This uniquely North American bear may be seen at any time, day or night. It occupies a range usually of to 10 square miles (20–25 sq km), although sometimes up to 15 square miles (40 sq km). The home range of the male is about double the size of that of the female. The Black Bear typically walks with a shuffling gait, but in its bounding trot it attains surprising speed, with bursts up to 30 mph (50 km/h). A powerful swimmer, it also climbs trees, either for protection or food. Although this animal is in the order Carnivora, most of its diet consists of vegetation, including twigs, buds, leaves, nuts, roots, fruit, corn, berries, and newly sprouted plants. In spring, the bear peels off tree bark to get at the inner, or cambium, layer. It rips open bee trees to feast on honey, honeycombs, bees, and larvae, and will tear apart rotting logs for grubs, beetles, crickets, and ants. A good fisher, the Black Bear often wades in streams or lakes, snagging fish with its jaws or pinning them with a paw. It rounds out its diet with small to medium-size mammals (including the young of deer, Elk, and Moose) or other vertebrates.
In the fall, the bear puts on a good supply of fat, then holes up for the winter in a sheltered place, such as a cave, crevice, hollow tree or log, under the roots of a fallen tree, or in a den that the bear excavates. In the Hudson Bay area, Black Bears will sometimes den in a snowbank. Excrement is never found in the Black Bear's wintering den. The bear stops eating a few days before retiring, but then consumes roughage, such as leaves, pine needles, and bits of its own hair. These pass through the digestive system and form an anal plug, up to 1 foot (30 cm) long, which is voided when the bear emerges in the spring.
Sows mate during their third year, with most producing one tiny cub the first winter, two or three on subsequent breedings. While the mother sleeps in the den, the almost naked newborns nestle into her fur. The mother often lies on her back or side to nurse, but sometimes sits on her haunches, with cubs perched on her lap, much like human infants; they may nurse for about a year. The female Black Bear is not receptive to males while nursing.
This bear is mainly solitary, except briefly during the mating season and when congregating to feed at streams, on large carcasses, and at dumps. Bears are often a problem around open dumps, becoming dangerous as they become habituated to human foods; occasionally people have been killed by them. Hunting Black Bears is a popular sport in some areas, both for the flesh (which must be well cooked because of trichinosis) and the hides, used for rugs. The helmets of Great Britain’s Buckingham Palace guards are made of the Black Bear’s fur.

description In the East, nearly black; in the West, black to cinnamon, with white blaze on chest. A "blue" phase occurs near Yakutat Bay, Alaska, and a nearly white population on Gribble Island, British Columbia, and the neighboring mainland. Snout tan or grizzled; in profile straight or slightly convex. 3 pairs of upper incisors equal in size. Male much larger than female. Ht 3–3' 5" (90–105 cm); L 4' 6"–6' 2"(137–188 cm); T 3–7" (7.7–17.7 cm); HF 9–14 5/8" (23–37 cm); Wt 203–587 lb (92–267 kg).

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