Standard English Name(s): black bear
Local English Name(s):
Scientific Name(s): Ursus americanus Pallas
Upriver Halkomelem Name(s):
Downriver Halkomelem Name(s):
Island Halkomelem Name(s):

Description, Habitat, Ecology, & Distribution:
     Black bears are large and bulky carnivorous mammals that may grow to over 180 cm (ca. 6 ft) in length and 285 kg (ca. 600 lb) in weight. Although most black bears are black with a white chest spot, some black bears are brown, bluish, or white and five subspecies are recognized within British Columbia. Wooded areas are their preferred habitat. They feed on many types of plant and animal foods, including berries and other vegetation, insects, marine invertebrates, fish, and other smaller mammals.

Upriver Halkomelem Cultural Role(s):
     Bear grease is considered to be a superior type for cooking. It is believed that people who rub their feet with bear grease daily we become fast runners. Some people refuse to kill or eat bears because when skinned they resemble a human being.

Downriver Halkomelem Cultural Role(s):
     The meat of black bears was eaten. Bears taken from their winter dens or those that were feeding on berries in the mountains during the summer were preferred over those that had begun eating skunk cabbage in the spring or were eating salmon. They were hunted with bows and arrows and taken in pitfall traps. Hunters referred to the black bear as "grandparent" while hunting it.

Island Halkomelem Cultural Role(s):