Interesting sign on American Black Bears in South Carolina. March 12, 2019. While not distinct subspecies, I do wonder how much gene flow there is between the resident and non-resident populations and why some populations are resident. I also wonder why that one country has no records of bears.
@ThylacineAlive you mean county not country right? I went on www.geology.com to find a county map of South Carolina, and the county with no bear records is Bamberg County. Quite odd that no American black bear (Ursus americanus) sightings have been documented there...
South Carolina has a relatively small bear population compared to NC, which has about 20,000 from what I have seen. Their are 2 populations in the Carolina's, a major population on the coastal plain and a smaller population in the mountains. The middle of the states, "piedmont" has no regular bear population, yet occasionally males will travel through it from either side. From what I know very little exchange happens between these 2 populations, as many bears who travel the middle of the state are killed in vehicular accidents. In NC at least the population has been slowly creeping into the Piedmont, yet no resident population exists their as of yet. Another complicating factor is the piedmont happens to be fastest growing area of both states and is rapidly developing, so less habitat exists there.
