Do You Know the Truth?

Many of us are raised on false ideas and thoughts of how some things are. Giving everyone the benefit of the doubt, I'm sure people were taught by their parents who heard it from their parents who heard it from their parents and so on. Or maybe those who we learn from have not yet caught up on the latest scientific discoveries. That's the great thing about people like Justin, the main blogger on this site. He thrives to educate readers on wildlife, the issues going on in related fields and also reaches out to others wildlife enthusiasts who may have some different educational input. Today I am here to educate you on a species that I have a bit more experience with than Justin might. So, I'd like to know, do you know the truth about black bears?

This summer I have had the privilege to surround myself in a whole new environment. I am currently an intern at the North American Bear Center - an educational facility in the north-woods of Minnesota. Here I am exposed to years of research on black bears while getting the amazing opportunity to work with these magnificent animals daily. I am starting to understand the different behaviors our ambassador bears display and am able to relate that to the wild bears I have been able to observe while being here. Before coming to the center, I believed things about black bears that I now know are common misconceptions. The media portrays a variety of myths about black bears. Today we will talk about the top three I hear people mention at the center; black bears are vicious, black bears are more likely to attack when they lose their fear of people, and (a fun one) black bears love honey.

Black bears have been around for quite some time. They were around back in the Pleistocene Age where they had to coexist with large, predatory animals like the dire wolf, American lion, giant-short faced bear and sabre-toothed cats. Today black bears are very timid and shy animals. Their behaviors are due to them evolving around those other animals I mentioned above. In order to survive, the black bear portrays a very shy nature. Overtime, they developed an excellent sense of both hearing and smell. These two senses give them the opportunity to sense any danger far before it is close enough to cause any issues. Black bears have a "run first, ask questions later" mentality. If they feel that any danger is near, they will most likely run to and climb up the nearest tree. The predatory animals in the Pleistocene Age were not great climbers. This ability allowed the bear to easily get away from any potential attacks. Those behaviors and abilities have carried on over time to allow the black bear to continue to survive.

Many people believe that when a black bear loses it's fear of people they are more likely to attack. That, of course, is not true or I would not be mentioning it today. Between the years of 1900 and  2007, there were 60 killings of people from black bears in North America. Out of those 60 killings, 47 of them were in very remote areas of Canada and Alaska where black bears and people did not often cross paths. When a black bear loses the fear, they are still very cautious. If the bear has an open area to run away, they are most likely going to. When they are trapped and unable to get away from the human, they are more likely to lash out aggressively in defense or hurt the person by running them over in an attempt to escape.

Now, our last misconception for this blog, black bears love honey. Sorry kids, but that's not necessarily true. One of the main reasons people may believe that is because of the cartoon character, Winnie the Pooh. To make things a bit better, I will tell you that Winnie the Pooh was a real bear. Way back in 1914, Lt. Harry Colebourn purchased a young cub whose mother had passed away. He named that cub Winnipeg which later inspired someone to create the Winnie the Pooh character. Unfortunately, the creators of that character didn't quite understand a black bears diet. Black bears are omnivores, however, they mainly consume young-growth vegetation, berries and nuts. In the Minnesota area, less than 10% of a black bears diet is made of protein, in which they get from the nuts and immature insects. They will often rip open dead logs or destroy ant colonies to consume those immature insects. Black bears will also raid beehives specifically for the bee pupae and the honey just serves as an extra treat.

The purpose of this blog today is to not only get you thinking about the misconceptions about black bears, but I hope that it will also help open your mind to other topics as well. The media, folklore, and good-old campfire stories sometimes give off inaccurate information which can lead to unnecessary fear and actions. Get out, go places, explore and learn.