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BLACK BEAR CUBS AND THEIR FAMILIES A baby bear is called a cub. An adult female bear is called a sow. An adult male bear is called a boar. A sow is usually impregnated by a boar in May or June. Interestingly, the fertile egg does not begin active development until around October. In this way, the mother bear's body naturally slows down the development process so that birth can take place around January 1st. Contrasted with human fetal development of nine months, the mother bear is pregnant for about seven months. The fetus actively develops for only about three months. The sow has her cub or cubs in the shelter or den where she spends the winter months. A mother black bear usually has one or two cubs, although she may have as many as four. However, she won't have any cubs until she is four or five years of age, and then only every other year. From the time of birth, the mother's milk is the first food source for the young animals. At birth, a young cub has hair and weighs about eight ounces about the size of a guinea pig. The bear cubs stay in the den with their mother until they are able to move around very actively. The bear cubs and their mother usually stay in the den until late April or early May. Boars and sows without cubs usually leave their dens a month earlier. At the time the cubs leave the den with their mother, they are extremely dependent upon her. They still nurse, depending on mother's milk as a food source until the middle of summer, around six months. However, once out of the den, they quickly learn about additional food sources. Black bears are omnivores. That means they eat plant and animal material. They tend to eat grass, nuts, berries in late summer, insects, grubs-and fish and rodents when they can catch them! Although they do not normally eat carrion, they will turn over dead and decaying animals to find and eat the protein rich maggots. When black bear cubs reach one year of age, female cubs weigh about 30 to 50 pounds. Males weigh about 50 to 70 pounds. A mature female bear will weigh about 150 to 185 pounds, and a male will weigh about 275 pounds. |
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