50 images of Black Bear adults and cubs in Yellowstone National Park.

Yellowstone National Park is a wildlife paradise in northwestern Wyoming.
Bears, Bison, Bighorn, Birds and numerous other creatures whose names
do not start with a “B” abound throughout the Park. Encountering a Bear is
one of the most exciting and least common experiences at Yellowstone.

Most often the bears at Yellowstone are seen at quite a distance, but
occasionally in the Elk Creek/Tower area there are closer encounters.
These are closeup images taken with a long lens (500mm to 850mm).

Click an image to open a larger version.
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Alaskan Coastal Brown Bears      

Golden Female and Cubs          
Coastal Brown Bears Fishing       
Assorted Coastal Brown Bears      

             Yellowstone Black Bears

         Black Bears: Adults and Cubs
   Black and Cinnamon Adults and Cubs

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Animals Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Links:

Alaskan Coastal Brown Bear (382 images)
Golden Female and Cubs        Brown Bear Fishing
Assorted Brown Bear       Brown Bear Composites

Yellowstone Bears (200 images)
Black Bear        Black Bear Cubs       Brown Bear

Black Bear and Cub Roosevelt Lodge 8560

A Black Bear cub ambles down the road beside its mother in the Roosevelt Lodge area.

North American Black Bears in Yellowstone National Park are the Olympic Black Bear and
Cinnamon Black Bear subspecies (Cinnamon adult and cub images are shown further below).
Black Bears have short, curved claws which allow them to climb trees, and are adapted for the
forested areas and nearby clearings. About half of the black bears in Yellowstone are black,
the other half are blondish-brown or cinnamon. Black bears are much more common than
Grizzly (Brown) bears, and even Cinnamon and Brown Black bears are less often seen.

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 8557

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 8559

A Black Bear cub foraging on a hillside in the Roosevelt Lodge area of Yellowstone National Park.

Black Bears forage voraciously in the autumn to build fat reserves to allow them to survive the long,
cold winters in Yellowstone National Park. Black Bears usually enter their dens from late October to
the middle of November, and stay in their dens for four to six months. Males emerge first, solitary
females and those with yearling cubs emerge next, and females with newborn cubs emerge last.

Black Bears are very efficient hibernators, cutting their metabolism to 40%-50%. While their body
temperature only drops by 12 degrees (allowing them to react quickly to danger), their heartbeat
drops to 20%-40% of their summer rate and respiration drops to about 15% of the normal rate.
Bears do not eat, drink, defecate or urinate during hibernation, and recycle waste products.

Black Bear and Cub Roosevelt Lodge 8563

A Black Bear cub wanders along the edge of the road in the Roosevelt Lodge area of
Yellowstone National Park as its mother grazes on the succulent grass beside the road.

Black Bear and Cub Roosevelt Lodge 8574

Black Bear Roosevelt Lodge 8579

Black Bears mainly forage at twilight but they can be active at any time of the day. As Yellowstone is one
of the few areas where Black Bears and Grizzly (Brown) Bears share a habitat, Yellowstone black bears
tend to be more active during the day to avoid encountering a larger and more aggressive Grizzly bear.

Black Bear Roosevelt Lodge 8577

A female Black Bear foraging in the autumn grass alongside the road near Roosevelt Lodge.

Black Bears are less aggressive than Grizzly (Brown) Bears, relying on their ability to climb
trees using their short curved claws to allow themselves and their cubs to escape any danger.

Black Bear Roosevelt Lodge 8577c

A detail crop from image 8577, resized down to 1200 pixels (plus title bar).

Black Bear Roosevelt Lodge 8673

A Black Bear in the autumn grass near Roosevelt Lodge in Yellowstone National Park.

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Animals Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Links:

Alaskan Coastal Brown Bear (382 images)
Golden Female and Cubs        Brown Bear Fishing
Assorted Brown Bear       Brown Bear Composites

Yellowstone Bears (200 images)
Black Bear        Black Bear Cubs       Brown Bear

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 8583 M

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 8891 M

Telephoto closeups of a Black Bear cub in the Roosevelt Lodge area of Yellowstone National Park.

All of the landscape (horizontal) large version images linked from the thumbnails are 1500 pixels wide.
Portrait (vertical) images are 1200 pixels tall (1290 pixels with title bar). Images designated with an “M”
in the shot number are 5:4 aspect ratio, 1500 x 1290 with a title bar, or 1500 x 1200 without the title bar.

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 8595

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 8596

500mm low-angle telephoto close-portraits of a Black Bear cub in the autumn grass near Roosevelt Lodge.

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 8619

A telephoto close-portrait of a Black Bear cub grazing on autumn grass near Roosevelt Lodge.

Black Bears are omnivores, but their diet consists of far more plant material than Brown Bears.
Up to 85% of the black bear’s diet consists of vegetation. They dig less often than Brown Bears,
so they eat less roots, bulbs and tubers than Grizzlies and far less meat. They most often feed on
grasses and small plants, shoots and buds from trees and bushes, and berries, nuts and acorns.

Most of the animal protein in a black bear’s diet is from bees, yellow jackets, ants and their larvae,
and they are especially fond of honeycombs and honey. Adults occasionally take down deer fawns or
young elk, and sometimes prey on distressed adult deer or elk. They also will chase away a cougar,
wolverine or wolves from a carcass and steal their kill, although if a Grizzly comes by they give it up.

Black Bear and Cub Roosevelt Lodge 8790

Black Bear and Cub Roosevelt Lodge 8798

A female Black Bear and her cub in the autumn grass near Roosevelt Lodge in Yellowstone.

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 8732

A telephoto closeup (500mm) of a Black Bear cub in the Roosevelt Lodge area.

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 8730c

A detail crop (resized down) of a Black Bear cub in the autumn grass near Roosevelt Lodge.

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 8739

A Black Bear cub walks across a fallen tree in the Roosevelt Lodge area of Yellowstone.

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Animals Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Links:

Alaskan Coastal Brown Bear (382 images)
Golden Female and Cubs        Brown Bear Fishing
Assorted Brown Bear       Brown Bear Composites

Yellowstone Bears (200 images)
Black Bear        Black Bear Cubs       Brown Bear

Black Bear Cubs Elk Creek 8174

A Black Bear cub peeks from behind a tree while its litter mate searches the grass in the Elk Creek area.

Black Bear cubs are born in the winter hibernation den, stay with their mother throughout their first
summer, den with her the following winter, and most often separate from her the following summer.

Black Bear Cubs Elk Creek 0298

A mixed pair of Black and Cinnamon Black Bear cubs in the Elk Creek area.
Black Bear litters can have all black cubs or a mixed set. Occasionally a litter
will show the complete color variation, with black, brown and cinnamon cubs.

Cinnamon Cub Elk Creek 0653 M

A 700mm telephoto closeup of a Cinnamon Black Bear cub climbing on a fallen tree.

Cinnamon Bear Tower Junction 8146 M

An 850mm telephoto portrait of a Cinnamon Black Bear foraging atop a hill near Tower Junction.

More images of this Cinnamon Black Bear and Cinnamon cubs are on the Black Bear 2 page.

Black Bear Tower Junction 7906 M

A Black Bear foraging in the autumn grass near Tower Junction in Yellowstone National Park.

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Animals Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Links:

Alaskan Coastal Brown Bear (382 images)
Golden Female and Cubs        Brown Bear Fishing
Assorted Brown Bear       Brown Bear Composites

Yellowstone Bears (200 images)
Black Bear        Black Bear Cubs       Brown Bear

Black Bear and Cubs Roosevelt Lodge 8824

A Black Bear and her cubs at Roosevelt Lodge in Yellowstone National Park.

Black Bear Roosevelt Lodge 8841

This female Black Bear with two red ear tags is one of those which have been named
“Rosie” over the years due to her propensity for bringing her cubs to Roosevelt Lodge.
Early records show that there has been a “Rosie” in the area ever since the 1930s.

Black Bear Roosevelt Lodge 8848

Rosie the Black Bear examines the grass alongside a path at Roosevelt Lodge in Yellowstone.

Black Bear Crossing Bridge Roosevelt Lodge 8856

Black Bear Crossing Bridge Roosevelt Lodge 8861

500mm telephoto closeups of Rosie crossing the bridge at Roosevelt Lodge.

Black Bear Crossing Bridge Roosevelt Lodge 8872c

A 4x5 aspect ratio crop of Rosie the Black Bear crossing the bridge at Roosevelt Lodge.
(The XL master image is a 2x3 aspect ratio like the two images which are shown above).

Black Bear Roosevelt Lodge 9205

Black Bear Roosevelt Lodge 9112

Rosie the Black Bear and Cub (below) at Roosevelt Lodge in Yellowstone National Park.

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 9219

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Animals Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Links:

Alaskan Coastal Brown Bear (382 images)
Golden Female and Cubs        Brown Bear Fishing
Assorted Brown Bear       Brown Bear Composites

Yellowstone Bears (200 images)
Black Bear        Black Bear Cubs       Brown Bear

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 9119

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 9121

A Black Bear cub at Roosevelt Lodge in Yellowstone National Park.

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 9122

A Black Bear cub smelling a daisy at Roosevelt Lodge.

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 9123

A Black Bear cub eating a daisy at Roosevelt Lodge.

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 9129

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 9131

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 9135

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 9145

Telephoto (500mm) close-portraits of a Black Bear cub wandering on the grass at Roosevelt Lodge.

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 9137 M

A Black Bear cub explores the grass at Roosevelt Lodge in Yellowstone National Park.

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Animals Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Links:

Alaskan Coastal Brown Bear (382 images)
Golden Female and Cubs        Brown Bear Fishing
Assorted Brown Bear       Brown Bear Composites

Yellowstone Bears (200 images)
Black Bear        Black Bear Cubs       Brown Bear

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 9147 M

“Calling all Bugs!”

Black Bear cubs can be exceedingly cute. Probably the most famous cub was Winnipeg, an
Ontario black bear cub bought from a hunter by Lt. Harry Colebourne of the Canadian Army
and smuggled into Britain as a regimental mascot on his way to World War I. Winnipeg, or
Winnie, stayed on the Salisbury Plain as a mascot until Colebourne went to France, and
lived at the London Zoo while Harry was overseas (eventually living there permanently).
A. A. Milne took his son Christopher Robin to the London Zoo, where they met Winnie,
and Christopher was so captivated by the cub that he named his teddy bear after her.
Winnie was the inspiration for Milne’s fictional character Winnie-the-Pooh, and she
remained at the London Zoo as an honored attraction until her death at 20 (1934).

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 9148

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 9160

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 9167

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 9170

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 9171

The Black Bear cub wanders back and forth across the grass at Roosevelt Lodge, examining
flowers, dandelions, bugs and other subjects of interest while entertaining Yellowstone visitors.

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 9180

The little cub is finally tired out from continually pacing across the grass...

Black Bear Cub Roosevelt Lodge 9195

... and finally heads off to meet up with its mother, Rosie the Black Bear.

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Animals Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Direct Links:

Alaskan Coastal Brown Bear (382 images)
Golden Female and Cubs        Brown Bear Fishing
Assorted Brown Bear       Brown Bear Composites

Yellowstone Bears (200 images)
Black Bear        Black Bear Cubs       Brown Bear

Click the Display Composite above to visit the Black Bears: Black and Cinnamon Adults and Cubs page.

Click the Display Composite above to visit the Alaskan Coastal Brown Bears subsection.