Florida Black Bear
Ursus americanus
The Black Bear is one of a few animals that surprise people by its very existence in the State of Florida. Many visitors have been heard to say "you have bears here!" The Florida Black bear is one of eighteen known subspecies found throughout the United States and Canada The black bear population of the United States is estimated at 750,000, with the largest state number at 7,000 in Pennsylvania.Unfortunately, Florida's population is not so numerous. At one time the Florida bear population once ranged the entire state, Once estimated at 12,000 animals with a range throughout Southern Georgia and Alabama. Today the bears' numbers are estimated at about 1,500. The bears' largest problems in the wild are with the ever increasing human population, natural habitat loss and car/bear collisions. The human population in Florida grows at a rate of 500 -1000 new residents per day. This development destroys nearly 20 acres of natural habitat every hour.

Photo By Susan Strawbridge
The average black bear male weighs about 350 pounds while a female average weight is 150 pounds. The bears' diet is about 80% vegetable matter. Foods include berries, acorns, insects and palmetto hearts. The average home range of an adult female black bear is almost 11 square miles' a male's is around 66 square miles. A healthy bear population needs at least 400,000 acres to survive. To protect an area of that size in a highly-developed Florida requires preserving the connections between core habitats. Bears inhabit both wetlands and upland forest habitats. The Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park bear enclosure is a new addition to the park, it houses two bears.
The Bear Facts


• Not all Black bears are black

• Black bears inhabit almost every state in the US

• A Black Bear can weigh as much as 500 pounds

• A baby Bear is called a cub

• Female bears are called sows and males are called boars

• Bears live twelve to fifteen years in the wild

• Teddy Bears are name after a black bear cub that was the pet of Theodore Roosevelt.

• No human has ever been recorded killed by a Florida Black bear
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Photo By Susan Dougherty
ALSO COMMONLY KNOWN AS:
American Black Bear ,Cinnamon Bear , Kermode Bear , Glacier Bear.
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