American black bear
Amazing fact
An American black bear rests in a shallow depression in the forest leaf litter.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
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An American black bear rests in a shallow depression in the forest leaf litter.
THE REAL WORLD
The real American black bear
- Scientific name
- Ursus americanus
- Japanese name
- アメリカクロクマ
- Group
- Land mammals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Carnivora
- Family
- Ursidae
- Genus
- Ursus
A bear found widely from Alaska and Canada, through the United States, to central Mexico.
Despite its name, it is not always black: some are brown, cinnamon or blond.
In spring it eats mainly grasses and other plants, and in summer fruit from shrubs and trees. Animal food makes up just a small part of its diet.
How the American black bear lives
It is generally active around dawn and dusk, though this can change with the seasons. In autumn, it builds up fat by eating fruits, nuts and acorns. It normally lives alone, though mothers stay with their cubs.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Size
- 1,200–2,000 mm
- Weight
- 39–409 kg
- Active
- At dawn and dusk
- Diet
- Grasses, forbs and shrub and tree-borne fruits
- Range
- Northern Alaska, Canada, the United States, central Mexico, and elsewhere
Where the American black bear has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- アメリカクロクマ
- 简体中文
- 美洲黑熊
- 繁體中文
- 美洲黑熊
- 한국어
- 아메리카흑곰
- Español
- Oso negro americano
- Français
- Ours noir
- Deutsch
- Amerikanischer Schwarzbär
- Português (Brasil)
- Urso-negro
- Italiano
- Baribal
- हिन्दी
- अमेरिकी काला भालू
- العربية
- دب أسود أمريكي
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Beruang hitam Amerika
- Tiếng Việt
- Gấu đen Bắc Mỹ
- Русский
- Барибал
- Türkçe
- Amerika kara ayısı
- ไทย
- หมีดำ
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Ursus americanusChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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