There are about 600,000 black bears in North America. Their fur color can be cinnamon, blond, black, or light brown very much like grizzly bears. In the wild, black bears live up to 30 years, with the average being about 18 years.

They are omnivores, consuming berries, grasses, sedges, leaves, herbs, fruits, insects, ants and their larvae, bees and wasps, fish, small mammals, and carrion.

Black bears are drawn to human garbage.