Editing American black bear (section)

=== Hybrids ===
American black bears are reproductively compatible with several other bear species and occasionally produce [[Hybrid (biology)|hybrid]] offspring. According to [[Jack Hanna]]'s ''Monkeys on the Interstate'', a bear captured in [[Sanford, Florida]], was thought to have been the offspring of an escaped female Asian black bear and a male American black bear.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20101226205341/http://www.messybeast.com/genetics/hybrid-bears.htm "Hybrid Bears".] ''messybeast.com''.</ref> In 1859, an American black bear and a [[Eurasian brown bear]] were bred together in the [[London Zoological Gardens]], but the three cubs that were born died before they reached maturity.<ref>Scherren,  Henry. (1907). 4. Some Notes on Hybrid Bears. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1907, 431--435. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1907.tb01827.x </ref> In ''[[The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication]]'', [[Charles Darwin]] noted:
{{blockquote|In the nine-year Report it is stated that the bears had been seen in the zoological gardens to couple freely, but previously to 1848 most had rarely conceived. In the reports published since this date three species have produced young (hybrids in one case),&nbsp;...<ref>{{Cite book |last=Darwin |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Darwin |year=1868 |title=The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication |volume=2 |edition=1st |location=London |publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]] |url=http://darwin-online.org.uk/EditorialIntroductions/Freeman_VariationunderDomestication.html |page=151 |isbn=978-1-4068-4250-0 |access-date=December 23, 2009 |archive-date=February 28, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110228151402/http://darwin-online.org.uk/EditorialIntroductions/Freeman_VariationunderDomestication.html |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

A bear shot in autumn 1986 in [[Michigan]] was thought by some to be an American black bear/grizzly bear hybrid, because of its unusually large size and its proportionately larger brain case and skull. DNA testing was unable to determine whether it was a large American black bear or a grizzly bear.<ref name="hybrid">{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Richard P. |year=2007 |chapter=Hybrid Black Bear |title=Black Bear Hunting |publisher=[[Stackpole Books]] |isbn=978-0-8117-0269-0}}</ref>{{page needed|date=May 2020}}