Editing American black bear (section)

=== Dietary habits ===
{{multiple image |align=right |direction=vertical |width2=220
 |image1=Black Bear Caught A Salmon.jpg |caption1=A bear taking a dead [[chum salmon]] near [[Hyder, Alaska]]
 |image2=Black bear with salmon.jpg |caption2=A bear with a [[pink salmon]]
 |image3=Black Bear Lake Louise.jpg |caption3=A bear feeding on a bush
}}
Generally, American black bears are largely [[crepuscular]] in foraging activity, though they may actively feed at any time.<ref name="Nowak" />{{page needed|date=May 2020}} Up to 85% of their diet consists of vegetation,{{sfn|Brown|1993|loc=Ch. "Behaviour and Activities"}} though they tend to dig less than brown bears, eating far fewer [[root]]s, [[bulb]]s, [[corm]]s and [[tuber]]s than the latter species.<ref name="Herrero" /> When initially emerging from hibernation, they will seek to feed on [[carrion]] from winter-killed animals and newborn [[ungulate]]s. As the spring temperature warms, American black bears seek new shoots of many plant species, especially new [[Graminoid|grasses]], wetland plants and [[forb]]s.<ref name="jim" /> Young shoots and buds from trees and shrubs during the spring period are important to bears emerging from hibernation, as they assist in rebuilding muscle and strengthening the skeleton and are often the only digestible foods available at that time.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110602095210/http://nationalzoo.si.edu/publications/zoogoer/1999/2/fact-americanblack.cfm "American Black Bear Fact Sheet"]. National Zoo| FONZ. Retrieved September 15, 2011.</ref> During summer, the diet largely comprises fruits, especially berries and soft masts such as buds and [[drupe]]s.

During the [[Hyperphagia (ecology)|autumn hyperphagia]], feeding becomes virtually the full-time task. [[Mast (botany)|Hard masts]] become the most important part of the diet in autumn and may even partially dictate the species' distribution. Favored masts such as [[hazelnut]]s, [[Acorn|oak acorns]] and [[Whitebark pine|whitebark pine nuts]] may be consumed by the hundreds each day by a single bear during the fall.<ref name="Hunter" />{{page needed|date=May 2020}}<ref name="Lariviere" /> During the fall period, bears may also habitually raid the nut caches of [[tree squirrel]]s.<ref name="jim" /> Also extremely important in fall are berries such as [[Huckleberry|huckleberries]] and [[Shepherdia|buffalo berries]].<ref name="Hunter" />{{page needed|date=May 2020}} Bears living in areas near human settlements or around a considerable influx of recreational human activity often come to rely on foods inadvertently provided by humans, especially during summertime. These include refuse, birdseed, agricultural products and honey from [[Apiary|apiaries]].<ref name="Macdonald" />

The majority of the diet consists of insects, such as bees, yellow jackets, ants, beetles and their larvae.<ref name="jim" /><ref>{{cite web | url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Ursus_americanus/ | title=Ursus americanus (American black bear) | website=[[Animal Diversity Web]] | access-date=March 24, 2023 | archive-date=December 21, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141221132929/https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Ursus_americanus/ | url-status=live }}</ref> American black bears are also fond of [[honey]]<ref>{{Cite web| url=https://www.crittersanctuary.com/why-do-bears-like-honey/| title=Why do Bears Like Honey &#91;The #1 Reason They Do&#93;| date=August 8, 2019| access-date=September 22, 2019| archive-date=September 22, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190922101020/https://www.crittersanctuary.com/why-do-bears-like-honey/| url-status=dead}}</ref> and will gnaw through trees if hives are too deeply set into the trunks for them to reach it with their paws. Once the hive is breached, the bears will scrape the [[honeycomb]]s together with their paws and eat them, regardless of stings from the bees.<ref name="wood" />{{page needed|date=May 2020}} Bears that live in northern coastal regions (especially the Pacific Coast) will fish for [[salmon]] during the night, as their black fur is easily spotted by salmon in the daytime. Other bears, such as the white-furred Kermode bears of the islands of western Canada, have a 30% greater success rate in catching salmon than their black-furred counterparts.<ref name="invis">{{cite news |last=Bourton |first=Jody |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8344000/8344367.stm |title=Spirit bears become 'invisible' by Jody Bourton, Earth News reporter |work=BBC News |date=November 6, 2009 |access-date=February 21, 2011 |archive-date=June 18, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120618221714/http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8344000/8344367.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Other fish, including [[Catostomidae|suckers]], [[trout]] and [[catfish]], are readily caught whenever possible.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}} Although American black bears do not often engage in active predation of other large animals for much of the year, the species will regularly prey on [[Mule deer|mule]] and [[white-tailed deer]] fawns in spring, given the opportunity.<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Smith |first1=Randall |title=Mule Deer Reproduction and Survival in the LaSal Mountains, Utah |type=MS thesis |publisher=Utah State University |date=May 1983 |url=https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/4314/ |doi=10.26076/46d5-bbc1 |access-date=July 1, 2021 |archive-date=July 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709182241/https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/4314/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Matthews">{{cite journal |doi=10.1139/z88-179 |last1=Mathews |first1=N. E. |last2=Porter |first2=W. F. |year=1988 |title=Black bear predation on white-tailed deer neonates in the central Adirondacks |journal=Canadian Journal of Zoology |volume=66 |issue=5|pages=1241–1242|bibcode=1988CaJZ...66.1241M }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |jstor=3801608 |author=Ozoga, J. J. |author2=Clute, R. K. |year=1988 |title=Mortality rates of marked and unmarked fawns |journal=Journal of Wildlife Management |volume=52 |issue=3|pages=549–551 |doi=10.2307/3801608 }}</ref> Bears may catch the scent of hiding fawns when foraging for something else and then sniff them out and pounce on them. As the fawns reach 10 days of age, they can outmaneuver the bears, and their scent is soon ignored until the next year.<ref>{{cite web |title=Animal Protein |publisher=North American Bear Center |url=https://www.bear.org/website/bear-pages/black-bear/foraging-a-foods/84-animal-protein.html |access-date=2017-03-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170323142720/https://www.bear.org/website/bear-pages/black-bear/foraging-a-foods/84-animal-protein.html |archive-date=March 23, 2017 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> American black bears have also been recorded similarly preying on [[elk]] calves in Idaho<ref>{{cite journal |id={{NAID|10006692813}} |url=http://www.muledeerworkinggroup.com/Docs/Proceedings/1977-Western%20States%20Elk%20Workshop/Factors%20Affecting%20Calf%20Elk%20Survival%20on%20Coolwater%20Ridge%20in%20No.pdf |last1=Schlegel |first1=M. |year=1976 |title=Factor affecting calf elk survival in north central Idaho |journal=Western Association of State Game and Fish Commission |volume=56 |pages=342–355 |access-date=February 24, 2015 |archive-date=February 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224061024/http://www.muledeerworkinggroup.com/Docs/Proceedings/1977-Western%20States%20Elk%20Workshop/Factors%20Affecting%20Calf%20Elk%20Survival%20on%20Coolwater%20Ridge%20in%20No.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[moose]] calves in Alaska.<ref>{{cite journal |jstor=3808038 |title=Moose calf mortality in summer at Kenai Peninsula, Alaska |journal=Journal of Wildlife Management |volume=44 |issue=3|pages=764–768 |doi=10.2307/3808038 |year=1980 |last1=Franzmann |first1=Albert W. |last2=Schwartz |first2=Charles C. |last3=Peterson |first3=Rolf O.}}</ref>

Predation on adult deer is rare, but it has been recorded.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Behrend |first1=D. F. |last2=Sage |first2=R. W. Jr. |year=1974 |title=Unusual feeding behavior by black bears |journal=Journal of Wildlife Management |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=570 |doi=10.2307/3800894 |jstor=3800894 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Svoboda |first1=Nathan J. |last2=Belant |first2=Jerrold L. |last3=Beyer |first3=Dean E. |last4=Duquette |first4=Jared F. |last5=Stricker |first5=Heather K. |last6=Albright |first6=Craig A. |title=American black bear predation of an adult white-tailed deer |journal=Ursus |date=April 2011 |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=91–94 |doi=10.2192/URSUS-D-10-00024.1 |s2cid=54910723 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Austin |first1=Matthew A. |last2=Obbard |first2=Martyn E. |last3=Kolenosky |first3=George B. |year=1994 |title=Evidence for a black bear, ''Ursus americanus'', killing an adult moose, ''Alces alces'' |journal=The Canadian Field-Naturalist |volume=108 |issue=2 |pages=236–238 |doi=10.5962/p.356768 |url=https://archive.org/details/canadianfieldnat108otta/page/236/ |doi-access=free }}</ref> They may even hunt prey up to the size of adult female moose, which are considerably larger than themselves, by ambushing them.<ref name="TEDDY" /> There is at least one record of a male American black bear killing two bull elk over the course of six days by chasing them into deep snow banks, which impeded their movements. In [[Labrador]], American black bears are exceptionally carnivorous, living largely off [[Reindeer|caribou]], usually young, injured, old, sickly or dead specimens, and rodents such as [[vole]]s. This is believed to be due to a paucity of edible plant life in this sub-Arctic region and a local lack of competing large carnivores (including other bear species).<ref name="Macdonald" /> Like brown bears, American black bears try to use surprise to ambush their prey and target the weak, injured, sickly or dying animals in the herds. Once a deer fawn is captured, it is frequently torn apart alive while feeding.<ref name="Matthews" /> If it is able to capture a mother deer in spring, the bear frequently begins feeding on the udder of lactating females, but generally prefers meat from the [[viscera]]. Bears often drag their prey to cover, preferring to feed in seclusion. The skin of large prey is stripped back and turned inside out, with the skeleton usually left largely intact. Unlike gray wolves and coyotes, bears rarely scatter the remains of their kills. Vegetation around the carcass is usually matted down, and their droppings are frequently found nearby. Bears may attempt to cover remains of larger carcasses, though they do not do so with the same frequency as cougars and grizzly bears.<ref name="Predation">{{cite web |title=Bear Predation&nbsp;— Description |url=http://texnat.tamu.edu/ranchref/predator/bears/t-bears.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061017112052/http://texnat.tamu.edu/ranchref/predator/bears/t-bears.htm |archive-date=October 17, 2006 |access-date=November 24, 2008 |publisher=Texas Natural Resources Server - Texas A&M University}}</ref> They will readily consume eggs and nestlings of various birds and can easily access many tree nests, even the huge nests of bald eagles.{{sfn|Brown|1993|loc=Ch. "Behaviour and Activities"}} Bears have been reported stealing deer and other game from human hunters.