A black bear may live up to 20 years in the wild and up to 30 years in captivity. Black bears are very agile, can run in bursts up to 35 mph and can run up or down hills quickly and easily. Their short, curved claws help them to climb trees. Black bears are strong swimmers. Bears tend to range over large areas in search of basic needs such as food, escape cover, den sites, and mates.
Threats to black bears are primarily human-caused, as their only natural predator would be another bear. Humans are directly or indirectly responsible for most black bear deaths through habitat destruction, feeding, and legal and illegal killing, including killing of bears that pose a threat to people or livestock and property. The last remnant population of black bears in East Texas was extirpated in the 1950s.
Photo courtesy of BBCC
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There are 16 subspecies of the American black bear in North America. Those animals found in eastern Texas, most of Mississippi, and all of Louisiana are considered to belong to the Louisiana black bear subspecies (Ursus americanus luteolus). In 1992 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared this subspecies “threatened” under provisions of the Endangered Species Act.
Restrictions on black bear hunting in Texas were instituted in 1973, and by 1987, bear hunting was prohibited statewide. Bears were listed on the state endangered species list in 1987. In 1992, bears in East Texas were placed under federal protection, as they belong to the Louisiana black bear subspecies protected under the Endangered Species Act. The bear’s status was changed to “threatened” statewide in 1996. Penalties for illegal killing of a bear range up to $10,000, jail time and loss of hunting privileges.
Habitat
In East Texas, black bears are primarily found in areas dominated by bottomland hardwoods and floodplain forests, but can also be found in upland hardwoods, mixed pine/hardwoods, coastal flatwoods, and marshes.
Photograph by Peter Riger, Houston Zoo
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Bears in the Big Thicket prefer dense canebreak thickets beneath an overstory of mast- producing hardwoods. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, suitable forest communities include the species bald cypress, water tupelo, river birch, American sycamore, cottonwood, American elm, green ash, Nuttal oak, overcup oak sweetgum, water oak, swamp chestnut oak, and cherrybark oak.
The black bear's habitat requirements include food, cover and water. Additionally, they require suitable denning sites and relatively large blocks of land, preferably with minimal human disturbance. Garner and Willis (1998) found the most suitable habitat in East Texas to be the Middle Neches River Corridor because it has suitable food and cover, as well as low levels of human/bear conflict zones and relatively low open road density. Frequently traveled roads are hazardous to bears, but smaller, less traveled roads are much more tolerable.
Diet
Although classified as carnivores, black bears are not active predators. They are opportunistic feeders and will eat almost anything that is available. Natural foods, such as insects, forbs, berries and acorns, comprise a majority of a bear's diet, but bears readily take advantage of food options provided by agricultural crops such as corn, wheat, oats, and sugarcane, and occasionally damage beehives in search of larval bees and honey. Bears will readily become habituated to human garbage when the opportunity exists.
The black bear's diet changes seasonally. Spring diets of black bears consist mostly of grasses, greenbrier, and tree cambium.
Photo courtesy of Rachel Rommel, Houston Zoo
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The summer diet changes from green vegetation to ripening soft mast (seeds covered with fleshy fruit) in the form of berries. The Black Bear Conservation Committee (2005) listed fruits of dewberry, blackberry, elderberry, grape, and other vines and shrubs as important to bears in the early summer, while fruits from pokeberry, dogwood and persimmon were important in late summer and early fall.
Insects are consumed primarily during the late spring and summer months. Colonial species like honey bees, yellow jackets, bumble bees, and carpenter ants are among the major species of insects consumed in Florida.
Fall diets change from mostly soft mast of fruit-bearing shrubs and vines to hard mast (hard shelled seeds) of hickory and oaks. The high fat and carbohydrate content of acorns and other hard mast enables bears to build up fat reserves prior to denning. Winter-active bears have been shown to continue to feed on hard mast and other domestic foods like corn and fallen apples.
Quick Fact Sheet on black bears.
For more detailed information on black bear ecology and biology please review the East Texas Black Bear Conservation and Management Plan.