American Black Bear

Maximum longevity: 34 years (captivity) Observations: During hibernation body temperature floats around 32.5ºC. Although pregnancy in bears lasts for about 220 days, there is a delayed implantation and embryonic development only occurs in the last 10 weeks of pregnancy (Ronald Nowak 1999). In the wild, it has been suggested that they may live over 33 years (http://www.bear.org/), which is dubious. Record longevity in captivity belongs to a wild born female that was about 34 years when she died in captivity (Richard Weigl 2005).