Know And Learn About The Bears-In-Yosemite!Take a minute and educate yourself about the bears-in-yosemite. Yosemite is home to about 500 American Black Bears. Don't let their name fool you! Very few of them are actually black! Most of them are brown, cinnamon or a blond color. The average size of one of these animals in Yosemite is three to four feet tall when they are standing on all four of their feet. They are about five feet long and weigh in at 200 to 300 pounds. However, some of our fuzzy Yosemite friends have weighed in over 650 pounds!!!
These adoreable animals mate in June and July. They have a seven month gestation period. They hibernate in the winter months and give birth to their offsprings in January and February. They have one to three babies at a time and the cubs stay with their mother for more than a year after birth. In the winter months they hibernate in the boulder caves throughout the Sierra Nevada mountains. Naturally, the bears-in-yosemite eat from the grassy meadows, seeds, berries, acorns and insects. They will eat anything though! They often feed on the chipmunks, squirrels, marmots, gophers and the abundant field mice. But once they taste human food...look out...they want more! Rumaging through the trash cans, campsites and breaking into cars is easier than running after a gopher! They get spoiled and love to sit in one place and eat and not have to work to get food! They are most active from dawn to dusk.
Tips on encountering one of these guys. First of all, keep all your food, beverages, soaps, lotions, toothpaste...anything that is scented, in a bear proof canister. These canisters are located all throughout the park. Bring your own padlock for the canister. There are two sizes of canisters. There is a locker size and then a large canister that holds more than two ice chests. The animals are very much after your food...not you. If you encounter one of our fuzzy friends, screem and holler! Wave your hands...most of the time, they will run away. Please don't throw rocks or sticks at them. If you make them mad, they will turn on you. Do your part to protect them. If a bear-in-yosemite gets caught breaking into a car, a campsite or hurts a person, the park rangers will put a tag in their ear. Once they are tagged, they are relocated out of the valley and to higher ground. They find their way back to the valley in about a week. So they are always around! When they get three tags, they are killed. The bears-in-yosemite are very interested your food! They come through campsites regulary. Please avoid a cub. Where there is a cub, be very assured the mother is close by! She is extremely protective over her babies There are signs all over the park about putting your food in lockers or canisters. Do not leave anything scented in your car. Cars are extremely easy for our furry friends to break into! If a bear-in-yosemite damages your car or campsite, you will be heavily fined by the park rangers for being negligent. Improper food storage in the park is a federal crime. They have been know to break in just to get a candy bar wrapper!! Here is an interesting bear-in-yosemite fact: The bears-in-Yosemite use to destroy wooden trail signs. Rangers tested different colors, paint formulas and different kinds of woods on trail signs. The 250 pound, four legged, furry animals clawed them all! So now all of the trail signs are made of steel!!! Look for the steel trail signs when your hiking! Here is another fact: Bears-in-yosemite do not sleep all day! They are active in the day and at night! Yep! They play and eat their natural foods during the day. Then they break into the cars, cabin and campsites during the night. Beware...that bump in the night just may very well be a our big furry friend breaking into your stuff!!!
One last thing...bring a great camera with you because you are bound to see a lot of wildlife here! Hopefully your camera will have a zoom lens on it. You are going to go home with great memories and FABULOUS PICTURES to share! If you don't have a great camera...then check out my link below:
Learn About Mirror-Lake!
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