The Black Bear

The American Black Bear is the smallest species of American bear, and is not an endangered species of animal. Though the Ursus americanus is called the black bear, it is not always that color, and can well be colored much lighter.

Despite the fact that the Americas contain brown bears and polar bears, and have for quite some time, the American black bear isn't a close relative of the other, larger species of bears. The total population of Ursus americanus is thought to be twice the size of all other species of bears combined.

Despite the relatively high numbers of black bears in America - the bears still face considerable dangers from inconsiderate humans. Unlike wolves, who have never in the recorded history of North America attacked a human without having rabies, black bears can, do, and will attack humans at times. Perhaps the most dangerous animal in the Americas to human beings is a black mother bear with cubs - but only if a human should get too close.

Black bears are omnivorous - which basically means that they eat what is available to them, both plant and animal wise. Black bears, however, do have a preference of what to eat - and you ain't it. You're dogs, cats, sheep, goats, birds, or whatever animals you have - are never the prefered food for black bears. The diet of black bears is over eighty five percent herbivorous. Berries, fruits, grasses, nuts and buds are the black bears favorite meals, and of course - black bears are very fond of honey, and literally, would rather get stung hundreds of times and eat some honeycomb than go without.

When the black bear does eat non plant matter it prefers insect larvae, and of course, salmon. Black bears will at times eat deer, elk, moose, and other herbivorous relatives of deer.

Black bears are smaller than brown bears or polar bears - but that doesn't mean that hybrids are not possible. Black bears have produced offspring from escaped and formerly captive Asian bears. In 1986 in Michigan a huge black bear was shot - that bear was so much larger than a common black bear that many people were certain that it was a hybrid with a Grizzly Bear. Despite DNA testing done on the bear - nothing conclusive was found.

The black bears are territorial fellas, and they mark their territory by rubbing their bodies up against trees and by leaving claw marks on them as well. Black bears are extremely fond of swimming - and they do swim sometimes purely for the pleasure that it brings them.

You might not think that a black bear could climb a tree - but it surely can, and it surely does - in the trees big enough to hold them. They climb trees to get away from things, and also to eat. Please remember what I told you before - you do not want to be in black bear neighborhoods when a mother bear has recently had cubs, and climbing a tree won't get you out of your foolishness if you do happen to be able to climb one to get away from where you should not have been.

You could say that black bears are hooked on phonics - they make at least twenty distinct sounds to express their innermost feelings to you, to other bears, and to whatever else might be listening. If a black bear is growling at you - kindly step away from the bear, sir, or your number could soon be called.

Black bears, besides being able to swim better than you, and climb trees better than you - can do things as well as you can that perhaps you'd not considered. A black bear can open your home's door for you, open your fridge, and twist off a cap of your favorite bottled beer. . . every bit as well as you can. Yes, the black bear can drink your beer too.

Black bears are exceedingly strong - it's safe to say that they are always stronger than humans are, and can lift things that you simply can not. Black bears have been video taped lifting rocks that weighed between three hundred and three hundred and twenty five pounds with the flip of just ONE paw. You can't do that. If you try it - you need something better to do. Don't try to arm wrestle a black bear, my friend.

For whatever reason, the black bears on the West coast tend to be smaller than the black bears on the East coast. Perhaps it's because California is broke. The largest black bear ever weighed was in Queensland, and tipped the scales at eleven hundred pounds. The largest living and known black bear is named Ted, and he lives in Minnesota - he's a Ladies bear, and has a honey named Honey, and she weighs just a bit more than half of Ted's thousand pounds.

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.

The proud, large, and beautiful nation of Canada has nearly five hundred thousand black bears to make everyone there proud - but black bears are not found throughout Canada. Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba are sans black bear, as is Prince Edward Island.

Nobody truly knows how many black bears there are in the United States of America - but the best guesses are that the total black bear population in the USA is close to that of Canada, but yet is officially unknown.

Yes, we Texans do have black bears. Texas black bears are famous for wearing cowboy hats, supporting the executions of minorities that never had a fair trial, and trying to eat the bulls that they were supposed to have tried to ride at the Mesquite rodeo. Welcome to Texas and pass the taters.

Black bears and black bear hunting is legal in many states in United States, and in provinces in Canada. Some Native American tribes hunted black bears for not only their meat, but also their fur and their fat. Teddy Roosevelt hunted and killed black bears, and was said to have said that the meat tasted a lot like pork. Strangely enough - people who have eaten people say the same thing about people - we taste like pork, only better.

At this point my intention is to bring you to the whole point of this article - other than some basic information about black bears. A criminal act occurred recently that was so pathetic, so absurd, and so idiotic that it moved me to create this article.

Mass media in the United States of America exist entirely to degrade us. Mass media glamorizes wars of murder of innocent people's over seas for reasons of capitalist corporate profits. Mass media degrades and de values all of us, as the people that own and monopolize mass media simply put, regard us as no better than cattle.

A "star" of mass media filth that is sold to us as "entertainment" committed a violent act against a black bear that was raised by people and was so tame that anyone could play with it without any fear to speak of. The problem was that the owner of the bear had no concept of dignity, honor, or love for his captive black bear. His black bear had gotten old and needed dental work done on it that the man did not want to pay for. He only thought of his captive black bear in terms of how much money he could make from it. What happened then was that a man named Troy Gentry paid money to the man to shoot his tamed black bear inside of a one acre enclosure so that he could pose with a dead bear and pretend to be some sort of man.

I want to encourage everyone who sees this or read it to totally boycott the filth created and sold as "music" by Montgomery Gentry, the "country Music" band.