American Black Bears Essay

Rivera, Ma. Ione Skye

Niches and Adaptations

Part I:

Animal #1 BLACK BEARS

American Black Bears are forest dwellers and are usually found in mixed forest areas and also places that can be as high as 10,000 feet in elevation. Their habitat is mainly in an understory surrounded with lots of fruits, nuts, and berries. Depending on the bears location, what season it is, and the sex and age of the individual their home can vary with males usually overlapping the territory of many female bears. The less food supply, water, and shelter in the area, the larger range a bears home becomes. With the bears strong build, they are able to travel anywhere in the forest. With long sharp claws, they can climb trees when feeling threatened. They have very

A skunk will almost never be more than two miles away from their dens and they will use their long claws to dig a new den, but they can also stay in already built abandoned den. They may also be found in a hollow log or brushes, mostly in grasslands and forest places. After eating lots of food the skunks go to sleep in their dens and keep warm together for the summer, burning all of the gained fat. Striped Skunks are also omnivores and they eat fish, insects, nuts, eggs, etc. You can find a skunk eating a carcass of another dead animal. Their sharp claws allow them to forage and hunt. Their front paws create burrows or remove insects from the ground. Skunks are mainly nocturnal, which comes with a number of benefits like saving energy during the day when it can get too hot. Also they cannot be preyed on by animals that can attack them during the daytime. The skunks can hunt for food early and will not need to worry about their attackers who are sleep. Although they are slow walkers, do not climb trees, or stay away from water, they have the strong feature of sending out a smell that can cause blindness