Fig. 48. Female black bear (Ursus americanus altifrontalis), and two cubs, near Big Four Inn, Mt. Baker National Forest, Washington, July, 1939. (Forest Service photo by R. L. Fromme.)
The black bear, including its closely related species, the Mexican bear, Ursus machetes, ranges over Alaska, Canada, the United States and northern Mexico. The distinction between the black and grizzly bears has been listed under the account of Ursus chelan.
The fur of black bears in the Cascade Mountains in the fall is long, sleek and glossy but rather stiff. In the spring and early summer the fur of animals at Mount Rainier often appeared coarse, wooly and patchy or rubbed on older animals. Some smaller bears possessed sleek, well-groomed pelts. Bears from the lowland areas are said to possess poor pelts because of constant abrasion in the forests. In the fall, when the salmon are spawning, the bears are said by trappers to roll in decayed fish until they "smell so bad you can't come near them" and their fur is matted and "crawling with lice."
It is now known that the cinnamon bear, sometimes called brown bear, is merely a color phase of the black bear. The brown phase varies in color from a rich, dark reddish brown to a pale cinnamon brown. [Cowan] (1938: 204) has recorded the geographic variation in the brown and black coats of the bears of British Columbia and, in part, of Washington. On the Olympic Peninsula the brown phase is rare. Old residents have told me of seeing but a few brown bears in their life. I have seen only black bears in the lowlands of western Washington. [Cowan] (loc. cit.) lists 1,197 black and 79 brown bears from Fort Nisqually, Pierce County, between 1834 and 1852. In the Cascade Mountains the brown phase is not uncommon, perhaps one out of five bears seen being brown. In northeastern Washington the brown and black phases are about equal in number, and some trappers state that the browns are more numerous. [Cowan] lists 3,813 black and 2,871 brown bears from Fort Colville between 1826 and 1856.
The black bear occurs in a variety of habitats in Washington. It seems to be absent only from the treeless areas of eastern Washington, and is most abundant in the Cascade Mountains and Olympic Mountains where food is abundant and men are few. It is not uncommon throughout the timbered lowlands of northeastern Washington and western Washington, however, and shows a surprising ability to exist unnoticed near the larger cities. In the dense, junglelike forests of southwestern Washington it is numerous. [Jackson] (1944: 1) estimates that 13,679 black bears live in Washington, more than in any other state.
The habits of the black bear have changed greatly where it has come into contact with man. At Mount Rainier National Park black bears now ignore people, save to beg for food. In the Cascades the bears are wild but so seldom see men that in many places they live much as they did hundreds of years ago. In the lowlands of western Washington they are in daily contact with evidence of man or his guns. As a result they are silent and shy, rarely being seen.
Fig. 49. Black bear (Ursus americanus altifrontalis), in "hibernation," Mt. Baker region, Washington, about 1936. (John E. Candle photo, courtesy "Field and Stream.")