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Arkansas Record Black Bear

Black Bears - Other Interesting Information

• Bears are great climbers despite their size and appearance. Diminishing amounts of chestnuts in the United States helped to prove this. At one time black Bears living in the States consumed large amounts of chestnuts. When there was a shortage of chestnuts, these bears were forced to turn to acorns as a substitute. Their skill in scaling the tall oak trees dispelled the myth that they were clumsy animals.

• The Teddy Bear is named after American president Theodore Roosevelt. On a hunting trip he refused to shoot a cub that crossed his path and was made fun of. A toy maker, Morris Michtom, created the first stuffed bear and got permission to use the president's nickname.

• Bears are not born blind. When the cubs are born their eyelids are still closed and they do not open until the cub is 40 days old. That has led to the belief that bear cubs are born without the ability to see.

• Bears are not the thinnest after coming out of their dens. Although the bears have lost 15 to 20% of their autumn weight by spring, they will usually continue to lose weight for the next two or three months, until berry crops provide rich food sources.

• The bear prefers fresh meat to rotten meat, but will eat kill that isn't too old. If it approaches an animal that has been dead for awhile, the bear would eat only the freshest parts and leave the rest behind.

• North American Indian hunters apologize to the bear after killing it, give it a long list of needs to justify it's death and then perform a complicated ritual to release it's spirit.

• Inuit bear hunters have a touching ritual that they perform after killing a polar bear. They will take snow and melt it in their mouths and then drip it into the polar bear's jaws. This is to quench the bear's legendary thirst.

• West Coast Indians have legends about "ghost bears". These legends are based on the Kermode bear, a sub-species of black bear. It's fur is white or yellowish-white.