“Then the beasts go into dens, and remain in their places. Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the north.”
Job 37:89
The black bear, often seen by hikers and campers in forests and mountainous country, is the smallest species of bear in North America. It measures from five to seven feet long and weighs around 300 pounds. It has short legs with powerful claws and just a stub of a tail. The muzzle is usually tan, and there may be a patch of white on its chest. While technically known as the black bear, it is sometimes light brown or cinnamon in color, but it should not be confused with the true brown bear of Alaska, which is the largest.
Timid by nature, these bears avoid people, and it is rare for them to attack a person unless a mother feels her cubs are in danger. Then she can be vicious with her teeth and claws. This is one reason forest rangers warn people not to feed or approach any wild animals.
The bear’s diet includes grass, roots, berries, corn and other vegetation, as well as fish, small animals, birds and their eggs, ants, bees and honey. Tearing the hives open, a bear is protected from the bees’ stings by its thick fur.
Southern black bears are active throughout the year, but those in the north hibernate (males and females separately) in caves or dens in the fall, remaining until early spring. During this period two, three or four little ones are born. They are about the size of a rat and are hairless and blind for a month or so. Their mother’s milk is their only food until springtime, when they are about the size of a tomcat.
Coming out of the den, the mother teaches her cubs how to find food and care for themselves. They follow her about like little toy teddy bears. The mother keeps them close by until they are full-grown, which sometimes means sharing her den for another winter.
The cubs, like so many young wild animals, are full of energy, wrestling, annoying their mother, climbing small trees and swaying it back and forth before jumping off. If a tree is not strong enough for this, they enjoy riding it down to the ground, doing this over and over again.
The hibernating of animals is referred to in the opening Bible verse and assures us that God provided for all creatures of earth when He created them. No one has ever known a bear or other animal to show anger at the discomfort of cold weather, but all just quietly accept it.
In this they are wiser than people, who complain about discomforts. How much better to turn over every trial to God, remembering that He says, “All things work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:2828And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)).
ML-10/24/1999