Dr. Lynn Rogers, a biologist and black bear expert, has spent more than 40 years studying black bears. Read about his work in “Learning to Speak Bear” on pages 30 and 31 in the March issue. Then click on the buttons below to hear bears speak!
Audio and text courtesy of the North American Bear Center/bear.org.
Black bears use sounds, body language, and scent-marking to express their emotions.
Amiable sounds are grunts and tongue clicks used by mothers concerned for their cubs and by bears approaching other bears to mate or play. Cubs make a motor-like pulsing hum when they nurse or are especially comfortable.
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This mother black bear is moving her 3-month-old cubs from their den to a pine tree to begin life outside the den. The mother is grunting her concern while the cubs are voicing little squeals of mild distress.
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Black bear cubs make motor-like pleasure sounds as they nurse. Similar to a cat’s purring, this sound is made when bears are especially comfortable, nursing, or eating a special treat. Adult bears make this sound with a deeper voice.
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These sounds are made by a young cub with its mother. The cub is making the cooing sounds, and the mother grunts, which is a common sound mothers make to cubs.
Apprehensive expressions are forceful expulsions of air accompanied by threatening body language and sometimes deeper throaty sounds. This explosive behavior looks and sounds very threatening but is harmless bluster from nervous bears—often mothers with cubs. North American Bear Center researchers have never had blustery bears approach and make contact. Out of respect, researchers avoid crowding these apprehensive bears, but they have found them easy to chase away.
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Bears blow and clack their teeth when they are afraid. When this is done in response to being startled by a person, it appears to be a defensive threat, but they also do it when they scare themselves by almost falling from a tree.
High emotion: Black bears use a human-like voice to express pleasure, pain, high anxiety, and fear.
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This is a distress sound made by a fearful cub. This sound is commonly made when a cub is separated from its mother. This recording was made while a researcher examined a cub out in the field. The cub was soon released back to the mother.
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A female bear is threatening a male that is competing for her food. The main sound is the pulsing threat. A higher pitched moan of fear is heard briefly from the subordinate male.
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When bears are very scared and in a subordinate role, they moan. This bear was in a barrel-trap, which is a form of live trap that doesn’t harm the bear. Bears also moan when they have escaped up trees or are being threatened by a nearby dominant bear.
