Florida black bear facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

The Florida black bear (Ursus americanus floridanus) is a special type of American black bear that lives mostly in Florida. You can also find them in parts of southern Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. These large bears have black fur and usually live in forests. Their homes have shrunk over time because more people are building in Florida.

Description
Habitat
- Where They Live and How Many There Are
Diet
Conservation and Challenges
See also

Description

Physical Features

Florida black bears are usually big and have shiny black fur. They have a short tail and often have brown fur around their nose. While their fur is always black in Florida, it might look brownish in the summer when they shed some hairs. About 30% of these bears have a white patch on their chest, which is called a "blaze."

These bears are the second largest land mammals in Florida. Male bears usually weigh around 300 pounds (136 kg). The biggest male ever found weighed 760 pounds (345 kg)! Female bears are smaller, usually weighing about half as much as males. The largest female found weighed 400 pounds (181 kg). Adult bears are typically 4 to 6 feet (122 to 183 cm) long and stand 2.5 to 3.5 feet (76 to 107 cm) tall at the shoulder.

Their feet have five toes, each with short, curved claws that can't be pulled back. Black bears walk with their whole foot touching the ground. They have small eyes and round, upright ears.

Behavior

Black bears are generally shy and like to be alone. They use different ways to show how they feel, like making sounds, using their body, and leaving scents. They are mostly solitary, meaning they live by themselves, except when a mother bear has cubs or during mating season. Even though they are solitary, they don't usually fight over their living space with other bears. However, they will protect their food from other bears. Black bears have good eyesight, especially up close, and excellent hearing. Their sense of smell is amazing, possibly the best of any land mammal on land!

Reproduction and Life Cycle

Female bears in Florida can start having cubs when they are three to four years old. They usually mate from mid-June to mid-August. If there isn't enough food, like acorns or berries, they might start breeding later, have fewer cubs, or not have any cubs at all.

Pregnant female bears go into their dens in late December and come out in early to mid-April. They stay in the den for about 100 to 113 days. The cubs are born in late January to mid-February. At birth, cubs are very small, weighing about 12 ounces (340 grams). They have some fur but are blind and have no teeth. They grow quickly and weigh about six to eight pounds (2.7 to 3.6 kg) when they leave the den at about ten weeks old.

Cubs stay with their mother and might even spend the next winter in the den with her. They usually leave their mother when they are 15 to 17 months old, typically between May and July. Young female bears often stay in the same area as their mother, but young male bears usually move to new places.

Habitat

Florida black bears mostly live in forests. They are often found in places like sand-pine scrub, oak scrub, upland hardwood forests, and wet forested areas. Florida black bears are the only type of American black bear that lives in a subtropical climate. They also sometimes live in dry prairies and tropical hammocks.

Where They Live and How Many There Are

Before Europeans settled in Florida, black bears lived all over the Florida mainland and even in the upper Florida Keys. There were about 11,000 bears back then. Today, they live in about 45% of their original Florida range, as well as in southern Alabama, southern Georgia, and southern Mississippi.

Most large groups of Florida black bears live on or near public lands. These include places like Ocala National Forest, Big Cypress National Preserve, Apalachicola National Forest, Osceola National Forest, and Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

Scientists estimate that there are close to 4,000 bears in Florida. They live in seven different groups that are separated by genetics and location. The areas where bears live have grown in recent years, and the number of bears is higher than it was in 2002.

Diet

Florida black bears are omnivores, which means they eat both plants and animals. About 80% of their diet is plants, 15% is insects, and 5% is animal matter. They usually find animal matter by scavenging, meaning they eat animals that are already dead.

Their diet changes a lot with the seasons because many of their favorite foods are only available at certain times of the year.

In the spring, they mostly eat plants like Sabal palmetto and Thalia geniculata, and insects like Bombus bimaculatus and Camponotus ants. They might also eat wild pigs (Sus scrofa).
In the summer, they mainly eat berries and plants like Serenoa repens, Ilex glabra, Rubus species (like blackberries), Phytolacca rigida, and Vaccinium species (like blueberries). They also eat insects like Camponotus ants and Anisomorpha buprestoides (walking sticks).
In the fall, they eat more Serenoa repens and Ilex glabra, as well as Nyssa biflora (swamp tupelo). They also eat insects like Vespula wasps and Apis mellifera (honey bees), and animals like Dasypus novemcinctus (armadillos).

Conservation and Challenges

Threats to Bears

One of the biggest dangers for Florida black bears is being hit by cars. Since 2012, when more building started in key bear habitats, over 230 bears have been killed on roads each year across the state. The Florida Department of Transportation and the FWC have worked together to put up over 90 bear crossing signs and build many wildlife underpasses (tunnels under roads). Even with these efforts, the number of bears killed on roads has not gone down.

Another challenge is when bears get too close to people. Between 2014 and 2018, the FWC had to remove 279 bears because people were not following "BearWise" rules, which are about not feeding bears, whether on purpose or by accident.

Laws Protecting Bears

There are several laws in Florida to protect black bears:

It's against the law to feed bears.
It's illegal to kill bears just because they are considered a "nuisance."
It's illegal to sell or buy bear parts.
The Bear Conservation Rule says you cannot "take" (which means harm, kill, or capture) a bear unless you have a special permit from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).

Changes in Status

On June 27, 2012, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) decided to remove the Florida black bear from the state's list of threatened species. This decision was made after a review of the bear's population and health. At the same time, a new plan called the Florida Black Bear Management Plan was put in place to make sure the bears would continue to be protected and not become threatened again in the future. Even though they were removed from the threatened list, the Bear Conservation Rule still provides strong protections for them.

Florida Black Bear Hunting

Hunting for Florida black bears was stopped in most of Florida in 1974, and then completely stopped in 1994.

However, in February 2015, the FWC decided to allow a limited, regulated bear hunt. After many meetings, the hunt took place on October 24 and 25, 2015. It happened in four areas where bears live: Apalachicola, Osceola, Ocala, and Big Cypress. A total of 304 bears were taken during this hunt.

In June 2016, the FWC decided to postpone bear hunting. In April 2017, they asked their staff to update the Florida Black Bear Management Plan to include more information about hunting, hoping to get public support for it in the future.

Discouraging Bears from Human Areas

Because more people are moving to Florida, bears are being seen more often near homes. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has shared tips to keep bears away from human areas. The most important thing is to prevent bears from getting food.

In neighborhoods, keep garbage cans in garages or use special locks on lids.
Don't leave pet food outside.
Don't use outdoor bird feeders or other feeders that might attract bears.
Electric fences can also help keep bears out of certain areas.
Picking ripe fruit and vegetables from gardens and cleaning outdoor grills can also help reduce unwanted visits from bears.
Motion-activated alarms can also scare bears away.

Efforts to Protect Bears

Lawmakers in Florida have tried to pass bills to help protect black bears and their homes. These efforts have focused on things like:

Helping fund bear-resistant trash cans to keep bears out of garbage.
Protecting bear habitats by changing how controlled burns are done in forests.
Trying to ban the harvesting of saw palmetto berries, which are an important food source for bears.
Trying to stop the sale of timber rights in areas with acorn-producing oak trees, as acorns are also a key food for bears.

While these bills have not yet become law, they show ongoing efforts to find ways to help bears and people live together safely.

Federal Protection Requests

In 2016, some groups asked the U.S. Department of Interior to list the Florida black bear under the federal Endangered Species Act. However, in 2017, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services decided not to change the bear's status. They felt that Florida was already doing enough to protect the bears, so federal action wasn't needed at that time.