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Black Bear Facts

Tadashi

Written by Tadashi

Modified & Updated: 28 Apr 2024

Jessica Corbett

Reviewed by Jessica Corbett

Expert Verified Editorial Guidelines
Black Bear Animal Wildlife in Western North Carolina Mountains

Black bears have become so famous that when people say bears you will most likely imagine a black bear. It certainly helps that they live on two continents: North America and Asia. That, and because they inspired the teddy bear. Learn more about black bears with these 40 Black Bear facts.

Quick Facts
Essential Facts
Interesting Facts
  1. A black bear’s head alone can measure up to 13 inches long.
  2. Their paws can also measure up to 10 inches long.
  3. A male black bear averages a weight of around 154 kg, while a female black bear averages a weight of around 106 kg.
  4. The biggest black bear ever recorded reached a weight of around 500 kg.
  5. Black bears can run at speeds of up to 48 kph.
  1. Black bears diverged from brown bears and polar bears around 5.05 million years ago.
  2. They later diverged from sun bears around 4.58 million years ago.
  3. American and Asian black bears diverged from each other around 4.08 million years ago.
  4. Asian black bears migrated to the Japanese Archipelago around 500,000 years ago.
  5. Humans began hunting the black bear between 11,000 and 10,000 BC.
  6. Black bear hunting peaked during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
  7. Black bear populations have remained stable from the 20th century onward.
  8. Teddy Roosevelt gained his nickname by refusing to shoot a black bear cub in 1902.
  9. Humans wiped out the black bear population on Prince Edward Island by 1937.
  10. A black bear lived in Iowa in 2019 for the first time since the 1880s.
  1. More black bears live in the world than every other bear species combined.
  2. International organizations generally designate black bears as a species of least concern.
  3. Mexico, however, considers black bears an endangered species thanks to their shrinking population in the country.
  4. Black bears can identify colors better than even chimpanzees.
  5. They can also learn simple shapes like circles, squares, and triangles.
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