Bears

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is preparing to strip Yellowstone’s grizzly bears of their critical Endangered Species Act protections — even though their population hasn’t grown in over a decade and they continue to suffer from shrinking habitat, isolation, disappearing food sources and other threats. Tell the Fish & Wildlife Service to abandon this disastrous plan and give grizzlies a fighting chance at long-term recovery. Read More…

The American black bear (Ursus americanus) is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent’s smallest and most widely distributed bear species. Black bears are omnivores with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in search of food. Sometimes they become attracted to human communities because of the immediate availability of food. The American black bear is the world’s most common bear species.

It is listed by the IUCN as Least Concern, due to the species’ widespread distribution and a large global population estimated to be twice that of all other bear species combined. Along with the brown bear, it is one of only two of the eight modern bear species not considered globally threatened with extinction by the IUCN. American black bears often mark trees using their teeth and claws as a form of communication with other bears, a behavior common to many species of bears.

The panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca, lit. “black and white cat-foot”),^[2] also known as panda bear or the giant panda to distinguish it from the unrelated red panda, is a bear^[3] native to south central China.^[1] It is easily recognized by the large, distinctive black patches around its eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the panda’s diet is over 99% bamboo.^[4] Pandas in the wild will occasionally eat other grasses, wild tubers, or even meat in the form of birds, rodents or carrion. In captivity, they may receive honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, or bananas along with specially prepared food.^[5][6]

The giant panda lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, mainly in Sichuan province, but also in the Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.^[7] As a result of farming, deforestation and other development, the panda has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived.

The panda is a conservation reliant endangered species.^[8] A 2007 report shows 239 pandas living in captivity inside China and another 27 outside the country.^[9] Wild population estimates vary; one estimate shows that there are about 1,590 individuals living in the wild,^[9] while a 2006 study via DNA analysis estimated that this figure could be as high as 2,000 to 3,000.^[10] Some reports also show that the number of pandas in the wild is on the rise.^[11][12] However, the IUCN does not believe there is enough certainty yet to reclassify the species from Endangered to Vulnerable.^[1]

While the dragon has often served as China’s national emblem, internationally the panda appears at least as commonly. As such, it is becoming widely used within China in international contexts, for example the five Fuwa mascots of the Beijing Olympics.

The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is a carnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is a large bear, approximately the same size as the omnivorous Kodiak bear (Ursus arctos middendorffi).^[3] A boar (adult male) weighs around 350–700 kg (770–1,540 lb),^[4] while a sow (adult female) is about half that size. Although it is the sister species of the brown bear,^[5] it has evolved to occupy a narrower ecological niche, with many body characteristics adapted for cold temperatures, for moving across snow, ice, and open water, and for hunting the seals which make up most of its diet.^[6] Although most polar bears are born on land, they spend most of their time at sea. Their scientific name means “maritime bear”, and derives from this fact. Polar bears hunt their preferred food of seals from the edge of sea ice, often living off fat reserves when no sea ice is present.

The polar bear is classified as a vulnerable species, with eight of the nineteen polar bear subpopulations in decline.^[7] For decades, large scale hunting raised international concern for the future of the species but populations rebounded after controls and quotas began to take effect.^{[citation needed]} For thousands of years, the polar bear has been a key figure in the material, spiritual, and cultural life of Arctic indigenous peoples, and polar bears remain important in their cultures.

More on Polar Bears

The grizzly is a symbol of the American wilderness and one of the nation’s most beautiful and imposing creatures. Lewis and Clark found a healthy grizzly population when they explored Idaho’s Bitterroot Mountains in the early 19th century. As the nation expanded westward, grizzly numbers plummeted due to unchecked hunting and trapping. The grizzly is now “threatened” in the lower 48 states.

To restore grizzlies to the Selway-Bitterroot ecosystem, NWF developed the innovative Citizen Management Plan. Despite widespread support, the plan was recently abandoned by Interior Secretary Gale Norton.

The National Wildlife Federation has teamed up with three other organizations in an effort to design a plan for reintroducing this majestic species to the Selway-Bitterroot Ecosystem in central Idaho. Under this plan, a group of citizens and some agency representatives would have primary responsibility for managing the reintroduced grizzly bears. This plan was designed to reassure local residents that local citizens would have a say in how the grizzly bears were managed. The Citizen Management Plan would continue to manage the bears as long as the decisions they make are leading to grizzly bear recovery.

On June 12, 1997, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced that the Citizen Management Plan will be the preferred alternative for grizzly bear reintroduction in the Selway-Bitterroot Ecosystem. In March of 2000, the USFWS released the Final Environmental Impact Statement in which the plan was officially chosen as the preferred alternative.

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