The black bear is the most common and most widespread bear in North America. It lives across much of the continent, from Alaska and Canada through the United States to Mexico, and it mostly lives in forests and other places with trees. As of November 2026, biologists summarizing regional estimates put the total number of black bears in North America at 850,000 to 950,000. As of November 2026, there are more black bears than all other bear species in North America combined. As of November 2026, Alaska has an estimated 100,000 black bears, and biologists estimate roughly 1,900 black bears live in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The black bear is the smallest of the bears that live in North America. An adult black bear is about three feet tall at the shoulder, and standing on its hind legs it is about five feet tall. According to Animal Diversity Web, male black bears weigh between 47 and 409 kilograms and females between 39 and 236 kilograms, and the total body length of male black bears is 1,400 to 2,000 millimeters and of females 1,200 to 1,600 millimeters. Adult male black bears in the Great Smoky Mountains average about 250 pounds in summer, and in fall both males and females can nearly double their weight.

Black bears are very smart and curious animals, and they are shy and secretive. They can see and hear well enough, but smell is their best sense. As of November 2026, the National Park Service says black bears have an incredible sense of smell, about seven times stronger than a bloodhound's. Black bears are usually black, particularly in eastern North America, but some are brown or cinnamon colored. A black bear's claws always stay out; unlike a cat's claws, they cannot be pulled in. Black bears are good at climbing trees. Black bears can swim. The International Association for Bear Research and Management and Washington's wildlife agency say a black bear can sprint up to about 35 miles per hour (55 kilometers per hour).

Black bears eat both plants and animals. What a black bear eats changes with the seasons: grasses and other green plants in spring, berries in summer, and nuts in fall. In many places only a small part of what black bears eat is animal matter, mostly colonial insects and grubs; black bears also eat insects such as ants. Black bears are not active predators, and they eat other animals mainly when the chance comes. They prefer salmon, elk calves or deer fawns in places and seasons where these foods are plentiful. They help spread the seeds of the plants they eat.

In fall, black bears eat a lot of fruits and nuts to build up fat for the winter, and then they spend the winter in dens. A den can be a hollow log, a hollow tree, or a space under tree roots or rocks. A black bear may hibernate for five to seven months of the year, and in the far north it may stay dormant in its den for about seven months. In its den it does not eat or drink for months. Spring, when black bears come out of their dens, is a hard time to find food.

After mating in summer, the black bear's fertilized egg does not start to grow until fall. Black bear cubs are born in winter, in the mother bear's den. Newborn cubs are blind and have almost no hair, and they are among the smallest babies, compared with their mother's size, of any mammal. Newborn cubs make humming sounds while nursing, which is a sign they are satisfied. The cubs stay in the den with their mother all winter, and she feeds them. A mother black bear most often has two cubs at a time, and she has cubs every other year when there is enough food. Adult black bears usually live alone, but a mother stays with her cubs. Cubs stay with their mother for about a year and a half, and they go into the den with her again the next winter.

Words to know

• hibernate: sleep the winter
• dormant: winter rest
• fertilized: ready to grow
• predators: animal hunters