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  Within the Black Bear population, a small percentage  makes a significant contribution towards producing young. Twenty-five percent of the females in the study produced 66% of the litters. The characteristics of these super mothers were:

• permanently established home ranges
• above-average size and weight, longevity
• low vulnerability to mortality including hunting

They were nearly always accompanied by cubs and therefore not legally hunted.

Black bears have one of the lowest reproductive rates of any North American land mammal. They have a comparatively slow reproductive maturity, prolonged reproductive cycle and relatively small litter sizes. However, some black bear populations have increased at rates as high as 25% annually . Some of the reasons are related to the limited mortality of cubs between 0.5 and 1.5 years due to maternal care and the precocious nature of cubs of this age. Nutrition has been related to cub survival, but losses of entire litters to starvation are not common.
 

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