BRIDGTON, Maine (AP) _ The growing population of black bears in the United States has scientists sorting through thousands more teeth to get a handle on the health of America's bruins.
States use bear teeth to find out how old the animals were at the time they died. They're most often harvested from bears killed by big game hunters, who seek the burly animals for sport all over the country.
Matson's Laboratory in Manhattan, Montana, processes the most teeth of any lab in America. The lab processed nearly 260,000 black bear teeth from 2009 to 2016, up from less than 220,000 from 2001 to 2008.
The tooth boom comes as the black bear population is expanding in many states, especially in East Coast states like Maine. State wildlife officials say it'll provide important data.