40 Black Bear Facts: The Most Common Bear in the World

Publish date: 2024-09-17

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