The Black Bear is one of the most impressive animals known to the Algonquin Highlands region. Although they are one of the largest mammals, next to the Moose, usually their size is exaggerated by those who have seen them. Typically a Black Bear is about 150 cm in height and stands about 100-120 cm to its shoulder. An adult male generally weighs 70-150 kg while an adult female ranges from 45-70kg. Most Black Bears are Black in colour with a brown snout and a spot of white on their chest, however, there is such thing as a brown coloured Black Bear. A Black Bear’s weight fluctuates dramatically over a year. When going into hibernation a Bear can weigh as much as 60% more than it did throughout the summer. When the Bear awakes in the spring it is likely to appear very skinny as a nursing mother will loose 1/3 of its body weight over the winter.

Black Bears are omnivores as they eat both plants and animals. In the spring they eat almost anything they can to bring their body weight up and this means grass, aspen leaves, berries and seeds. The Black Bear can only eat the very soft portions of the plants because they lack the internal necessities to break down the tough parts. Eventually it will turn to small animals like grubs, ants, salamanders and fish. This is where their tightly curled claws and their long canine teeth come in handy. They use them to rip open logs and any dead animals they may cross. Their claws are also great for climbing trees, at the end of the summer, to eat beech nuts, acorns and cherries. Although the Bears are great climbers they aren’t very often seen in trees.

Although the size of the Black Bear is very intimidating and they can reach speeds of 55 km/hr, their bodies are not built for long, drawn out chases to catch food. The Black Bear has an excellent sense of smell and hearing that not only allows it to detect danger but also to find food. They seem to depend on these senses as well as their incredible memory to find food. A Bear cub will remember spots that their mothers went to and return to them as a mature Bear. Black Bears don’t have great sight. They see in colour and have night reflectors that will brighten night images and help in finding food.

The Black Bear is not an official hibernator. Because of their wide range, Bears found in the North will hibernate for up to seven months whereas Bears from the South may not hibernate at all. For the even the Northern Bears don’t hibernate in the typical sense that smaller animals do. Their heartbeat, breathing rate and temperature all decrease but it would be a fairly easy task to awake a hibernating Bear. The Black Bear has very thick insulating fur on its back that it will direct at the winter cold. Its head and torso remain relatively the same temperature so that they can attend to cubs when need be. Cubs are born around January and weigh about 500 grams each. Mothers give birth at different ages depending on location. Bears in an evergreen forest don’t get as much food in the fall so they won’t give birth until they are 5-8 years old. Bears in a hardwood forest can eat more and therefore mature more quickly and can give birth at 3-4 years of age. The female Bear mates in the summer but it is not determined whether she will become pregnant until the fall. If she doesn’t eat enough food in the fall to last her through the winter and produce milk, the fetuses will not develop. The male Bear does not stick around. Chances are a hungry male would eat the cubs.

Usually Bears are quite shy and stay away from humans. Their sense of smell lets them know where humans are and give them the chance to leave before any human would ever know they were there. Over the past years, however, Bears seem to have become braver. Some are being fed at dumps and therefore become used to human contact.

Black Bear attacks are very uncommon. They average at about one death every three years. Interestingly enough though these attacks were by male Bears who had no human contact.