Heather Best, Education Assistant Back to Index Ursus americanus, or the American Black Bear is unique to North America. They were here before the European settlers arrived. It is believed that Ursus abstrusus, its ancestor, wandered to North America during one of the early ice ages. Bears are considered the largest of the world s carnivores and there are eight species of bears in the world. The American black bear inhabits only Canada, the United States, and northern Mexico.
Black bears appear to be somewhat large and ungraceful, buy they are quite the contrary.
These bears are very muscular and fast, so you probably could not out run one. Black bears not only come in the color black, but they can be brown, blue, cinnamon, honey, blond, and white. The Kermode bear is a near-white black bear that lives in an isolated section of west central British Columbia and on some nearby islands. There is also a very rare blue-phase bear known as the glacier bear, which is also found in British Columbia, but farther north and in sections of Alaska. The sizes of black bears vary from 150 pounds to 600 pounds, although 800 pounds has been recorded.