Black Bear on the road

I took a couple volunteers on a field trip. There in the middle of the road was a Black Bear. He took off running, first down the road and then dashed into the woods. There were plenty of ripe berries out so it's easy to figure out what the bear was doing. Ralph always jokes that bears love to shit on the road. But berries love to grow in the sun that's let in by cut of the road.

Such a big creature and just like that he was gone. I always think of Coal when I see them. There the same color. That very first glance there's a similarity but then the bear moves and it's something totally different. They can run about 35mph. It doesn't seem like they should be able to move that fast. They look big and slow and then they break into this amazing gait.

Appearing to wander aimlessly, black bears are always in search of a more plentyful sourse of food, or a mate during breeding season. In June they add insects, grubs and ants to their diet, and in the fall the main source of foods are berries, mushrooms and acorns with supplimental carion when available. Fall is a critical period as far as nutrition is concerned, in that sufficient reserves of fat must be built up for the winter. This is particullarly important for those females which are going to be suckling young during the winter retreat. The Cyber ZooMobile