Bear Numbers and Bear Types: teacher key

Black Bears, grade 9 edition, written for 9th grade. Biologists count black bears with hair and DNA, and they list several subspecies. See what the numbers show, and how a bear's year runs from spring food to a winter den.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What does a hair snare collect?
   • Fish
   • Hair for DNA analysis (answer)
   • Seeds
2. When were Vermont's black bears at their lowest numbers?
   • The 1990s
   • 2024
   • The 1850s (answer)
3. Which is a subspecies of the American black bear?
   • The Kermode or spirit bear (answer)
   • The polar bear
   • The grizzly bear
4. How long may black bear males keep growing?
   • Until age one
   • For one summer
   • Until they are 10 to 12 years old (answer)
5. Why does a hair snare help biologists count bears?
   • It weighs each bear
   • DNA shows how many individual bears were detected (answer)
   • It paints each bear

Words

• subspecies: kind within species
• snare: hair trap
• dormant: winter rest
• fertilized: ready to grow