Black bears-at least here in New England-can get up to 300 lbs. Mind you, that's 300 lbs of animal, not cushy, soft human 
. We're starting to have an issue with them here, getting into suburban areas, due to encroachment. And, that people who don't normally have contact with wild animals leave out bird feeders, trash, and leftovers, without realizing that these tasty morsels are easy pickings for bears, and that bears can smell these up to a couple miles away. Fortunately, black bears are pretty timid, and can usually be scared off. The myth of being killed by bears-black bears kill more than other bears (although, there are several different reasons why: their habitats are more widespread, they are more likely to come into contact with people due to their close proximity to humans, and they are scavengers, which often draws them directly into suburban and, growing more frequent, urban populations) is just that-a myth. It will make the news (After all, its not a "normal" death), but, since 1900, there have only been 61 deaths since 1900. Think about the millions of people in north America that visit the woods each year-the chance of getting killed by a black bear are so small, you are more likely to get a hole in one, right after winning the lottery, then struck by lightning-after seeing a UFO. Here's a nice website that takes the myth out of black bears: http://www.bear.org/website/bear-pa...humans/119-how-dangerous-are-black-bears.html
We, as human beings, have a tendency to categorize some animals as aggressive, based more on myth, and our own instinctive fears of predators (none of which exist today, as they did thousands of years ago), and, of course, the dark. We did this with wolves, bears, mountain lions, etc. Granted, attacks DO happen-but, none of the apex predators in North America have us on their menu. I've seen a couple bears while hiking, and even saw one a couple years back eat my moms birdfeeder-feeder and all. Usually, once they figure out someone is there, the only thing you see is their rear end quickly moving away.
An interesting note about their digestive system: bears will attempt to ingest ANYTHING. IF they cannot digest it, they will simply regurgitate it. I remember seeing a video a couple years ago done as an experiment in Yellowstone National Park. They put food into a van, to see how long it would take bears to get in, if they could. Once they did, they not only ate the food-they proceeded to attempt to eat the upholstery, cushions, steering wheel-anything they could. There was a lot of bear vomit inside the van when they were done. I sort of felt bad for the guy that had to recover the cameras
. We're starting to have an issue with them here, getting into suburban areas, due to encroachment. And, that people who don't normally have contact with wild animals leave out bird feeders, trash, and leftovers, without realizing that these tasty morsels are easy pickings for bears, and that bears can smell these up to a couple miles away. Fortunately, black bears are pretty timid, and can usually be scared off. The myth of being killed by bears-black bears kill more than other bears (although, there are several different reasons why: their habitats are more widespread, they are more likely to come into contact with people due to their close proximity to humans, and they are scavengers, which often draws them directly into suburban and, growing more frequent, urban populations) is just that-a myth. It will make the news (After all, its not a "normal" death), but, since 1900, there have only been 61 deaths since 1900. Think about the millions of people in north America that visit the woods each year-the chance of getting killed by a black bear are so small, you are more likely to get a hole in one, right after winning the lottery, then struck by lightning-after seeing a UFO. Here's a nice website that takes the myth out of black bears: http://www.bear.org/website/bear-pa...humans/119-how-dangerous-are-black-bears.htmlWe, as human beings, have a tendency to categorize some animals as aggressive, based more on myth, and our own instinctive fears of predators (none of which exist today, as they did thousands of years ago), and, of course, the dark. We did this with wolves, bears, mountain lions, etc. Granted, attacks DO happen-but, none of the apex predators in North America have us on their menu. I've seen a couple bears while hiking, and even saw one a couple years back eat my moms birdfeeder-feeder and all. Usually, once they figure out someone is there, the only thing you see is their rear end quickly moving away
.An interesting note about their digestive system: bears will attempt to ingest ANYTHING. IF they cannot digest it, they will simply regurgitate it. I remember seeing a video a couple years ago done as an experiment in Yellowstone National Park. They put food into a van, to see how long it would take bears to get in, if they could. Once they did, they not only ate the food-they proceeded to attempt to eat the upholstery, cushions, steering wheel-anything they could. There was a lot of bear vomit inside the van when they were done. I sort of felt bad for the guy that had to recover the cameras
