Black bear weight tends to vary according to health,age,sex and season

The American black bear is North America's smallest and most common species of bear. It is a generalist animal, being able to exploit numerous different habitats and foodstuffs.The species is not overly dangerous to humans, but has been responsible for a few deaths, as well as property damage and livestock predation.The American black bear has been the source of inspiration for numerous popular cultural depictions of bears, including the Teddy Bear and Winnie the Pooh.

Size

Black bear weight tends to vary according to age, sex, health and season. Seasonal variation in weight is very pronounced: in autumn, their pre-den weight tends to be 30% higher than in spring, when black bears emerge from their dens. Black bears on the East Coast tend to be heavier on average than those on the West Coast. Adult males typically weigh between 125 and 550 lb, while females weigh 33% less at 90–275 lb.The biggest wild American Black Bear ever recorded was a male from North Carolina, shot in 1998, that weighed 400 kg .Adults are 4-6 ft in length, and 2.5-3 ft in shoulder height.The North American Bear Center, located in Ely, Minnesota, is home to the world's largest captive male and female black bears. Ted, the male, weighed 950–1,000 lb in the fall of 2006.Honey, the female, weighed 555.5 lb in the fall of 2007.


Behaviour

In his Great Bear Almanac, Gary Brown lists 20 different sounds in 8 different contexts. Sounds expressing aggression include growls, woofs, snorts, bellows and roars. Sounds expressing contentment include mumbles, squeaks and pants. American black bears tend to be territorial and non-gregarious in nature.Black bears are excellent and strong swimmers, doing so for pleasure and to feed. Black bears climb regularly to feed, escape enemies or to hibernate. Their arboreal abilities tend to decline with age.

Hibernation

Black bears enter their dens to hibernate in October and November. Prior to that time, they typically put on an average of 4 lb of body fat to get them through the seven months during which they fast. Hibernation usually lasts 3–5 months in southern coastal regions.During this time, their heart rate drops from 98 beats per minute to 8 beats per minute.They spend their time in hollowed-out dens in tree cavities, under logs or rocks, in banks, caves, or culverts, and in shallow depressions. Females, however, have been shown to be pickier in their choice of dens, in comparison to males.A special hormone, Leptin is released into their systems, to suppress appetite. Because they do not urinate or defecate during hibernation, the nitrogen waste from the Bear's body is biochemically recycled back into their proteins.