We also found seasonal and diel differences among individual bears in resource selection during movement. We found that black bears in Massachusetts are operating in a landscape of fear and are altering their movement patterns to use developed areas when human activity is low. To account for this individuality in our predictive surfaces, we projected the probability of movement for each season and time of day using a spatially weighted surface centered on each bear’s home range. Furthermore, bear movement models had different explanatory variables, with preference or avoidance of a variable being dependent on the individual bear. Bears with a higher density of houses in their home ranges (~ 75 houses/km2) displayed less avoidance of human development than more rural bears. We also observed a high degree of inter-individual variability among our sample of bears. This behavioral shift was most prominent in the spring, when natural foods are scarce, and fall, when energetic demands are high. This indicates bears were mitigating the risk of human development by altering their behavior to exploit these areas when human activity is low. We found that though bears moved more and avoided human development during crepuscular and daylight hours than at night, bears preferentially moved through human dominated areas at night. We used GPS collar data from American black bears ( Ursus americanus) to determine how seasonal food resources and human development affected bear movement patterns and resource use across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Understanding the behavior and movement of large mammals, particularly around human development, is important for crafting effective conservation and management plans for these species. Images provided by the American Society of Mammalogists Mammal Image Library.With the growth and expansion of human development, large mammals will increasingly encounter humans, elevating the likelihood of human-wildlife conflicts. Learn more about mammals or use the filtering options below to group the mammals by family, habitat, or diet. However, we do not have Pennsylvania specimens for some of the “long gone” species such as the wolf and the mountain lion. Specimens of all these species are found in the research collection of the Section of Mammals at Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
The larger map on each mammal page shows the counties from which specimens are represented in our collection. Others have very limited distribution due to such factors as soil requirements, food preferences, or geographic barriers to dispersal. Some mammals are found throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Maps are shown for each species whose current distribution is known.
Click on the name or image for additional information. The list provides common names and currently recognized scientific names. The following is a list of the 70 mammals known to live or have lived in Pennsylvania.
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