by Laura Thompson
Page 1 : About Coastal Black Bears
Although two completely disjunct black bear populations inhabit the state of North Carolina, the coastal bear population exhibits unique characteristics and differs greatly from its mountain counterpart. A major difference is that bears in the coastal region rely heavily on agricultural fields as a source of food rather than depending on natural foods. The coastal areas provide large tracts of forest (often managed pine), which provide important cover, and are interspersed with smaller agricultural fields that provide food throughout the growing season. For example, wheat is available starting in late spring to early summer, corn in mid- to late summer, and peanuts and soybeans are available in the fall.
Because of the large quantities of food, bears are generally more tolerant of each other, often occurring at high densities with small, overlapping home ranges. It is not uncommon to see ten or fifteen bears feeding together in a single field! As a result, the average weights of coastal bears often exceed weights of mountain bears, since the agricultural crops provide such an abundant and consistent source of food (see the morphological dataset in the right-hand column, and be sure to compare that dataset to the mountain bear dataset). Although it is difficult to conceive how bears can do so well in a highly managed landscape, one key component of these coastal areas is that there are relatively few humans and road densities are low.
To understand more about coastal black bears—and to learn how specific changes in their habitat might affect them—researchers from the University of Tennessee are studying the black bear population in northeastern North Carolina.
Next Page : Black Bears and Highways
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