| Latin Name: | Ursus Americanus |
| Category: | Mammals |
| Fun Facts: |
- Black bears can both climb and swim and can run up to 30 m.p.h.
- A female black bear weighs about 150 - 200 pounds and a male black bear weighs about 200 - 400 pounds. A black bear
 stands about 2 1/2 to three feet high at the shoulder.
- A black bear can be black, but also brown, cinnamon, blue-black, or occasionally white in color.
- A black bear lives up to about 25 years in the wild and up to 40 years in captivity.
- Biologists can pull a small tooth from behind a canine to find out the age of the bear. Similar to counting the rings on a tree stump, they can count the rings on the tooth to see how old the bear is! Don't worry, this is an extra tooth for the bear and it doesn't hurt to lose it.
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| Information: |
When it's too cold to go out in the wintertime, there's nothing better than a delicious snack followed by a nice, long afternoon nap. The black bear makes this an EXTREME sport. During the late summer and fall, a bear might eat constantly for up to 20 hours a day! Why does it need such a big snack? So it can take a nap for the entire winter without eating or drinking! If the weather gets warm during the winter, it may come out for a short walk, but otherwise, it can sleep anywhere from 75 to 125 days. Its den might be a cave or a hollow stump, log or tree.
What might a bear eat to prepare for its long sleep? Bears are omnivores, which means they eat both plants and other animals. Most of what a bear eats comes from plants, like berries, fruits, nuts, acorns, grass and roots. But, a bear might also find fish, small animals, dead animals and even ants and crickets pretty tasty.
 A long time ago, when the people who lived in Ohio were mainly Native American Indians, black bears were plentiful. As forests were cleared for farmland and towns, black bears lost much of their habitat. In addition, people began to kill them, fearing the bears would damage their crops and livestock. By 1850, there were no black bears in Ohio. Although common in Canada, Alaska, and some other parts of the United States, the black bear is still considered endangered in Ohio by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife. Though some black bears are now moving into Ohio from surrounding states, there are probably only around 50 to 100 bears in the state.
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| Habitat: |
Located in the forest section of the Zoo’s North America Region, each animal has its own exhibit space with natural surroundings composed of rocks, logs to climb in and over and pools for the bears.
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