AmericanBlackBear_ShortHistory_DoanCrider_Diane_MedinaTX_24July2020_Reel4029.mp3

Diana Doan-Crider [00:00:00] We have a very short window of what we know about bears, because, you know, when the Spaniards came in and when European colonization took place, they killed out a lot of these animals. That was a long time ago.

Diana Doan-Crider [00:00:11] So us as biologists, we have a very short window of what we know about bears. Like, where do they live? What habitats do they like?

Diana Doan-Crider [00:00:17] Well, that was, that was way after they were killed out.

Diana Doan-Crider [00:00:19] We don't know where they want to live.

Diana Doan-Crider [00:00:21] But now, we're seeing bears live in desert areas, next to Big Bend National Park, down along the river, in Black Gap Wildlife Management Area. We have bears that we're now seeing in the tropical jungles of Mexico, where there are howler monkeys and jaguars.

Diana Doan-Crider [00:00:35] Was that where they've always lived? We don't know. We don't have any records about that. All we have is like from the '50s on.

Diana Doan-Crider [00:00:40] We don't know if bears live in mountains because they were persecuted and they were chased up into the mountains, or if that's where they want to live.

Diana Doan-Crider [00:00:47] But my supposition is that bears will live anywhere where they can get food.

Diana Doan-Crider [00:00:51] So you can actually go to a dump in a large city, and technically speaking, that's bear habitat. Why? They have food, probably have access to water. They have access to shelter, they have a range and they have space. And nobody's bothering them.

Diana Doan-Crider [00:01:05] It depends on how you want to classify your habitat. ... You know, so I think we have to be really careful about what we call bear habitat, because we, again, we have a short window of what that knowledge is. And as they expand, they're going to tell us what bear habitat is.