Black Bears

[Maritimus77]

The Weight of the American Black Bear

This should serve as an calculation for the total average weight of the species "Ursus Americanus"; I'll list the datasets below!


1. Harlow (1961) - Florida Black Bear: 305lbs for 16 males; 189lbs for 12 females
2. Maehr (2001) - Florida Black Bear: 139.16kg for 13 males; 87.24kg for 21 females ...  Mexican Black Bear: 108.92kg for 13 males; 65.44kg for 13 females                        
3. Rogers et al. (1976) - Michigan Black Bear: 287lbs for 19 males; 183lbs for 16 females
4. Jonkel and Cowan (1971) - Montana Black Bear: 211lbs for 43 males; 125lbs for 76 females
5. Harlow (1961) - New Hampshire Black Bear: 263lbs for 19 males; 183lbs for 11 females
6. Sauer (1975) - New York Black Bear: 251lbs for 16 males; 165lbs for 30 females
7. Collins (unpublished data) - North Carolina Black Bear: 368lbs for 49 males; 197lbs for 37 females
8. Alt (1980) - Pennsylvania Black Bear: 402lbs for 72 males; 203lbs for 93 females
9. Willey (1978) - Vermont Black Bear: 238lbs for 14 males; 109lbs for 28 females
10. Poelker and Hartwell (1973) - Washington Black Bear: 221lbs for 10 males; 142lbs for 10 females
11. McLellan (2011) - British Columbia Black Bear: 95.64kg for 143 males; 70.45kg for 79 females
12. Noyce and Garshelis (1998) - North-Central Minnesota Black Bear: 124.95kg for 77 males; 69.9kg for 163 females
13. Beckmann and Berger (2003) - Lake Tahoe/Nevada Black Bear: 131.88kg for 48 males; 79.22kg for 14 females
14. Bartareau et al. (2012) - Northern Canada Black Bear: 126.3kg for 100 males; 89.24kg for 39 females
15. Dobey et al (2010) - Georgia Black Bear: 103.3kg for 28 males; 53.3kg for 32 females ... Florida Black Bear: 138.5kg for 14 males; 64.6kg for 10 females


Total Average Weight: ~123.39kg (~272.03lbs) for males (n=694) and ~73.54kg (~162.13lbs) for females (n=684).



If you find additional sources, feel free to share them; the goal is to update it regularly and increase the sample size for both genders! Reply