As a solitary, crepuscular animal, the bear is active but usually alone in the early morning and evenings except during the mating season. It tends to keep a home range of about 10 square miles and keeps close to areas that can maintain its hunting needs. In warmer areas, the black bear can be active year round, and in colder regions it hibernates by curling up in a cave, under the roots of a fallen tree or in a den or hollow log.

The black bear is an omnivore, and most of its diet is made up of plants, twigs, buds, leaves, nuts, roots, fruits, corn and berries. It can also eat bees and honey, beetles and other insects, and can catch fish and small mammals.

The average life expectancy in the wild is anywhere from 15 to 20 years. The American black bear mates in the warmer months anytime between May and August. The gestation period lasts about eight months, and an average of two cubs are born. They are blind and hairless and do not begin to walk until they are four to five weeks old. Cubs stay close to their mother for the first one to two years of their lives.

Due to hunting, trapping and accidents, the biggest threat to the American black bear is its proximity to the human population.

Because the black bear can live in a variety of wooded areas, its range includes most of the United States, parts of Canada and south to Mexico.