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 Females reach sexual maturity at three to four years of age and males a year or so later. Mating takes place in June, July, and August, and pairs may remain together for only a few hours or for several days. The gestation period lasts about 220 days and the young are born in January or February in the mother's winter den. At birth, the cubs are blind and deaf with a sparsely developed coat, weighing only 1/2 lb to one pound.  The litter size ranges from one to five, but on the average, it is two.  They begin to grow rapidly on a diet composed exclusively of sow's milk which is much higher in solids, total fats, and proteins than that of cows milk. The cubs, as they progress supplement their diet with solid matter and the sow's milk becomes of less important to them as a food source. Although Black Bear cubs may be weaned at approximately six to eight months, unlike many other mammal babies, they follow their mothers full time after the has emerged from the winter den. The cubs follow their mother, learning everything from she does including how and where to find food, and understanding what is dangerous, and is to be avoided. Although they need nutrition more desperately than the already fatter males, there is rarely an equal opportunity for the smaller females to take advantage of a good food resource. For the mother Black Bear with cubs, must always be on the lookout for aggressive males and constantly concerned for her cub's safety. Cubs that are unruly, are often disciplined by their mother's growling, grunting or even swatting cubs who have not responded to her vocalizations.  Black Bear cubs remain with the sow for up to two years until they become independent and drift away by their second spring.   Consequently, the most often that female black bears can mate, unless they lose their cubs prematurely, is every two years. Longevity in the wild is 20 to 25 years.
 

 

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