This month, Arkansas forests are full of black bear cubs, but you probably won’t see them. They are denning with their mothers, either as tiny newborns, about the size and weight of a can of soda, or as year-old cubs.
A typical litter will have two cubs, although occasionally three or four can be born. Their cries sound like those of human babies. By the time cubs first leave the den, they’ll weigh about five pounds. They will stay with their mothers for a year and a half, and separate the following summer.
Daughter cubs can share territory with their mother, but sons must leave and find new territory of their own. This is why young male black bears sometimes show up in more urban areas of Pulaski County.