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awww my cousins will die............

Mine will to but I hate them so I don't care.

well when i say cousins i mean my fake ones they are like awesome!!! but they WILL DIE sadly

All my family will die except for me and my mom. So all the family on my dads side (not alot, he has one sister) and all the family on my moms side will die (alot, she has 4 half sisters).

'I almost forgot,

only three of my cousins will die and their mom but everyone else won't

Me is happy for plants and animals! They wont die!

Aww My whole family'll die too, and my little baby sis too. My bf will live, and my friends. hmmm........... A life w/out parents. I luv this forum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know its soooooooooooooooooooooooo awesome!

I love this icon

LOL yes that icon is very cool but this one is even better

it is, is that ur cat?

ps: nothing beats unicorns, NOTHING

I love this icon:

Bears beat unicorns!

Three species of bears are found in Canada. The most common is the American black bear (Ursus americanus). The black bear is found in all provinces and territories in Canada, except for Prince Edward Island. The grizzly or brown bear (Ursus arctos), is found in B.C., Alberta, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories. The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) lives in the more remote northern regions of Canada. This website concentrates on the two species you are most likely to encounter: the black bear and the grizzly bear. It's imperative that people are able to distinguish between the two species. Both share many of the same behavioural characteristics, but there are also some major differences that will affect how each species reacts to people in different situations.
Learn to Identify the Difference between Blacks and Grizzlies

Three species of bears are found in Canada. The most common is the American black bear (Ursus americanus). The black bear is found in all provinces and territories in Canada, except for Prince Edward Island. The grizzly or brown bear (Ursus arctos), is found in B.C., Alberta, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories. The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) lives in the more remote northern regions of Canada. This website concentrates on the two species you are most likely to encounter: the black bear and the grizzly bear. It's imperative that people are able to distinguish between the two species. Both share many of the same behavioural characteristics, but there are also some major differences that will affect how each species reacts to people in different situations.

Learn to Identify the Difference between Blacks and Grizzlies



Courtesy of Center for Wildlife Information - Graphic Art Fund

Black bears and grizzly bears are hard to distinguish by colour. Black bears can be black, blue-black, dark brown, brown, cinnamon and even white. Grizzlies, likewise, may range in colour, from black to blond.

The grizzly bear has a pronounced shoulder hump, a concave or "dished" facial profile and much larger claws than the black bear. Black bears have a flatter, "Roman-nosed" profile, larger ears and no shoulder hump.

More on the difference between blacks & grizzlies.

Take a test and see if you can tell the difference.

Bears are omnivorous - meaning they eat vegetable and animal matter. Their natural diet, although mainly vegetarian, includes berries, grasses, nuts and seeds, roots, insects, fish, carrion and, occasionally, mammals such as deer and moose.

Bears generally avoid people. However, with the ever-increasing sprawl of human development, conflicts are inevitable. When natural food is scarce, bears may travel hundreds of kilometres, sometimes coming in contact with human settlements and human foods. As opportunistic feeders, hungry bears may enter a backyard or campground if lured by smells from a barbecue or trash bin.
General Characteristics

With intelligence comparable to that of the great apes, bears are highly evolved social animals. They're all individuals. Bears often share friendship, resources and security. They form hierarchies and have structured kinship relationships.

Bears are not mean or malicious; they are very gentle and tolerant animals. Mother bears are affectionate, protective, devoted, strict, sensitive and attentive with their young. Not unlike people, bears can be empathetic, fearful, joyful, playful, social and even altruistic.

Bears are not as unpredictable and dangerous as Hollywood or the media would have us believe. Bears exhibit very predictable behaviour. This trait can be beneficial to people who come into contact with bears.

Cubs, as well as older bears, engage in social play and have ritualistic mechanisms to meet strangers and decide if they're to be friends or not. Bears routinely distinguish between threatening and non-threatening human behaviour. The same bear that casually empties your birdfeeder while you watch from the window also successfully evades human predators during hunting season. This requires an extremely high level of intelligence.

Bears communicate using body language, sounds and smells. Bears will treat humans just as they would other bears. The problem is, bears are very physical with each other, with the intentional use of bites, swats or body posturing. (more on communication....)

Bears live in a rich and complex scent-defined world. They depend on their acute sense of smell for information about the world around them. Their smelling ability is extremely sensitive, with one hundred times more nasal mucosa area than a human. A complex system of social messages are communicated through trails of airborne scent; scent transferred to twigs, branches and grasses; and scents left on purpose by tree rubbing or biting, as well as scat or urine marks. In the ursine world, these messages form the daily newspaper.

A bear's hearing ability is excellent, and like dogs, bears hear high pitches, exceeding human frequency range and sensitivity.

Bears see in colour and have good vision, similar to humans.

Bears are fast; they can run downhill and uphill at speeds exceeding 50 km/h - faster than Olympic sprinters!

Bears are very strong and powerful animals; they have been known to bend open car doors and pry open windshields in their search for food. Bears routinely roll over huge rocks and logs in search of food. A grizzlies' powerful digging ability lets them feed on roots, bulbs, and rodents; and dig dens on steep mountain slopes.

Size, body weight and color vary between species and from habitat to habitat. Learn to identify the difference between blacks and grizzlies.

quick facts
taxonomic criteria


Behaviour

BEARS ARE PREDICTABLE. Bears are usually more predictable than people. Learn more about bears and how to interpret bear behaviour, so that you can react appropriately and avoid a negative encounter.

Bears are NOT ferocious. Bears are NOT mean or malicious. Bears are normally shy, retiring animals that have very little desire to interact with humans.

Black Bears are usually more tolerant of people and often live near human settlements, whereas Grizzlies prefer to stay away from human settlements and often become extinct in heavily used or populated areas. (Grizzlies have become extinct in the lower mainland of B.C.)

Black Bears are generally less aggressive than grizzlies.

Black Bears' excellent tree climbing ability is often used to escape predators and other bears; threatened mothers send cubs climbing.

Grizzlies are not good tree climbers (a mother grizzly will aggressively defend her cubs on the ground)

Standing up on its hind legs allows a bear to get more information from its senses of smell, sight, and hearing. It is a sign of curiosity, not aggression.

Bears are active mainly from dawn to dusk, but may be seen any time of day or night.

Most negative human-bear encounters are as a result of bears reacting defensively vs. active aggressively and can therefore be avoided.

Bears are very curious and will inspect odours, noises & objects to determine if they are edible or playthings.

Vocalizations from treed or trapped bears are usually FEAR MOANS and are often mistaken for growls.

Food & Fear dominate a bear's life. Most of a bear's day is spent foraging for food.

more on bear behaviour, dispelling behaviour myths





Food Habits

Do not feed bears! Conditioning bears to human food sources will eventually lead to trouble and often the death of the bear.

Although bears are technically of the order Carnivora, they are essentially omnivores.

Fish and meat are important sources of protein and fat. Although meat tops the list of high-quality food, most bears rely on chance carrion (including winter-killed animals). Some become very effective predators on newborn elk, moose, deer or caribou. Others live in areas where salmon, suckers or other fish spawn for part of each year.

Bears spend most of their time feeding on vegetation, insects and other more reliable, although lower calorie food sources. Plant foods make up the majority of a bear's diet (sometimes, as much as 90%).

Bears use a patchwork of habitats through the year, concentrating on different food sources as they come into season.

Contact your local wildlife office to find out what foods bears prefer in your area.

more on feeding habits



Habitat/Territory

Depending on the species, bears prefer different habitats, although blacks and grizzlies may overlap habitats. North American black bears are creatures of the forest, preferring extensive wooded areas with a variety of fruit- and nut-producing species and small openings that promote fruiting of many shrub species. Lowlands and wetlands are important sources of succulent vegetation. Streams and pools are needed for drinking and cooling. Trees larger than 20 inches d.b.h. with strong, furrowed bark are easily climbed refuges for spring black bear cubs. Old growth trees are preferred denning sites.

A grizzly is a creature of the whole landscape. Along the west coast, grizzlies forage in old-growth temperate rain forest, with its many small clearings and lush understory. In the interior mountains and plateaus, they prefer burned forest, where berries grow in abundance, ants thrive in rotting logs and sweetvetch roots spread through the sun-warmed soil. They wander along flood-scarred river flats, fishing for spawning salmon or trout in season, digging roots or grazing on succulent hairgrass. They venture up meltwater gullies eating horsetail foliage, they wander into avalanche slopes where they find abundant green vegetation, berries, and in spring, sometimes an avalanche-killed elk or mountain goat.

Bears don't have exclusive territories that they defend from other bears. A bear may occupy a home range that overlaps the territories of other bears and simply choose to avoid the other bears most of the time. A bear's home range can change in size from one year to the next, or from one area to another, depending on the distribution of food and other resources. Male bears tend to range over larger territories, probably because of the wider area over which he can distribute his genes. Females with cubs will have smaller home ranges, especially with cubs-of-the-year, as they are not as mobile. A grizzly's home range in B.C. might average 1,000-2,500 km2; a female grizzly 200-500 km2; a male black bear 100-475 km2; and a female black bear's home range would be as small as 20-300 km2.



You're right, bears are amazing

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG! I didn't reed it. Neutral

it is my cat!!! her name it Crystal! she kind of hates every one but me......

SUUUUUUUUUUUUUPER CUTE! I think my avvie is a cat...

yeah i think it is too..... my cat right now is laying on a plastic bag i pucked her off and set her down some where else and she went right back! I love my cat!

I wish I had a cat...or a dog...

they are cool well cats are i have never had a dog but i changed my avatar he he it is FANG!!

hmmmm.... maybe ill change my avvie to a bear

Poblo the happy unicorn!

i know, a bearicorn

LOL!

I changed my avvie!

cute, i dont hav the guts to changed mine