FIRST RECORD OF THE AMERICAN BLACK BEAR (URSUS AMERICANUS) FROM THE CHINATI MOUNTAINS OF WESTERN TEXAS

Abstract

As part of an ongoing, large-scale project to monitor mammalian diversity, we set camera traps at four localities in Chinati Mountains State Natural Area, Presidio County, Texas. On 7 June and 3 and 7 July 2017, one of the cameras captured images of a subadult American black bear (Ursus americanus). The photo-verified individual represents the first account of the American black bear in the Chinati Mountains of western Texas. This record documents the species in an area spatially separated from other black bear populations in the region and supports the mainland–island metapopulation recolonization concept previously proposed for the American black bear in northern Mexico and Trans-Pecos Texas.