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NC ZOO CUBS BEAR IT ALL
BY: Tom GillespieAug. 05, 2008
ASHEBORO, N.C. - Visitors to the North Carolina Zoo can now see the park’s newest additions--two six-month-old American black bear cubs--the first bear cubs ever exhibited at the zoo. Although the park has had young polar bears, those were considered adolescents rather than cubs.
The two female litter mates, who arrived at the zoo in June, were both captive-born in January and came to the zoo after being donated by an animal refuge Arkansas.
The cubs will share viewing time daily with the park’s two adult black bears at the Black Bear exhibit in the North America region. The cubs can be viewed from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. each day, and the two adults can be viewed from 3 p.m. until closing.
Black bears (Ursus americanus) are the most common of the bear species native to North America and in the wild, range from Alaska and much of Canada south to the mountains of northern Mexico.
They can be found in 41 of the 50 states in America and in all the Canadian provinces except Prince Edward Island.
They are the smallest of the three bear species (polar, grizzly, black) found in North America - all of which can be seen at the N.C. Zoo--and vary in size depending on sex, food availability and quality, and other factors. Males can grow to more than six feet long and weigh as much as 650 pounds, but most males average about 200-300 pounds when mature.
The zoo is an agency of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, William G. Ross Jr., Secretary; Michael F. Easley, Governor.