American black bear
Ursus americanus Pallas, 1780
The American black bear (Ursus americanus), also called the black bear, is a mammal in the bear family Ursidae, order Carnivora. It is a large, terrestrial, nocturnal herbivore, with an adult body mass of 99.95 kg and reported values from 54.05 kg to 132.4 kg.
Quick facts about the American black bear
Gestation lasts 91 days (up to 214 days), litters average 2.5 young, and sexual maturity comes at 3.5 years. The IUCN Red List assesses the American black bear as Least Concern globally, which is not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 54.1 kg – 132.4 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 31.7 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 34 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 91 days – 214 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2.47src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 3.5 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 0.4src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the American black bear
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the American black bear live?
Not recorded
What is the American black bear?
The American black bear (Ursus americanus), or simply black bear, is a species of medium-sized bear which is endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. It is an omnivore, with a diet varying greatly depending on season and location. It primarily inhabits forested regions, but may venture beyond forest boundaries in search of food. Individuals are occasionally drawn to human settlements due to the availability of easily accessible food sources.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the American black bear as a least-concern species because of its widespread distribution and a large population, estimated to be twice that of all other bear species combined. Along with the brown bear (Ursus arctos), it is one of the two modern bear species not considered by the IUCN to be globally threatened with extinction.
From the Wikipedia article “American black bear” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_black_bear&oldid=1384632606), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the American black bear endangered?
The American black bear is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the American black bear classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderCarnivora
- familyUrsidae
- genusUrsus
- SpeciesUrsus americanus Pallas, 1780
Other names and names in other languages (70)
- Black bearEnglish
- Amerikaanse SwartbeerAfrikaans
- NitaAlabama
- دب أسود أمريكيArabic
- wo'teenoxArapaho
- БарыбалBelarusian
- Черна мечкаBulgarian
- Американска черна мечкаBulgarian
- Arzh du AmerikaBreton
- Ós negreCatalan
- Ós negre americàCatalan
- ᏲᎾCherokee
- NáhkoheCheyenne
- sčqʷáy̕əčclm
- Medvěd černýCzech
- Medvěd baribalCzech
- Amerikansk sortbjørnDanish
- Amerikanischer SchwarzbärGerman
- BaribalGerman
- Αμερικανική μαύρη αρκούδαGreek
- Amerika nigra ursoEsperanto
- Oso negroSpanish
- Oso negro americanoSpanish
- Hartz beltzBasque
- BaribaliFinnish
- Amerikan mustakarhuFinnish
- MustakarhuFinnish
- ours noirFrench
- Ours noir américainFrench
- Ours noir d'AmériqueFrench
- mathan dubhScottish Gaelic
- דוב שחור אמריקניHebrew
- fekete medveHungarian
- Ամերիկյան սև արջArmenian
- Beruang hitam amerikaIndonesian
- IggabriInupiaq
- Orso neroItalian
- アメリカグマJapanese
- アメリカクロクマJapanese
- ბარიბალიGeorgian
- 아메리카흑곰Korean
- Amerikanesche Schwaarze BierLuxembourgish
- Juodasis lokysLithuanian
- Amerikas melnais lācisLatvian
- muinMi'kmaw
- Американска црна мечкаMacedonian
- :TecuanōtlNauru
- ShashNavajo
- SvartbjørnNorwegian Bokmål
- Amerikaanse Zwarte BeerDutch
- Amerikansk svartbjørnNorwegian
- Ors negre d'AmericaOccitan
- MakwaOjibwa
- Makadewi-makwaOjibwa
- Niedźwiedź czarnyPolish
- Urso-negroPortuguese
- Urs americanRomanian
- БарибалRussian
- Чёрный медведьRussian
- medveď baribalSlovak
- Ariu i zi amerikanAlbanian
- Црни медвед / Crni medvedSerbian
- SvartbjörnSwedish
- หมีดำThai
- Kara AyıTurkish
- Amerika kara ayısıTurkish
- Amerikan kara ayısıTurkish
- Mosqwam
- hųųcwin
- 美洲黑熊Chinese
Relatives of the American black bear
Other species in the same genus Ursus.
Polar bear
Ursus maritimus
Brown bear
Ursus arctos
Asian black bear
Ursus thibetanus
Cave bear
Ursus spelaeus
CompareAmerican black bear vs Polar bearAmerican black bear vs Brown bearAmerican black bear vs Asian black bearAmerican black bear vs Cave bear
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
How heavy is an American black bear?
An adult American black bear has a body mass of 99.95 kg, with reported values from 54.05 kg to 132.4 kg.
What does the American black bear eat?
The American black bear is classed as a herbivore.
Is the American black bear endangered?
No. The IUCN Red List assesses it as Least Concern globally, which is not a threatened category.
How long does an American black bear live?
Its lifespan is 31.72 years, with values up to 34 years reported by sources.
How many young does an American black bear have?
An American black bear has 2.465 young per litter and 0.4 litters per year.
What kind of animal is the American black bear?
The American black bear is a mammal in the bear family Ursidae, order Carnivora, suborder Caniformia.
Who named the American black bear?
The scientific name Ursus americanus was given by Pallas, 1780.
Is the American black bear active at night?
Yes. The American black bear is nocturnal and terrestrial.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). American black bear (Ursus americanus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/american-black-bear
“American black bear (Ursus americanus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/american-black-bear.
@misc{american_black_bear_2026,
title = {American black bear (Ursus americanus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/american-black-bear},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}