
- If you can, store food in a bear-proof container, or suspended between two trees, or in your car’s trunk.
- Lock car doors.
- Cover barbeque grills with aluminum foil before cooking.
- Electric fences work well to protect a specific site, such as an apiary, bee hive, cabin, or landfill.
- If building in an area that’s prone to bear damage, use strong construction materials.
Encounters with Bears
If a bear shows any aggressive behaviors, such as growling, hissing, popping its teeth, or if its ears are laid back and the hair on its back is raised, DO NOT attempt to harass it and DO NOT approach the bear! It might attack. Bears will sometimes do a bluff charge and stop a few feet away from you. Fight back with all you’ve got. Hit the bear with rocks, sticks, your fists, or feet. Yell. Wave your arms and flap coats. Stay together with other people. DO NOT play dead. As soon as you can, slowly back away from the bear. Pepper spray is effective when you have a close encounter with a black bear; its range is usually less than 30 feet. A combination of frightening techniques may convince the bears to leave the area. Walk backwards slowly and maintain eye contact with the bear. Most black bears avoid people unless they learn to associate people with food. Bears that develop this habit pose the greatest threat to people. Wildlife professionals often say “a fed bear is a dead bear,” referring to the reality that when bears become habituated on humans for food, they often become a threat to humans and therefore end up getting trapped and shot to protect human health and safety.