Black Bear Reproductive Rate Relative to Body Weight in Hunted Populations

January 1, 1990
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Litter size, natality (cubs per adult female per year), and maturation rate are positively related to body weights of adult males and females. This is shown by regressions of reproductive parameters on weight, using mean values from each of 7 hunted populations. Maturation rates to weaning and adulthood are, respectively, proportional to the inverses of interbirth interval and age at first whelping, generation length. Assuming that weight is an index of nutritional status, these findings for black bear (Ursus americanus) are consistent with the typical mammalian dependence of reproductive rate on nutritional status. Because body weights are commonly obtained by game managers, they may be a quick, inexpensive basis for estimating reproductive rate for populations where reproductive data are lacking.

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