Black bears are huge, bulky mammals with long black hair.
Although weight varies considerably, large males may weigh more than 6OO pounds. The Louisiana black bear is a habitat generalist and often overwinters in hollow cypress trees either in or along sloughs, lakes, or riverbanks in bottomland habitats of the Tensas and Atchafalaya river basins. These bears are mobile, opportunistic, largely herbivorous omnivores that exploit a variety of foods and closely track phenological development. The distribution and abundance of foods, particularly mast, largely affects their movements. The size of an individual's range or area it traverses annually to secure food and mates and to care for young, is probably directly related to the diversity of vegetative cover, or habitats.