Seeing a bear can be one of the most memorable and exciting experiences of a National Forest visit. Bears seem adorable, almost human at times. After their long winter hibernation, bears are quite hungry, and overcome their fear of humans to seek out food.
Bears have color vision, acute hearing, and a keen sense of smell.
They learn quickly, and remember feeding locations for years, which is why it is imperative to never feed bears. Bears are extremely adept at searching out food. They can swim, climb trees, bend open car doors, and pry out windshields. They adapt their lifestyles to the availability of food, often becomingnocturnal to avoid confrontations with people, rather than sleeping at night, like we usually do. For more information concerning bear identification, test yourself with the Fish, Wildlife and Parks bear identification test .