Their regular gait is usually a lumbering walk, but they can run about 45 km per hour and also swim well. Sharp, curved, black claws enable black bears to climb trees easily. Bears are omnivores, and take advantage of whatever is easily accessible and available to them. Black bear weight varies enormously depending on age, sex and time of year – black bears can be 30% heavier in autumn than they are in spring. Black bears tend to be most active at night, but may feed or travel at any time. The black bear Ursus americanus is the smallest, yet most common, of the three bear species found in America (after the polar bear and grizzly bear). Conversely, black bears prey upon white-tailed deer fawns, small woodland mammals and beaver only when presented with the opportunity. Despite their name, … In the spring, black bears even eat the inside layer of young trees. American black bear skins can be distinguished from those of Asian black bears by the lack of a white blaze on the chest and hairier footpads. The Formosan black bear (臺灣黑熊, Ursus thibetanus formosanus), also known as the white-throated bear, is a subspecies of the Asiatic black bear.Formosan black bears are endemic to Taiwan.In 2001, they were voted the most representative wildlife of Taiwan in a half-year-long countrywide voting campaign. Bears live primarily in the forest and they have a remarkable way of adapting to people moving in to their territory. Food and Diet Although all species of bears, including black and grizzly bears, are technically of the order Carnivora , they are essentially omnivores that eat plants, insects, fish, and animals. In general, less than ten percent of a bear’s diet consists of meat. They’re still pretty big though! Be sure to fully cook all bear meat, even if it has already been smoked. Black bears do not have any real predators except for humans and the destruction they cause to the environment. Black bears eat berries, nuts, tubers, roots, honey, worms, buds, leaves, fruit, twigs, grubs, fish, insects, and small mammals. According to BowHunting, about five percent of black bears have a parasite known as trichinosis, which either causes death or permanently damages a person's heart, kidneys and muscles, leaving them disabled. They are also the largest land animals and the only native bears in Taiwan. This, of course, changes with every season. Because of their size, black bears have no wild animal predators. The nature of what black bears eat throughout the spring, summer and fall is varied, and reflects their opportunistic diet. Bears spend most of their time perusing a patchwork of habitats throughout the year, feeding on vegetation, insects and other more reliable, though lower calorie food sources.