This will vary depending on the time of year. Black bear really bulk up for the long winter sleep. They can sleep or hibernate for as long as 5 to 7 months during which they don't eat, drink, urinate or defecate. It is also during this time that the mother black bear gives birth. Usually 1 to 3 cubs are born. In the wild black bear eat nuts, berries, grasses and a just about anything they come across. A lot of what they eat depends on the area they are from, because Black Bear are found all across North America, their diets may vary greatly. Here at GarLyn Zoological Park, Fuzzy is feed fresh grass, fruits, vegetables, dog food and a special balance commercial diet called omnivore diet. As I write this its February and Fuzzy is fast asleep in his den on a bed of leaves and straw. UPDATE: This winter 2005 -2006 Fuzzy  was restless because of the mild weather. He started hibernating around Mid-December but was out every few days to see what was going on. He resided to the fact that it was really winter about Mid-January and has been in the den since then until now Mid-February. His coming out of the den may be due to my being out there every day and if left undisturbed, possibly he would have stayed in the den longer. He doesn't stay out long once the snow falls, because he doesn't like walking in the snow and follows the same foot prints every time. UPDATE 2007: Fuzzy was out every day until the end of January this year. The weather was mild in fact the warmest January on record and it seams to be effecting bear behavior. Fuzzy was only in the den about 2 weeks when he came out again in mid-February to see what was going on. When no food was available he quickly went back in to wait out the rest of winter. 2009 Update: Here it is only the middle of February again and Fuzzy has been out every morning for 3 or 4 days now. We had cold weather below zero for much of January and the first half of February but then we had a couple days close to 50 degrees and I think he feels like it must be spring. I hope it's a sign of an early spring but I don't think he is any better at predicting the weather than the weathermen are. 

2011 Update:
Fuzzy has been awake sinse mid February and I started feeding him at the biggining of March. Fuzzy is now 19 years old.

Black bear can start to hibernate as early as the first part of October. Fuzzy rarely goes in the den before November and he comes out of his den to eat every day or so, until mid November or even December, when he decided to pack it in for the rest of the winter.

If you would like to see more photos of Fuzzy at the zoo
CLICK HERE

" CLICK HERE " to download a short video clip of Fuzzy
getting ready for the big sleep, Hibernation
a 794KB windows media file

" CLICK HERE " to download for Quick Time player 2.21MB
(Quality with Quick Time is a little fuzzy, no pun intended)

2009 video in YouTube

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