Black Bears

[Styx38]

Black Bear age studies


"We designated bears in their second year of life as yearlings, 2- and 3- year olds as subadults, and >4-year olds as adults"

source: Lee, Daniel J., and Michael R. Vaughan. “Dispersal Movements by Subadult American Black Bears in Virginia.” Ursus, vol. 14, no. 2, 2003, pp. 162–170. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3873016. Accessed 15 May 2021.



"Survival rates for subadult black bears tend to be lower than for adult black bears in North American populations (Bunnell and Tait 1981, Schwartz andFranzmann 1991, Beringer et al. 1998). Subadult bears, especially males, are capable of traveling long distances and have larger home ranges, making them more susceptible to harvest, automobile collisions, and other anthropogenic of mortality (Schwartz and Franzmann 1992).

"Additionally, we attached ear tag transmitters or radiocollars to a sample of subadult bears during the handling process. All transmitter-equipped 1-, 2-, and 3-year-old males and l-year-old females received ear tag transmitters, while 2- and 3-year-old females received ear tagtransmitters (i.e., bear weight <45 kg) or radiocollars (i.e., bear weight >45 kg)."

source: Lee, Daniel J., and Michael R. Vaughan. "Yearling and subadult black bear survival in a hunted Virginia population." The Journal of wildlife management 69.4 (2005): 1641-1651.



"Black bears will occasionally kill and cannibalize other bears. Most cannibalization documented in Maine has been on subadult bears (2-3 years of age)"

"Adult males (4 years of age and older) often dominate food sources, and adults are known to prey on smaller bears. However, black bears do not actively defend territories."

"Female bears remain within or close to the area they were born in, but males disperse as subadults, usually at 2-4 years of age in Maine (Hugie 1982, MDIFW file data)."

"By the time female bears are adults (4 years of age), their survival increases to nearly 100% in the absence of hunting."

source: McLaughlin, Craig R. Black bear assessment and strategic plan 1999. The Department, 1999


As can be seen, sub-adult Black Bears (age 1-3 years) have lower survival rates than adult Black Bears (age 4 and above) with or without human interference. Reply