Pelage color is consistently black in Florida, but summer molting of the guard hairs may cause them to look brown.

Black bears have good eyesight (especially at close range), acute hearing and an excellent sense of smell that is believed to be the best of any land mammal.

[10] Breeding occurs from mid-June to mid-August,[11] and coital stimulation is required in order to induce ovulation.

Lowered nutritional levels caused by poor acorn or berry production can result in delayed first breeding, decreased litter sizes, and increased incidence of barren females.

[14] At birth, cubs weigh approximately 12 ounces and are partially furred but blind and toothless.

Neonatal growth is rapid and cubs weigh six to eight pounds by the time they leave the den at about ten weeks of age.

There is no way to know the exact number of black bears that exist in Florida, although scientific methods provide a range of statistical estimates within which they are 95% confident.

Bear range has expanded over the last several decades and the recent abundance estimates are higher than those created in 2002 but some citizens fear that habitat continues to be destroyed and believe that their numbers are dwindling.

In the spring, they mainly consume Sabal palmetto, Thalia geniculata, Sus scrofa, Bombus bimaculatus and Camponotus species.

[22] In the fall, they eat Serenoa repens, Ilex glabra, Nyssa biflora, Vespula species, Apis mellifera, and Dasypus novemcinctus.

[23] Vehicle-bear collisions are a threat to regional populations and the top known cause of death for Florida black bears.

Since 2012, when accelerating habitat modifications began in key locations,[24] over 230 bears have been killed each year on roadways statewide.

[18] The Florida Department of Transportation partnered with the FWC to examine the effects of roads on bear populations across the state.

[27] The report used the IUCN Red List criteria [28] to evaluate the species' risk of extinction.

In addition, the 2012 Florida Black Bear Management Plan was approved and put into action to prevent the subspecies from being listed in the future.

[30] The Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission closed bear hunting in all of Florida, except Apalachicola National Forest and Baker and Columbia counties (including Osceola National Forest) in 1974 and closed those remaining areas in 1994.

In February 2015, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commissioners directed staff to develop a limited, regulated bear hunt.

The bear hunt took place in four of the seven subpopulations (Apalachicola, Osceola, Ocala, and Big Cypress) on October 24 and 25, 2015.

[33] In April 2017, FWC Commissioners directed staff to bring back a revised Florida Black Bear Management Plan in two years to include more reference to hunting.

In addition, the bills would require conservation efforts including: changing schedules for controlled burns in bear habitat, permanently banning the harvest of saw palmetto berries, and ban sales of timbering rights to acorn producing oaks.

The bills would also require a panel of five biologists and wildlife ecologists appointed by the senate to oversee the Black Bear Habitat Restoration Act.

This bill would prohibit the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission from allowing the recreational hunting of Florida black bears mothering cubs that weigh less than 100 pounds under a Florida black bear hunting permit; specify a penalty for the unlawful harvesting of saw palmetto berries on state lands; prohibit prescribed burns in certain designated habitats during specified times.

This bill would prohibit the import, sale, purchase, and distribution of ivory articles and rhinoceros horns; provide that it is unlawful to take, possess, injure, shoot, collect, or sell Florida black bears; provide that the illegal taking, possession, injuring, shooting, collecting, or selling of Florida black bears is a Level Four violation, which is subject to criminal and civil penalties.

Fish and Wildlife Services released a final decision regarding the Endangered Species Act petition which denied the change in status.

[48] This decision was similar to the results of the petition submitted by Inge Hutchinson on June 11, 1990, which was declined in lieu of state actions to protect the Florida black bear.