Today’s batch of burning questions, my smart-aleck answers and the real deal:

Question: Where do our urban bears bed down in the winter? Since they are so acclimated to living near people, do they settle down somewhere in populated areas for their long winter sleep? And, at what point do the bears go into hibernation? Is it based on temperature? When will my bird feeders be safe?

My answer: I cannot help myself. They stay at Bear B&B's.

Real answer: That might not be all that far off the truth.

Mike Carraway, a wildlife biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, cited the recent North Carolina Urban/Suburban Bear Study the commission conducted in conjunction with N.C. State University. A lot of results from the multi-year study came out last year and earlier, and it's been a treasure trove of bear information (Search for it on Facebook).

As part of the study, researchers put tracking collars on bears after tranquilizing them.

SEE ALSO: Haywood County couple recount terrifying fistfight with a mother black bear

"In winter, we went into their dens to change out the collars and look at how many cubs they had," Carraway said. "So we know were the dens are in Asheville. We visited at least 25, 30 dens. A lot of them are right in town — in thickets, right next to the highway, there was one right next to the tunnel on Tunnel Road, right next to the road."

The bears like to be in areas where people are going to leave them alone, but that can often be not far at all from dwellings or other buildings.

Female bears typically give birth while in their winter dens, and the cubs are really tiny. Researchers would wait until the cubs were six-eight weeks old, at which point they would be about 2 or 3 pounds.

Bears usually go into their dens in December, emerging in March.

"The cubs are born in the den, usually in January," Carraway said. "They are tiny — they're not big enough to follow their mother around. The mothers don’t leave the dens until the cubs have grown enough that they can walk and follow her around."

Mother bears with newborns will nurse them through the winter months, which drains a lot of energy out of the mama. That's why bears get a little frantic in the fall searching for food — they have to fatten up for the cold months.

Black bears do not "hibernate" in the sense of some other animals, which are truly knocked out and in a very sluggish metabolic rate. So when researchers first approach dens, it could be a little tense.

"They’re wide awake, sitting there looking at us," Carraway said. "We dart them, tranquilize them, then take measurements."

SEE ALSO: Bear trapped in van breaks out window, enters kitchen, eats muffin mix, skedaddles

It's all for scientific purposes, he stressed, to gauge their growth and health, and their preparedness to survive.

Black bears do have "some body characteristics of hibernation," meaning some reduced metabolism, for instance.

"But the purpose of hibernation for them is so bears can survive through a time of year when natural food availability is very low," Carraway said. "There's nothing for bears to eat, as far as natural food sources, so bears go to sleep for three months. When they wake up, it’s during the spring green up and there's things for bears to eat again."

Male bears will also set up a den for the winter.

SEE ALSO: Answer Man: Black bears more aggressive, abundant this year? Does DOT radio work?

But Carraway pointed out a caveat in urban and suburban areas, where food supplies such as bird feeders and trash cans remain plentiful year-round.

"Other bears or males, or bears with yearling cubs, they may not den," Carraway said. "It depends on how cold it is, and the most important factor is food availability. If they have food availability, they may not den at all."

The bear study identified more than 150 individual bears in the city and surrounding suburbs, so we have plenty of them around.

As far as what their dens look like, Carraway said they come in two basic varieties.

"The prevalent type of den structure in and around Asheville is in a thickly wooded area, usually under a fallen tree where the bear has hollowed out the area under the fallen tree," Carraway said. "They'll hollow it out on either side of the tree and have the fallen tree overhead for some cover."

Style two is a tree den.

"A standing tree with a hollow inside, with the hole inside anywhere from 10-30 feet above ground," Carraway said.

Now, you may think this would take a pretty huge tree, and a pretty huge hole in said tree, to accommodate a bear. Carraway conceded that the hole the bear squeezes into depends on the bear's size. But...

"The hole has only got to be big enough to get their head in," Carraway said. "You might be shocked by how small a hole a bear can get in."

By the way, the urge to den is based more on shorter days than colder temperatures, he added, with another main factor being the disappearance of food sources.

Some bears also might just take a few days or a week off, snoozing off a good garbage can feeding maybe. They might not actually den all winter.

"As far as what I recommend if you're putting out bird feeders is to wait till the end of December, and then leave them out till the end of March and then take them up," Carraway said, noting that the end of March is typically when bears re-emerge from winter dens. "And it's important to remember that the birds don’t need bird feeders to survive. The purpose of bird feeders is solely for us to watch the birds."

This is the opinion of John Boyle. Contact him at 828-232-5847 or jboyle@citizen-times.com