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Reproduction And Denning Of Black Bears In The Great Smoky Mountains, William Gregory Wathen
Reproduction And Denning Of Black Bears In The Great Smoky Mountains, William Gregory Wathen
Masters Theses
The reproductive biology and denning ecology of black bears were studied in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Cherokee National Forest. The majority of information was collected from 36 radio-instrumented females monitored from June 1980 to May 1982.
Females entered dens from 21 November to 16 January (x=20 December, n=38), and emerged from 18 March to 4 May (x=10 April, n=41), for an average denning period of 113 days. Females with newborn cubs denned significantly longer (P< 0.001) than other females. Tree denning females emerged later and remained in dens longer than others.
Twenty-five ground dens and 33 tree dens were examined. Significant differences (P< 0.005) in den utilization were observed between winters, with more tree dens being utilized during the winter of 1980-81 (79.3%) than in the winter of 1981-82 (34.5%).
Females in estrus were captured from 22 June to 12 …