Skip to content

Louisiana black bear

A Louisiana black bear stares at the camera.
A Louisiana black bear stares at the camera. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The state mammal of Louisiana was listed as threatened in 1992, after years of hunting and deforestation—the same problems that afflicted its less-fortunate neighbor in southern swamps, the ivory-billed woodpecker.

But beginning in the late 90s, the bears’ habitat was restored and population numbers were better monitored. In 2016, the bear was removed from the list of endangered species.