Outdoor California Magazine

Excerpts from the July - August 2002 (Vol. 63 No. 4) Issue on

Black Bears

• The bear facts on black bear biology and ecology (PDF)
  Get the scoop on bears, their habits and their lives. By Doug Updike
• Reproduction and survival of black bears in northern California (PDF)
  This fascinating species has a unique method of conceiving and bearing young. But the way biologists check in on them is even more intriguing.
• Managing black bears in California (PDF)
  Monitoring, counting, evaluating, studying... it's all part of keeping California's black bear population strong and healthy. By Tim Burton and Doug Updike
• Use of bear age data - A matter of pulling teeth (PDF)
  One tooth can tell quite a bit. Here how. By Doug Updike
• How many bears? (PDF)
  We can't herd them. Can't walk through the forest and count them. So just how do we know how many bears there are? By Doug Updike
• Nuisance black bears: A human creation (PDF)
  When bears go bad, there's usually a human behind it. By Amy Brinkhaus
• Taking the wildness out of California's black bears (PDF)
  Black bear problems are really a people problem. There are ways to coexist. By Chamois Andersen
• Black bears and public safety (PDF)
  No doubt bears can be dangerous, but when are they truly a threat? By Doug Updike
• What happens where bears do damage? (PDF)
  They can peel a car door like a banana, rip the front door off of a house or kill sheep as they graze. These bears become candidates for depredation permits.
  By Doug Updike
• What to do with orphaned bears (PDF)
  Don't assume the cub is an orphan. It's mother won't like it. But if it is, here's what happens next. By Alexia Retallack