Black Bear
Black bears are North America’s most familiar and common bears. There are more than 380,000 of this bulky and thickset bear in Canada, and Manitoba is home to some of the biggest. The average Manitoba black bear has black fur with a brownish muzzle and is approximately 150 cm long with a shoulder height between 100 and 120 cm. These bears are big. The average weight for an adult male bear is 135 kg (300 pounds), although weights over 290 kg (640 pounds) have been recorded. They typically live in forests and are excellent tree climbers, but are also found in mountains and swamps. Despite their name, black bears can be blue-gray or blue-black, brown, or cinnamon.
Black bears are very opportunistic eaters. Most of their diet consists of grasses, roots, berries, and insects. They will also eat fish and mammals—including carrion—and easily develop a taste for human food and garbage. Bears that become habituated to human food at campsites, cabins, or rural homes can become dangerous and are often killed—thus the frequent reminder: Please don’t feed the bears!
Solitary animals, black bears roam large territories, although that does not protect them from other bears. Males might wander a 39 to 207 square kilometer (15 to 80 square mile) home range.
When winter arrives, black bears spend the season dormant in their dens, feeding on body fat they have built up by eating ravenously all summer and fall. They make their dens in caves, burrows, brush piles, or other sheltered spots—sometimes even in tree holes high above the ground. Black bears den for various lengths of time governed by the diverse climates in which they live.
Female black bears give birth to two or three blind, helpless cubs in mid-winter and nurse them in the den until spring, when all emerge in search of food. The cubs will stay with their very protective mother for about two years.
Female black bears give birth to two or three blind, helpless cubs in mid-winter and nurse them in the den until spring, when all emerge in search of food. The cubs will stay with their very protective mother for about two years.
The hunting season for black bears ranges from late August to mid October.
For information on resident & non-resident license prices and limits visit the Manitoba Conservation website.
