Louisiana Black Bear

Louisiana Black Bear, Pam Mcllhenny
Listed: 9/271995
Type: Threatened

                                                                     By: Layla Tahan


Get to know the Louisiana Black Bear
     The  Louisiana Black Bear, scientifically called Ursus americans luteolus, is a large, black haired mammal. They weigh an average of 300-400 pounds, for adult males, and 120-200, for adult females. The bears focus their time on searching for food, shelter, and mates while swimming or even climbing trees.  The bears are omnivores, therefore their diet mainly consists of vegetation, fruits and grains, and hard mast. While black bears do eat meat, it only consists of carrion or that of an opportunistic kill. Louisiana Black Bears are habitat generalists and live in hardwood forests, usually situated on river flood plains such as the Mississippi. Den trees are a very important component to the bears habitat, however, sometimes they also den on the ground. Large, remote blocks of land with large forests and fewer road are the most ideal habitat for the Louisiana Black Bear.

Black bear eating Cherries

Home Range and Historic Range
  While the females home range mainly depends on the habitat quality, males home range is determined by the distribution of females. The adult males home ranges tend to be three to eight times larger than that of an adult female. This is because female Black Bears establish a home range close to their mother's home range, and don't disperse; when they do it is only short range. Young males on the other hand almost always disperse from their maternal home range, sometimes up to 136 miles away.The Louisiana Black Bear is currently dispersed over four areas of Louisiana, but  historically they lived in southern Mississippi, all of Louisiana, and eastern Texas.

Louisiana Black Bear Historic Range

Reasons for Listing
   The biggest threat to Louisiana Black Bears has been habitat destruction and modification. Historically their habitats have encountered lots of modification. The reason for their listing is habitat fragmentation and human related mortality.

Recovery plan
  The Black Bear Conservation Committee (BBCC) was created in 1990 to restore the bears to suitable habitats. They had 5 major goals:
1. to prevent further habitat destruction
2. to establish corridors between existing fragmented habitats
3. to integrate management to effectively use fragmented resources
4. to focus efforts of a diverse user group toward common management objectives that will benefit the bears
5. to educate people about the Louisiana black bear.
The BBCC also created a bear conflict management team who's purpose was to reduce human-bear conflicts, with hopes of decreasing human related mortality amongst the bears.

Strategy
  The BBCC, along with the Fish and Wildlife Service will focus on restoring the bears habitat, especially those with interconnecting corridors between habitat fragments. They will also work with the support of local land owners, as well as educate the public on this issue.

Personal Action
  What I can do to help the restoration of the Louisiana black bear is help educate people about this topic. Creating things such as this blog is a step towards getting the word out there, and many similar acts like this can be taken, even if it's just talking to my pears.

Work Cited
Bob Bowker, and Theresa Jacobson. "Recovery Plan." (n.d.): n. pag. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Web.

Brady Beck. Black Bear Eating Cherries. Digital image. Bradybeckphotography.com. N.p., n.d. Web.

"Louisiana Black Bear Ecology and Habitat." Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. N.p., n.d. Web.

"Louisiana Black Bear (Ursus Americanus Luteolus)." U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. N.p., 02 Nov. 2015. 
Web.