Black bear sows generally mate and have their first liter of cubs between three to five years of age. Female black bears are known to be rather short tempered with their male counterparts after mating. Gestation for the Lady bears is typically around two hundred and thirty five days. A liter of black bear cubs is normally numbered at two - but has been seen as high as six before. Black bear cubs are born very small - typically around only a pound in weight.

Black bears live on average a life of about eighteen years. The oldest living in the wild black bear was thirty one years old - while the longest lived captive bear was forty four years old. Despite my bit of scare mongering made out of respect for the black bear mothers and her cubs - it should be noted that black bears are the least likely of bears to attack humans - and this apples to mother bears with cubs too.

Bears are famous for being sleepy head during the winter, and of course the black bears are no different at all in that regard. Black bears enter into their dens in October or November having prepared themselves with a good thirty pounds or more of extra body fat, and then they sleep for months at a time, typically three to five, and rest with what is not called a deep hibernation, but rather, a highly efficient hibernation. No, the black bears do not urinate, defecate, eat, or do much else but sleep during that time. It's rather similar to my own behavior in jails and drug rehabs - well, the sleeping part is similar.

Black bears are fighters, and they will fight cougars and wolves for a dead animal that they want to eat but did not work for or kill themselves - they are rather like bankers in that regard. Wolves however, are straight up deuces to the black bears, and have been known to kill and eat a black bear trying to sleep off the Winter while the wolves have to continue on with regular wolf business.. Sometimes when you snooze, you just lose. Black bears are also known to kill animals such as wolverines in disputes over who's meal something was.



