Life Span: Approximately 26 years in captivity

Gestation: Approximately 200 days; 2 to 3 young
Wild Diet:95 percent vegetable matter; will also eat fish and small-to medium-sized mammals

Zoo Diet:Science Diet, Natural Balance and omnivore diet, apples, carrots, sweet potatoes, greens, grapes and hard-boiled eggs


Habits: Females bear young every other year. Cubs weigh approximately one- half pound at birth. Black bears vary in their coloration from black to dark blue-gray to brown. They can run, climb, and swim well.

Bears enter dens in the fall for winter sleep but do not hibernate; their pulse and body temperature remain constant. They may awaken and come out for short periods during warm winter days.

The cubs are born about the end of January while the sows (females) are
still in their dens.