Cinnamon bear

This article is about the animal. For the 1930s radio show, see The Cinnamon Bear.
Cinnamon bear
Cinnamon bear by J.T. Bowen (after John James Audubon)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Genus: Ursus
Species: U. americanus
Subspecies: U. a. cinnamomum
Trinomial name
Ursus americanus cinnamomum
Audubon and Bachman, 1854

The cinnamon bear (Ursus americanus cinnamomum) is a color phase and subspecies of the American black bear, native to Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Wyoming, California, Alberta, and British Columbia.[1][2] The most striking difference between a cinnamon bear and any other black bear is its brown or red-brown fur, reminiscent of cinnamon, from which the name is derived.[2] The subspecies was given the designation because the lighter color phase is more common there than in other areas.

Description

Like other black bear subspecies, Cinnamon bears are omnivorous. Their diet includes fruit, vegetation, nuts, honey, and occasionally insects, and meat, differing from other subspecies because of regional habitat differences. Cubs weigh approximately 230 grams (8 oz) at birth, with adults weighing between 92.1 and 270 kilograms (203 and 595 lb). The life span for this bear is a maximum of 30 years.[1]

Cinnamon bears are excellent climbers, good runners, and powerful swimmers. They are mostly nocturnal, though sometimes active during daylight hours. The cinnamon and brown bears of this country are simply color phases of the black bear, the blondes and brunettes of the family. The various colors are frequently intermixed in the same family; hence it is a common occurrence to see a black bear female with brown cubs, a brown and a black cub, or even all three colors. The bears hibernate during the winter months, usually from late October or November to March or April depending upon the weather conditions.[3] Their scat resembles that of domestic dogs.[4]

Photographed in the Zirkel Wilderness, Routt County, CO

References

  1. 1 2 seaworld.org Cinnamon Bear, Animal Bytes
  2. 1 2 Cinnamon Bears, Bears of the World
  3. ↑ yellowstone/online
  4. ↑ Alden, Peter; Brian Cassie; et al. (September 1999). National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Southwestern States (1st ed.). New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 363. ISBN 0-679-44680-X.
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