Several terms have been used for winter dormancy in black bears, including "hibernation", "winter sleep", "torpor", or "carnivorean lethargy". The confusion arises because biologists may use the same term in different ways. "Hibernation" has sometimes been defined based upon body temperature and the animal's ability to react to external stimuli. Ground squirrels and other so-called "true hibernators" have hibernating body temperatures approaching 32º F.

Technically, black bears do not hibernate. They enter a state of sedation referred to as torpor. Their metabolism slows down during the long winter sleep so that they do not need to eat, drink, urinate, or defecate until they emerge from their dens in late March or April. Black bears shed their footpads during the winter. You may see bears licking their tender new footpads in the spring.

That depends upon how you define "hibernation", and some experts disagree with each other. In a strict sense, bears are not true hibernators.

Opossums do not hibernate. Their greatest challenge during winter, especially in colder climates, is simply to survive. Very often opossums will alter their foraging habits during winter, coming out during the day when it is warmer rather than at night. It is not uncommon for opossums in northern regions to suffer frostbite during extremely cold periods. Their tails are particularly susceptible to frostbite as they have no fur covering to protect them.

Black bear "attacks" on humans are both defensive and offensive. Defensive attacks are fairly common, especially in parks, campgrounds, and similar situations where humans and black bears are brought into close contact and bears are habituated or conditioned to humans and human foods. Injuries, typically minor scratches, occur when people crowd, pet, or hand-feed bears and intrude on the animal's personal space.

In eastern North America, most black bears are black. As you move westward across the continent, the proportion of brown color phase black bears increases. In 1997, a rare white phase black bear we called "Halo" visited the Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary. Click here to read about Halo.

Early settlers introduced European honeybees to the United States and propagated them for honey and for pollination of crops. Black bears soon learned to raid these artificial hives and eat the honey and larvae. Beehive damage from bears is substantial in many areas of the United States and Canada and losses have exceeded $200,000 annually in some jurisdictions. In Arkansas, monetary losses to honey production represented about 9% of total production value but may have been inflated.

In New England in colonial times, black bears were serious agricultural pests and were bountied as an incentive for controlling their numbers. Black bears still cause damage to agriculture, particularly corn. Corn is not only consumed but stalks are flattened, hindering mechanical harvesting. In Wisconsin, corn damage increased from 10% (of all damage claims) between 1936-1954 to 65% between 1986-1990, principally due to the increased use of short-maturity varieties of corn.

Black bears are capable of killing various livestock and poultry, including sheep, goats, swine, cattle, rabbits, turkeys, and chickens. Sheep accounted for most (90%) losses in Virginia but in Alberta cattle (mostly calves) comprised 81% of losses. Livestock depredations are comparatively uncommon in Massachusetts; 100% of livestock owners surveyed in 1990 indicated that damage was "low" or "moderate" with losses <$1000 per year.

Black bears have been perceived as nuisances in some National Parks at least since the 1890s. Throughout North America, human-associated foods continue to attract black bears to parks and campgrounds. In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, there were 107 personal injuries and 715 incidents of property damage between 1964-1976. In Yellowstone, property damage incidents averaged 262 between 1960-67 but averaged 5 between 1983-1993 after implementation of a bear management plan.

Over the past few decades, residential and suburban bear complaints have dramatically increased, surpassing traditional commodity-based complaints in many areas and not restricted to a single geographical locale. These problems may relate to rapid increases in numbers of both bears and humans, combined with habitat fragmentation by structures, highways, and agriculture.

The reclusive nature of black bears makes a precise population count difficult. However, based upon hunting success studies and biological marking censuses, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) estimates that there are approximately 27,000 black bears in Minnesota.

Approximately 75-85% of the black bear diet is vegetable matter. Common foods in northern Minnesota include clover, dandelions, chokecherry, pin cherry, sarsaparilla, wild plum, blueberry, cranberry, hazelnuts, acorns, wild oats, and the larvae of ants, bees, and hornets. Black bears are not very effective predators, but they will occasionally catch and eat fawns, moose calves, and beaver. Bears are also attracted to human foods at campgrounds and garbage dumps when natural foods are scarce.

Baiting is the most common method of hunting bears in this state. Hunters are permitted to place a cache of food in a clearing 2 weeks before hunting season begins. Hunting bears with hounds is not permitted in Minnesota.

No. Black bear males and females come together only during breeding season. A female may mate with several males during a short estrus period and cubs from the same litter may have different fathers.

A female black bear can produce a litter of up to five cubs every 2 years. The average number of cubs is 2 or 3. In Minnesota, 2.5 is average. Cubs are born in January or February. They rely on their mother's body heat for warmth and her rich milk (33% fat) for food until it is time to emerge from the den in the spring. The black bear is the only mammal to lactate (produce milk) for about 3 months without eating.

Cubs weigh only 8-12 ounces at birth and are covered with fine, downy hair. Cubs that weigh 5 pounds or more when they leave the den in the spring have the greatest chance of survival. Adult males and females fluctuate in weight over the course of the year. Adult males can weigh 150-600 pounds, while females with cubs can weigh 90-300 pounds. Pregnant females lose about 35% of their weight during the winter, while males and females without cubs lose about 30% of their weight.

Unprovoked attacks on humans by black bears are very rare. Dozens of minor injuries have occurred when people petted or crowded black bears that they were feeding or photographing. Considering their size and strength, black bears show amazing restraint with humans and each other. In the last century, there were only 40 deaths in all of North America that were caused by black bears.

Yes. During Minnesota winters the frogs and toads become dormant, hibernating either in the aquatic vegetation of lakes and ponds, under the water, or under leaf litter on the ground. For example, the Northern Leopard Frog and the Mink Frog will spend the winter swimming slowly under the ice, in the water of lakes, ponds and streams. The Wood Frog and the Spring Peeper can withstand partial freezing of body fluids buried under leaf little on the woodland floor.

Bears usually den up when the food sources are depleted, the snow begins to fall and they are fat enough to make it through the winter without food. The word "hibernate" is controversial in scientific circles.