The black bear (Ursus americanus) is the most common and widely distributed bear species in North America. However, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is one of the few areas south of Canada where black bears coexist with the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos). If you are going to be in bear country, you should be comfortable with your Bear Country Safety knowledge.
While they are called black bears, their fur can range from black to brown to cinnamon or even blonde. They can be identified apart from grizzly bears by their straight profile heads, prominent ears, and lack of a shoulder hump.
Mother Black Bear and her two blonde cubs walk down a road in Yellowstone
Male black bears weigh 210–315 pounds, females weigh 135–200 pounds; adults stand about 3 feet at the shoulder. Black bears may live up to 15–30 years. They can climb trees and have adapted to life in forest and along forest edges. They mate in the spring and the female gives birth in her den the following winter to 1-3 cubs. Males are known to kill cubs in order to trigger the females to become ready to breed again. Females usually keep their young with them for 2-3 summers. They are considered true hibernators. Black bears have fair eyesight and an exceptional sense of smell.
Male black bear in Yellowstone
Food sources: includes rodents, insects, elk calves, cutthroat trout, pine nuts, grasses and other vegetation.
Places to view black bears in Yellowstone: Luckily for tourists, many black bears can be seen from the roads. Areas around Tower and Mammoth are most common. The area near the Petrified Tree and at the Tower-Roosevelt junction frequently has black bear activity. Dunraven Pass is another common area. I’ve also viewed them out the Northeast entrance road both near Lamar Valley and toward the Northeast Entrance.
Remember to pull completely off the road if you spot a bear. Use bear safety skills. Feeding bears will stay in an area, giving you a chance to take multiple shots. With some patience, the bear(s) will move into a position that works from your location. A mother with cubs can be challenging to shoot, as you need all of the bears to get into the same shot. Again patience is your friend.
Male black bear
I find watching bears to be quite interesting. You can observe inter-bear relationships, napping, playing, and mothering behavior including nursing. All black bears are good tree climbers. They climb trees and come down from trees at amazingly fast speeds. I have twice observed a male black bear who had killed an ungulate (1 deer, 1 young bison), eaten his fill and was sleeping on the partially hidden cached remains. Yellowstone is a great place to observe bear behavior in nature.
Outside of Yellowstone, I have viewed black bears in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee, Washington’s Cascades National Park & Snoqualmie National Forest; California’s Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks, several areas of Colorado and Montana, and in the Shenandoah mountains of Virginia.
Here are some more of my black bear photos:
Mother black bear with 3 one-year old cubs
Cinnamon colored black bear eating vegetation
Blond black bear cub
Mother black bear watching male bear on the ground, cub was above her
Mother bear view #2, she protects her cub from a male, who will kill the cub so mother will breed again. She could be heard growling at him to go away.
The male black bear hanging out at the bottom of tree. After some time he gave up and left the area
Two cubs of the year (COY’s) hanging out in a tree while mom feeds nearby
Two blond cubs follow mother up a log in the pouring rain
In a light snow, a black bear cub of the year started to cross the road and was turning back after seeing our RV
His mother had crossed first and then seemed to motion him to come on, get over here
