Essay On Fire Season

In the book Fire Season, Phillip Connors shows many examples of his interactions with bears. Connors and his dog, Alice spend about half of each year in a fire tower watching for fires. Connors spends his time in the Gila mountains in New Mexico. Not only does Connors keep watch over the forest for threatening fires, he deals with other natural elements as well. While he is working Connors hikes from place to place in the hopes of chopping down trees for wood while making sure he protects himself from predators. Phillip Connors states that he has encountered many different animals like elk, mule deer, wild turkey, quail, skunks, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, and rats while he is in the forest chopping down wood. Connors also says that "more

According to National Geographic, "North Americas most common bear is the black bear." They are most commonly found in forests and mountains. Black bears can climb trees and wander 15 – 80 square miles away from their home. Black bears eat enormous amounts of food so that they have body fat to feed off of in the winter when they go into hibernation. There are an estimated 600,000 black bears in North America, 300,000 in the United States. A bear's litter is usually 1-6 cubs, but a litter of 2 cubs is the most common. One commonly known thing about bears is that they hibernate. Hibernating means that they spend the winter in a certain place. Before a bear goes into hibernation they collect enough food to last them the winter, and they make a shelter that will protect themselves from all the hardships of winter. While the bear is in hibernation their breathing rate is slower and metabolic rate, and some studies say that bears start to breathe once every forty- five seconds. Although most bears do hibernate, depending on local weather some bears don't hibernate at all. Understanding a little bit about the background of black bears is important in knowing why the label is what it