bears in southern indiana

This is probably in the wrong forum so if it is please feel free to move it.I live in central indiana but am from southern indiana.I have a friend that recently posted a picture of a bear on their facebook page.This person lives about halfway between Terre Haute and Bloomington..Has anyone else ever heard of bears being this far north?I always thought bears lived farther south like in Kentucky/Tennessee...This picture was of what appeared to be a cub..

I'm sure it probably depends on the kind of bear and their natural habitat. About 10 years ago my grandpa took a picture of a black bear in his front yard and we live in SE Minnesota. The DNR refuses to admit they released them here, along with mountain lions, but they are here nonetheless.

And I always thought that bears were more of a northern type creature

What this made me wonder about though, is, do bears in southern regions, that don't experience a cold winter, still hibernate?
Time to google that....

I found my answer although it's not complete. Yahoo answers.

I think the grizzly hibernates even though they're similar to the polar bear, and have even mated with them. Although if I google this, some sites say they hibernate, others say the bears are seen playing in the snow. I guess only an Alaskan can answer this question.

TextNo. Some species of bears live in the tropics, and they don't hibernate. The sun bear, for example, does not hibernate. Others, like the giant panda and the polar bear, do not hibernate. Black bears that live in warm climates may be active year round, although black bears may hibernate in other, colder areas.

Originally posted by indy0725
Has anyone else ever heard of bears being this far north?I always thought bears lived farther south like in Kentucky/Tennessee...This picture was of what appeared to be a cub..

While polar bears are adapted to extreme northern conditions, even brown bears like the grizzly can live in a wide range of habitats and historically, they once did, but now they only exist where they don't bother man, in the far north:

bearinfosite.com...


Was the picture you saw of a brown bear or a black bear? I don't think the habitat of either is limited as much by the climate as much as their exposure to man. I guess people like to watch bears far away on TV but don't like them rummaging through their trash, can so they call animal control, and that's the last they see of the bear.

probably just got tired of Chicago and the lack of respect theu are given. But they can live nearly anywhere

The folks in SO Missouri have their black bears back this yr. I dont think there is a "population" of them yet though.. not enough to hunt. Folks just kill them for whatever reason then post pics and brag about killing the animal as it was in their trashcan.

files.abovetopsecret.com...

I know its not a very good picture. here is the picture that they took.