The North American Black Bear In Yosemite

Take a minute and educate yourself about the north American black bear in Yosemite. Yosemite National Park is home to about 500 north 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 Nat Park are 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 California National Parks friends have weighed in over 650 pounds.

The largest bear ever measured in Yosemite weighed 690 pounds!

The north American black bear will mate in June and July. They have a seven month gestation period. They hibernate in the winter months and give birth to their off springs 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 north American black bear in Yosemite eats 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.

Rummaging 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.

Black Bear Photos & How This Bear Is Different From A Grizzly Bear

Tips on encountering one of these guys. First of all, keep all your food, beverages, soaps, lotions, toothpaste...everything that is scented, in a bear proof canister. These canisters are located all throughout the park. Bring your own padlock for the canister/locker. There are two sizes of lockers. 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, scream 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 just turn on you. Do your part to protect them. If a bear in Yosemite gets caught breaking into a car, a campsite or hurts someone, 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 Yosemite valley in about a week. So they are always around. When they get three tags, they are killed.

Yosemite Nat Park Bear With 1 Tag In Ear

The Yosemite bears are very interested your food. They come through campsites regularly. 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 known to break in just to get a candy bar wrapper!

If your backpacking get your bear canisters here

North American black bears naturally live here in Yosemite. When driving here, SLOW DOWN. 15-20 bears a year are killed in Yosemite when they run across the road and cars hit them. Whenever you see one of these yellow and red bear signs along the road, that sign marks the place where a bear was killed going across the road. In 2009 there were 20 bears killed by cars in Yosemite National Park. Even more were killed in Tuolumne Meadows by cars.

Here is an interesting north American black bear in Yosemite fact: The black bears in Yosemite National Park 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. 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 American black bear breaking into your stuff! Bears are the biggest animals of the Yosemite wildlife.

Here is another fact: A lot of the Yosemite bears have figured out how to get garbage out of the "bear-proof" dumpsters. They do this by using their paws to open the hinged door. They then lay down on the hinged door and crawl inside the dumpster. This causes it to close. They then keep one leg outside and they hang upside down inside of the dumpster, grab the garbage and pull themselves back out.

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