Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
State wildlife officials estimate the state's black bear population has remained stable for the past 10 years at 50,000 to 81,000 to animals. Bears can hibernate under decks, in crawl spaces
To prepare for hibernation, bears step up their eating, putting on up to 3 pounds a day in the fall and sometimes into winter. That can mean foraging for a meal for up to 20 hours a day, and they ...
More black bears, of which they are now more than 5,000 in the state, could come into the area at any point, Wattles said. The state's bear population has an expected annual increase of 8%.
As hibernation is a seasonal response, the movement of the ancestor of birds and mammals onto land introduced them to seasonal pressures that would eventually become hibernation. [45] This is true for all clades of animals that undergo winter dormancy; the more prominent the seasons are, the longer the dormant period tends to be on average.
Bears on the East Coast tend to be heavier on average than those on the West Coast, although they typically follow Bergmann's rule, and bears from the northwest are often slightly heavier than the bears from the southeast. Adult males typically weigh between 57–250 kg (126–551 lb), while females weigh 33% less at 41–170 kg (90–375 lb).
Grizzly bears also do not defecate or urinate throughout the entire hibernation period. The male grizzly bear's hibernation ends in early to mid-March, while females emerge in April or early May. [53] In preparation for winter, bears can gain approximately 180 kg (400 lb), during a period of hyperphagia, before going into hibernation. [54]
Bears of northern regions, including the American black bear and the grizzly bear, hibernate in the winter. [ 110 ] [ 111 ] During hibernation, the bear's metabolism slows down, its body temperature decreases slightly, and its heart rate slows from a normal value of 55 to just 9 beats per minute. [ 112 ]
Bears normally stock up on food then hibernate in their dens during the coldest winter months. Bear hibernation is “strongly tied” to weather patterns and food availability, according to a ...