Archives

June at a Glance: Yearlings leave mom and search for food, shelter and a place of their own. Adult males travel far and wide looking for mates. Nursing moms venture farther from home base [...]

May at a Glance: All bears visit all the places where they reliably found food last year. Cubs learn how to climb up (and down) trees and learn to “talk.” Cubs are still nursing, but start [...]

April at a Glance: Most bears leave their dens for good. Cubs get their first look at their new world. Mother bears continue to nurse and keep their den and cubs clean. Bears that found [...]

At least one part of the movie, Cocaine Bear, is actually based on facts. A black bear did die in the Georgia woods of a cocaine overdose in the fall of 1985. In the movie, the bear goes on a [...]

March at a Glance: Some black bears leave their dens to walk around, stretch their legs and then go back to sleep. Other bears leave dens for good. Bears emerge skinny, groggy and thirsty and [...]

February at a Glance: Pregnant female black bears give birth. Cubs begin to grow. Bears snug in their dens live off fat reserves, recycle waste and by-products into useful amino acids and heal [...]

The fact that bears mate in summer and give birth seven or eight months later might make you think that bear pregnancies aren’t all that different from human ones. But even though bears mate in [...]

Some people believe that bears are not true hibernators. Squirrels, bats, rodents, marmots and other true hibernators enter a state close to suspended animation where body temperatures fall close [...]

October at a Glance: Hyperphagia is in full-swing. Bears may be awake and searching for food up to 20 hours a day. Many bears also look for den sites. Some pregnant females may den up by the end [...]

September at a Glance: Bears enter hyperphagia in September and may look for food up to 20 hours a day. Berries, nuts and acorns are important fall bear foods. Bears can gain two to three pounds [...]