The black bear's characteristic shuffle results from walking flat-footed, with the hind legs slightly longer than the front legs. Each paw has five strong, non-retractable claws used for tearing, digging, and climbing. One blow from a powerful front paw is enough to kill an adult deer. But in spite of their size and strength, black bears are surprisingly agile and careful in their movements. Although much of its historical habitat has been destroyed by axe, plow, and bulldozer, the highly intelligent black bear has adapted and survived.
Black bears are opportunistic feeders, making use of just about any available food source.
While they prefer berries, nuts, grass, and other plants, they also eat carrion, small animals, and fish. When fall approaches, black bears must eat large amounts of food in order to gain enough weight to sustain them through their winter hibernation, when they survive on their reserves of body fat. During periods of relatively warm weather, they may awaken and take short excursions outside. Black bears reach breeding maturity at about 4 or 5 years of age, and breed every 2 to 3 years. Black bears breed in the spring, usually in May and June, but the embryos do not begin to develop until the mother dens in the fall to hibernate through the winter months.