title: Big Tech

text: Amazon Web Services made up 59% of the Amazon's profit in 2020, and more than half of the company's profit every year since 2014. Following the development of EC2 by Amazon in 2006, Google and Microsoft followed in 2008 with Google App Engine (expanded to Google Cloud Platform since 2011) and Windows Azure (Microsoft Azure since 2010).


title: Big Tech

text: In November 2022, Amazon fell below $1 trillion market capitalization for the first time since April 2020.


title: Big Tech

text: Apple sells high-margin smartphones and other consumer electronics devices, sharing a duopoly with Google in the field of mobile operating systems: 27% of the market share belonging to Apple (iOS) and 72% to Google (Android).


title: Big Tech

text: Meta Platforms, formerly Facebook, Inc. until its rebranding in October 2021, is the parent company of the Facebook social network, as well as owner of the Instagram online image sharing service and WhatsApp online messaging service.


title: Big Tech

text: After closing with a $1 trillion market capitalization for the first time in June 2021 as Facebook, Inc., Meta Platforms finished 2021 below the $1 trillion market cap. In February 2022, Meta Platforms fell to less than $600 billion in market capitalization (including setting a new record for the largest one-day drop in U.S. stock market history of $232 billion on February 3), and fell further to $270 billion in October 2022 (and was no longer within the top 20 publicly traded U.S. companies).


title: Big Tech

text: Microsoft continues to dominate in desktop operating system market share (Microsoft Windows) and in office productivity software (Microsoft Office). Microsoft is also the second biggest company in the cloud computing industry (Microsoft Azure), after Amazon, and is also one of the biggest players in the video game industry (Xbox). Microsoft is also the dominant player in enterprise software (Microsoft 365, also available for consumers), and business collaboration suite (Microsoft Teams).


title: Big Tech

text: Although smaller in market capitalization, Netflix, Twitter, Snap, Salesforce, Oracle, and Uber are sometimes referred to as "Big Tech" due to their popular influence. Twitter being categorized as Big Tech has featured in political debates and economic commentary due to perceived political and social influence of the platform.


title: Big Tech

text: Automaker Tesla has frequently been deemed one of the Big Tech companies, though its inclusion is subject to wide debate. Opponents to its designation as a tech company include Stephen Wilmot, a correspondent for "The Wall Street Journal", who raises concerns regarding the supply chain, especially raw materials, semiconductor shortages, and the price of electric vehicle batteries. Business Insider concurs, stating that because Tesla makes more cars, it should be classified as an automaker and should aspire to be more like Honda. In support of the designation include Al Root of Barron's, who argues while Tesla is not a good tech company due to factors of the car market, but regardless still a tech company. Fortune also designated Tesla as a tech company when reporting Big Tech's 2022 Q1 earnings, and "The Washington Post" argued that Tesla's vehicles are comparable to Apple's iPhone and its walled garden ecosystem.


title: Big Tech

text: There were also two Chinese technology companies in the top ten most valuable publicly traded companies globally at the end of the 2010s – Alibaba and Tencent. Smyrnaios argued in 2016 that the Asian giant corporations Samsung, Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent could or should be included in the definition. Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and Xiaomi, collectively referred to as BATX, are often seen as the competitor companies of Big Tech in China's technology sector. TikTok developer ByteDance and more occasionally drone maker DJI, have both also been considered Big Tech. Together, the combination of the Big Five, IBM, Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent has been referred to as "G-MAFIA + BAT",


title: Big Tech

text: Smyrnaios argued in 2016 that four characteristics were key in the emergence of GAMA: the theory of media and information technology convergence, financialization, economic deregulation, and globalization. He argued that the promotion of technology convergence by people such as Nicholas Negroponte made it appear credible and desirable for the Internet to evolve into an oligopoly. Autoregulation and the difficulty of politicians to understand software issues made governmental intervention against monopolies ineffective. Financial deregulation led to GAFA's big profit margins (all four except for Amazon had about 20–25 percent profit margins in 2014 according to Smyrnaios).


title: Big Tech

text: A major contributing factor towards the growth of Big Tech is Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, passed into law in 1996. Section 230 removed the liability for online services from hosting user-generated content that is deemed illegal, providing them safe harbor as long as they acted on such material when discovered in good faith. This allowed service providers in the early days of the Internet to expand offerings without having to invest heavily into content moderation. For this reason, Section 230 is often called "The twenty-six words that created the Internet", as it helped to fuel innovation in online services over the years that allowed Big Tech companies to grow and flourish.


title: Big Tech

text: "For decades, whole regions, nations even, have tried to model themselves on a particular ideal of innovation, the lifeblood of the modern economy. From Apple to Facebook, Silicon Valley’s freewheeling ecosystem of new, nimble corporations created massive wealth and retilted the world’s economic axis." The tech giants began as small engineering-focused firms building new products when their larger competitors were less innovative (such as Xerox when Apple was founded in 1976). The companies engaged in timely investment in rising technologies of the personal computer era, dotcom era, e-commerce, rise of mobile devices, social media, and cloud computing. The characteristics of these technologies allowed the companies to expand quickly with market adoption. According to Alexis Madrigal, the style of innovation that initially drove Silicon Valley firms to grow is being lost, shifting to a form of growing through acquisitions. Additionally, large companies tend to focus on process improvements rather than new products. However, the Big Tech firms all rank near the top on the list of companies by research and development spending.


title: Big Tech

text: "Cloud wars" between the tech giants have been observed as a major factor over the years, as the companies have competed on developing more efficient cloud computing services.


title: Big Tech

text: Among those who believe that acquisitions will weaken an original innovative atmosphere is scholar Tim Wu, Wu pointed out that when Meta acquired Instagram, it simply eliminated a competitive threat that may have presented a fresher competitor had it remained independent. He also states however that when Microsoft first emerged, with its innovations in personal computing and operating systems, it created platforms for new innovations by others. Wu formulated the idea of oligopoly "kill zones" created by acquiring competitors that approach their market. Big Tech operating in digital markets and being inherently focused on technology mean that Big Tech is more likely to focus on innovation than other groups of large industry dominating corporations before them. According to a report by the think tank ITIF, acquisitions being possible supports innovation, arguing the larger firm is less likely to simply copy the process of the smaller firm.


title: Big Tech

text: According to Smyrnaios, globalization has allowed GAMAM to minimize its global taxation load and pay international workers much lower wages than would be required in the United States.


title: Big Tech

text: Smyrnaios argued in 2016 that GAMA combines six vertical levels of power: data centers, internet connectivity, computer hardware including smartphones, operating systems, Web browsers and other user-level software, and online services. He also discussed horizontal concentration of power, in which diverse services such as email, instant messaging, online searching, downloading and streaming are combined internally within any of the GAMA members. For example, Google and Microsoft pay to have their web search engines appear as first and second in Apple's iPhone.


title: Big Tech

text: According to "The Economist", "Network and scale effects mean that size begets size, while data can act as a barrier to entry."


title: Big Tech

text: The 2020 American docudrama film "The Social Dilemma" argues that capitalism is the root cause of Big Tech's harmful practices.


title: Big Tech

text: In the United States, antitrust scrutiny and investigations of members of Big Tech began in the late 1990s and early 2000s, leading to the first major American antitrust law case against a member of Big Tech in 2001 when the U.S. government accused Microsoft of illegally maintaining its monopoly position in the personal computer (PC) market primarily through the legal and technical restrictions it put on the abilities of PC manufacturers (OEMs) and users to uninstall Internet Explorer and use other programs such as Netscape and Java. At trial, the district court ruled that Microsoft's actions constituted unlawful monopolization under Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed most of the district court's judgments. The DOJ later announced on September 6, 2001, that it was no longer seeking to break up Microsoft and would instead seek a lesser antitrust penalty in exchange for a settlement by Microsoft in which Microsoft agreed to share its application programming interfaces with third-party companies and appoint a panel of three people who would have full access to Microsoft's systems, records, and source code for five years in order to ensure compliance. On November 1, 2002, Judge Kollar-Kotelly released a judgment accepting most of the proposed DOJ settlement and on June 30, 2004, the U.S. appeals court unanimously approved the settlement with the Justice Department.


title: Big Tech

text: In the late 2010s and early 2020s the Big Tech industry again became the center of antitrust attention from the United States Department of Justice and the United States Federal Trade Commission that included requests to provide information about prior acquisitions and potentially anticompetitive practices. Some Democratic candidates running for president proposed plans to break up Big Tech companies and regulate them as utilities. "The role of technology in the economy and in our lives grows more important every day," said FTC Chairman Joseph Simons. "As I’ve noted in the past, it makes sense for us to closely examine technology markets to ensure consumers benefit from free and fair competition."


title: Big Tech

text: The United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law began investigating Big Tech on an antitrust basis in June 2020, and published a report in January 2021 concluding that Apple, Amazon, Meta, and Google each operating in antitrust manners that requires some type of corrective action that either could be implemented through Congressional action or through legal actions taken by the Department of Justice, including the option of splitting up these companies.


title: Big Tech

text: On June 24, 2021 the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law held hearings on earlier introduced bills which would limit the scope of Big Tech. Among those bills was HR 3825, Ending Platform Monopolies Act introduced by Representative Pramila Jayapal which passed through the committee. The specific purpose of the bill is to prohibit platform holders to also compete in those same platforms. For example, Amazon attempted to purchase Diapers.com and when they resisted and refused to sell, Amazon started selling diaper related products at a loss which Diapers.com could not sustain. Amazon being the platform owner as well a player in the platform could easily sustain continued loss. The point came when Diapers.com could not sustain and they eventually, without any other choice ended up selling to Amazon out of fear even though Walmart was willing to pay more.


title: Big Tech

text: The issue of consumer welfare arose in the subcommittee but was voted down and rejected as the majority held the opinion that the reason we have these monopolies today is mainly because of the consumer welfare standard. This doctrine was introduced over 100 years ago and the committee would not adopt the consumer welfare standard in HR 3825.


title: Big Tech

text: The consumer welfare doctrine is an ideology which states that if the consumer enjoys lower pricing as a result of corporate mergers or decision making then those actions are not generally antitrust, no matter if there has been any damage done to the market or society. The newly appointed chair to the FTC, Lina Khan has held different views as outlined in her publication Amazon's Antitrust Paradox.


title: Big Tech

text: The recently introduced bills show that we will eventually drop or diminish the consumer welfare standard and move towards a marketplace welfare standard which promotes competition and levels the playing field for startups and businesses which have not fully grown.


title: Big Tech

text: There has been opposition from Big Tech regarding these bills and any legislation to trim them. Mark Zuckerberg of Meta implied that his company's success is important to the national security of the United States. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple spoke to House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi in an attempt to slow down the bills.


title: Big Tech

text: The spirit of the antitrust law is to protect consumers from the anticompetitive behavior of businesses that have either monopoly power in their market or companies that have banded together to exert cartel market behavior. Monopoly or cartel collusion creates market disadvantages for consumers. However, the antitrust law clearly distinguishes between purposeful monopolies and businesses that found themselves in a monopoly position purely as the result of business success. The purpose of the antitrust law is to stop businesses from deliberately creating monopoly power.


title: Big Tech

text: Consumer welfare, not assumptions that large firms are automatically harmful to competition, should be the core consideration of any antitrust action. The consumer welfare standard serves as the "good reason" in antitrust enforcement as it appropriately looks at the impact on consumers and economic efficiency. So far, it is not apparent that there has been a harm to consumer welfare and many technology companies continue to innovate and are bringing real benefits to consumers. At the same time, some Big Tech companies engage in "per se" uncompetitive conduct, such as Amazon Marketplace and Amazon Home Services, via scaled agreements that restrain free trade in violation of, inter alia, 18 U.S.C. § 1343; 15 U.S.C. § 1; 15 U.S.C. § 45. When agreements that restrain trade are scaled on the Internet, such acts can be reasonably prosecuted with criminal charges of multiple counts of wire fraud as an illegal activity that crosses interstate borders.


title: Big Tech

text: On July 9, 2021, President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14036, "Promoting Competition in the American Economy", a sweeping array of initiatives across the executive branch. Related to Big Tech, the order established an executive branch-wide policy to more thoroughly scrutinize mergers involving Big Tech companies, with focus on the acquisition of new, potentially disruptive technology from smaller firms by the larger companies. The order also instructed the FTC to establish rules related to data collection and its use by Big Tech companies in promoting their own service.


title: Big Tech

text: In June 2020, the European Union opened two new antitrust investigations into practices by Apple. The first investigation focuses on issues including whether Apple is using its dominant position in the market to stifle competition using its music and book streaming services. The second investigation focuses on Apple Pay, which allows payment by Apple devices to brick and mortar vendors. Apple limits the ability of banks and other financial institutions to use the iPhones' near field radio frequency technology.


title: Big Tech

text: Fines are insufficient to deter anti-competitive practices by high tech giants, according to European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager. Commissioner Vestager explained, "fines are not doing the trick. And fines are not enough because fines are a punishment for illegal behaviour in the past. What is also in our decision is that you have to change for the future. You have to stop what you're doing."


title: Big Tech

text: In September 2021, the United States and European Union began discussions of a joint approach to Big Tech regulation. The European Parliament reached an agreement to implement the Digital Markets Act in March 2022, which once it has been implemented by member states, would restrict what data Big Tech companies could collect from European users, require interoperability of social media messaging applications, and allow alternate app stores and payment systems for systems like Apple and Google. The EU also reached agreement to implement the Digital Services Act in April 2022, which would require tech companies to take steps to remove illegal content from their services, such as hate speech and child sexual abuse, and eliminate targeting of ads based on gender, race or religion as well as targeting ads at children. Both the Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act were enacted by the EU in July 2022.


title: Big Tech

text: Scott Galloway has criticized the companies for "avoid[ing] taxes, invad[ing] privacy, and destroy[ing] jobs", while Smyrnaios has described the group as an oligopoly, coming to dominate the online market through anti-competitive practices, ever-increasing financial power, and intellectual property law. He has argued that the current situation is the result of economic deregulation, globalization, and the failure of politicians to understand and respond to developments in technology.


title: Big Tech

text: Smyrnaios recommended developing academic analysis of the political economy of the Internet in order to understand the methods of domination and to criticize these methods in order to encourage opposition to that domination.


title: Big Tech

text: On May 9, 2019, the Parliament of France passed a law intended to force GAMA to pay for related rights (the reuse of substantial amounts of text, photos or videos), to the publishers and news agencies of the original materials. The law is aimed at implementing Article 15 of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market of the European Union.


title: Big Tech

text: According to "The Globe and Mail", criticism of Big Tech has come from both the left (progressives) and the right (conservatives). The Left has criticized Big Tech for "runaway profit-taking and concentration of wealth", while the Right has criticized Big Tech for having a "liberal bias". According to "The New York Times", "The left generally argues that companies like Facebook and Twitter aren't doing enough to root out misinformation, extremism and hate on their platforms, while the right insists that tech companies are going so overboard in their content decisions that they're suppressing conservative political views." According to "The Hill", libertarians are against government regulation of Big Tech due to their support for laissez-faire economics.


title: Big Tech

text: Following Russian interference in the 2016 US election, Facebook was criticized for not doing enough to curb misinformation, and accused of downplaying its role in allowing misinformation to spread. Part of the controversy involved the Cambridge Analytica scandal and political data collection. In 2019, a Senate Intelligence Committee report criticized tech giants more generally for not responding strongly enough to misinformation, most Senate Intelligence reports regarding the subject focused on Meta and Twitter's role. 'Big tech' social media networks improved their response to fake accounts and influence operation trolls, and these initiatives received some praise compared to 2016.


title: Big Tech

text: In 2020 and 2021, social media giants have been frequently criticized for allowing COVID-19 misinformation to spread. According to Representatives Frank Pallone, Mike Doyle, and Jan Schakowsky, "Industry self-regulation has failed. We must begin the work of changing incentives driving social media companies to allow and even promote misinformation and disinformation." President Joe Biden criticized Facebook for allowing anti-vaccine propaganda to spread. Multiple social media platforms introduced more stringent moderation of health-related misinformation.


title: Big Tech

text: Human Rights Watch criticized Big Tech, primarily Meta's Facebook, for capturing the information market in developing countries where misinformation would rapidly spread to new internet users.


title: Big Tech

text: The practice of banning of what is known as "hate speech" has also received public criticism as many of the targets tend to be conservatives. In July 2020, United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law held a congressional hearing of CEOs of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple and Facebook, where some members of the subcommittee raised concerns about alleged bias against conservatives on social media. U.S. Representative for Florida's 1st congressional district Matt Gaetz suggested that the CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos should "divorce from the SPLC," due to the practice of forbidding donations to organizations which are designated as hate groups by the SPLC.


title: Big Tech

text: On November 5, 2020, U. S. President Donald Trump claimed "historic election interference from big money, big media and big tech" and labeled the Democratic Party as "party of the big donors, the big media, the big tech". Conservative paper "Washington Times" criticized Trump's claim of election fraud as without evidence. On January 6, 2021, during his speech before the crowd of protesters stormed the United States Capitol, Trump accused "Big Tech" of rigging elections and shadow banning conservatives, while promising to hold them accountable and work to "get rid of" Section 230. On January 11, after Trump's Twitter account was suspended, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief spokesman Steffen Seibert noted that Merkel found Twitter's halt of Trump's account "problematic", adding that legislators, not private companies, should decide on any necessary curbs to free expression if speech incites to violence.


title: Big Tech

text: According to a New York University report in February 2021, conservative claims of social media censorship could be a form of disinformation, since an analysis of available data indicated that the claims that right-wing views were censored was false. Nonetheless, the same report also recommended that social media platforms could be more transparent to assuage concerns of ideological censorship, even if those concerns are overblown. However, conservatives have argued that Facebook and Twitter limiting the spread of the Hunter Biden laptop controversy on their platforms that later turned out to be accurate "proves Big Tech's bias". There is also a fear of over-censoring. One example is the ban of the channel Right Wing Watch by YouTube, which was banned for showing far-right content with the explicit goal of exposing and warning about those views (the channel was later restored after a backlash). Separately, Human Rights Watch stated that, particularly on Facebook, excessive content removals meant the loss of important information such as the documentation of human rights abuses needed as evidence to serve justice.


title: Big Tech

text: Facebook is also accused of censoring progressive voices, like deleting political ads by Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren who called for increased regulation of Big Tech monopolists and for breaking up Facebook because of its monopoly and abuse of power. Warren accused the company of having the "ability to shut down a debate" and called for "a social media marketplace that isn't dominated by a single censor".


title: Big Tech

text: Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny criticized tech giants (specifically Apple and Google) for cooperating with a Russian government order to ban the Smart Voting app. In India, Facebook and Twitter were criticized for censoring social media in favour of the Indian government during the 2020–2021 Indian farmers' protest. The Wall Street Journal pointed out how Facebook regularly restricted content critical of the Indian government, but never any content by government supporters, no matter how false their claims.


title: Big Tech

text: The largest tech platforms have faced censorship themselves. Google have been banned in China since 2010, when they decided to leave the country after the Communist Party demanded censorship of search results. although an attempt at establishing Google China was made. Meta and Twitter have been banned in China since 2009. Microsoft's LinkedIn has been blocked in Russia since 2016. Russia also blocked access to Facebook and Twitter because of "disinformation" and "fake news" in 2022.


title: Big Tech

text: On March 21, 2022, Russia recognized Meta as an extremist organization, making Meta the first public company to be recognized as extremist in Russia.


title: Big Tech

text: Alt-tech is a group of websites, social media platforms, and Internet service providers that consider themselves alternatives to more mainstream offerings. In the 2010s and 2020s, some conservatives who were banned from other social media platforms, and their supporters, began to move toward alt-tech platforms. Alt-tech platforms have been criticized by researchers and journalists for providing a cover for far-right userbases and antisemitism.


title: Big Tech

text: Distributed social networks such as the fediverse, for microblogging based on the ActivityPub protocol, are decentralised networks, typically based on free and open-source software (FOSS) that aim at community moderation of content. In 2018, the fediverse was "a loose family of sites that promote unfettered interaction across servers or even services", intended to provide an alternative to the "walled gardens" of Big Tech social networks.


title: Thomas Haden Church

text: Thomas Haden Church (born Thomas Richard McMillen; June 17, 1960) is an American actor. After starring in the 1990s sitcom "Wings" and playing the lead for two seasons in "Ned & Stacey" (1995–1997)"," Church became known for his film work, including his role of Lyle van de Groot in "George of the Jungle" (1997), his Academy Award-nominated performance in "Sideways" (2004), his role as the Marvel Comics villain Sandman in the superhero films "Spider-Man 3" (2007) and "" (2021), as well as his starring roles in "Smart People" (2008), "Easy A" (2010), "We Bought a Zoo" (2011), and "Hellboy" (2019). He also made his directorial debut with "Rolling Kansas" (2003).


title: Thomas Haden Church

text: Church was born as Thomas Richard McMillen in Woodland, Yolo County, California, the son of Maxine (née Sanders; 1936-2021) and Carlos "Carl" Richard McMillen (1936–2008), who served for eight years in the Marines and who was on active duty at the end of the Korean War; after 1962, Carlos worked as a surveyor. Church's parents divorced and his mother moved to Laredo, Texas. She remarried in 1969, to widower George A. Quesada, a veteran of an Army Air Forces reconnaissance unit which served in Guam in World War II. Church took his stepfather's surname for a time but changed it to 'Haden Church', extracted from the names of other relatives, when people found 'Quesada' difficult to pronounce. He left high school in 1977 to work in the oil fields of Louisiana, but he returned to graduate from Harlingen High School in 1979. He attended the University of North Texas while living in Dallas.


title: Thomas Haden Church

text: Church started in the entertainment business as a radio personality and doing voice-over work. After appearing in an independent film, he moved to California to pursue an acting career. His character delivers a love letter to Carla Tortelli (Rhea Perlman) from her deceased former lover, Eddie LaBec, in the "Cheers" episode, "Death Takes a Vacation on Ice". He played the part of slow-witted aircraft mechanic Lowell Mather for six seasons (1990–95) on the NBC sitcom "Wings".


title: Thomas Haden Church

text: He worked in television for two more seasons, with a lead role in "Ned & Stacey" opposite Debra Messing. He has had supporting roles in films such as "Tombstone", "George of the Jungle", "The Specials", and "Demon Knight".


title: Thomas Haden Church

text: Church bought a ranch in Texas in 1998. In late 2000, he took a break from films. After having small roles in films such as "Monkeybone" and "3000 Miles to Graceland", he made his directorial debut with "Rolling Kansas" in 2003. He has voiceover work in commercials, such as for Merrill Lynch and Icehouse beer.


title: Thomas Haden Church

text: In 2003, director Alexander Payne called him regarding the role of Jack, the selfish best friend of Paul Giamatti's character, in "Sideways". During the audition, Church stripped naked to read the audition scene, later saying "To me, it was painfully obvious... I was reading the scene where Jack comes in naked and there has to be in-born vulnerability in the scene." (He later found that he was the only actor to strip down for the audition). "Sideways" earned acclaim for Church; he won an IFP Independent Spirit Award and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.


title: Thomas Haden Church

text: He has since appeared in films such as "Idiocracy", done voice-over work on films such as "Over the Hedge" and starred in one of AMC's highest rated television productions, "Broken Trail", with Robert Duvall, in 2006, for which he won an Emmy. In 2007, he appeared as the villain Sandman in Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 3" starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. He received praise for his portrayal of the character. Although he was not present on set he lent his voice to Sandman (digitally created) for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film "", released in 2021 and linked both the Raimi and Marc Webb franchises to the MCU. Archival footage from "Spider-Man 3" was used to show his human form at the end of the film where Jon Watts provided the motion-capture for Sandman.


title: Thomas Haden Church

text: In 2005, he was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In October 2008, Church appeared as "Joe Six-Pack" in a video on funnyordie.com, challenging Joe the Plumber to a beer-drinking contest. Church starred in the FEARnet webseries, "Zombie Roadkill", alongside David Dorfman. He also appeared in the HBO original series "Divorce".


title: Thomas Haden Church

text: In December 2021, it was announced that Church will star alongside Toni Collette and Anna Faris in the comedy film "The Estate", directed by Dean Craig.


title: Thomas Haden Church

text: Church lives on his ranch in Kerrville, Texas. During the filming of "Divorce", he rented a house in New Rochelle, New York. He has two children from a former relationship with Mia Zottoli, but was never married to her or anyone else despite a 2008 article in the "Los Angeles Times" incorrectly claiming he was married to his partner. Church's father, Carl, died in 2008, and his stepfather, George, died in 2012.


title: Thomas Haden Church

text: Church has received multiple awards and nominations for his roles in both television and film. He earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 2005 for his role as Jack in "Sideways" (2004), two Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor in 2004 for the film "Sideways" (2004) and Best Supporting Actor in 2007 for the miniseries "Broken Trail" (2006), won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie in 2007 for "Broken Trail" (2006), and won one of three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations in 2005 for Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for "Sideways" (2004).


title: American black bear

text: The American black bear (Ursus americanus), also called simply a black bear or sometimes a baribal, is a medium-sized bear endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. American black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but will leave forests in search of food, and are sometimes attracted to human communities due to the immediate availability of food.


title: American black bear

text: The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the American black bear as a least-concern species, due to its widespread distribution and a large population estimated to be twice that of all other bear species combined. Along with the brown bear ("Ursus arctos"), it is one of only two modern bear species not considered by the IUCN to be globally threatened with extinction.


title: American black bear

text: Despite living in North America, American black bears are not closely related to brown bears and polar bears; genetic studies reveal that they split from a common ancestor 5.05 million years ago (mya). American and Asian black bears are considered sister taxa and are more closely related to each other than to the other modern species of bears. According to recent studies, the sun bear is also a relatively recent split from this lineage.


title: American black bear

text: A small primitive bear called "Ursus abstrusus" is the oldest known North American fossil member of the genus "Ursus", dated to 4.95 mya. This suggests that "U. abstrusus" may be the direct ancestor of the American black bear, which evolved in North America. Although Wolverton and Lyman still consider "U. vitabilis" an "apparent precursor to modern black bears", it has also been placed within "U. americanus".


title: American black bear

text: The ancestors of American black bears and Asian black bears diverged from sun bears 4.58 mya. The American black bear then split from the Asian black bear 4.08 mya. The earliest American black bear fossils, which were located in Port Kennedy, Pennsylvania, greatly resemble the Asian species, though later specimens grew to sizes comparable to grizzly bears. From the Holocene to the present, American black bears seem to have shrunk in size, but this has been disputed because of problems with dating these fossil specimens.


title: American black bear

text: The American black bear lived during the same period as the giant and lesser short-faced bears ("Arctodus simus" and "A. pristinus", respectively) and the Florida spectacled bear ("Tremarctos floridanus"). These tremarctine bears evolved from bears that had emigrated from Asia to the Americas 7–8 mya. The giant and lesser short-faced bears are thought to have been heavily carnivorous and the Florida spectacled bear more herbivorous, while the American black bears remained arboreal omnivores, like their Asian ancestors. The American black bear's generalist behavior allowed it to exploit a wider variety of foods and has been given as a reason why, of these three genera, it alone survived climate and vegetative changes through the last Ice Age while the other, more specialized North American predators became extinct. However, both "Arctodus" and "Tremarctos" had survived several other, previous ice ages. After these prehistoric ursids became extinct during the last glacial period 10,000 years ago, American black bears were probably the only bear present in much of North America until the migration of brown bears to the rest of the continent.


title: American black bear

text: American black bears are reproductively compatible with several other bear species and occasionally produce hybrid offspring. According to Jack Hanna's "Monkeys on the Interstate", a bear captured in Sanford, Florida was thought to have been the offspring of an escaped female Asian black bear and a male American black bear. In 1859, an American black bear and a Eurasian brown bear were bred together in the London Zoological Gardens, but the three cubs that were born, died before they reached maturity. In "The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication", Charles Darwin noted:


title: American black bear

text: A bear shot in autumn 1986 in Michigan was thought by some to be an American black bear/grizzly bear hybrid, due to its unusually large size and its proportionately larger brain case and skull. DNA testing was unable to determine whether it was a large American black bear or a grizzly bear.


title: American black bear

text: Sixteen subspecies are traditionally recognized; however, a recent genetic study does not support designating some of these, such as the Florida black bear, as distinct subspecies. Listed alphabetically according to subspecific name:


title: American black bear

text: Historically, American black bears occupied the majority of North America's forested regions. Today, they are primarily limited to sparsely settled, forested areas. American black bears currently inhabit much of their original Canadian range, though they seldom occur in the southern farmlands of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba; they have been extirpated on Prince Edward Island since 1937. The total Canadian black bear population is between 396,000 and 476,000, based on surveys taken in the mid-1990s in seven Canadian provinces, though this estimate excludes American black bear populations in New Brunswick, the Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan. All provinces indicated stable populations of American black bears over the last decade.


title: American black bear

text: The current range of American black bears in the United States is constant throughout most of the Northeast and within the Appalachian Mountains almost continuously from Maine to northern Georgia, the northern Midwest, the Rocky Mountain region, the West Coast and Alaska. However, it becomes increasingly fragmented or absent in other regions. Despite this, American black bears in those areas seem to have expanded their range during the last decade, such as with recent sightings in Ohio, Illinois, and southern Indiana. Sightings of itinerant American black bears in the Driftless Area of southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, and southwestern Wisconsin are common. In the spring of 2019, biologists with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources confirmed documentation of an American black bear living year-round in woodlands near the town of Decorah in northeastern Iowa, believed to be the first instance of a resident black bear in Iowa since the 1880s.


title: American black bear

text: Surveys taken from 35 states in the early 1990s indicate that American black bears are either stable or increasing, except in Idaho and New Mexico. The overall population of American black bears in the United States has been estimated to range between 339,000 and 465,000, though this excludes populations from Alaska, Idaho, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming, whose population sizes are unknown. In the state of California, there are an estimated 25,000-35,000 American black bears, making it the largest population of the species in the contiguous United States.


title: American black bear

text: As of 1993, known Mexican black bear populations existed in four areas, though knowledge on the distribution of populations outside those areas has not been updated since 1959. Mexico is the only country where the American black bear is classified as "endangered".


title: American black bear

text: There have been several sightings quite far away from where the American black bear is normally found, such as western Nebraska.


title: American black bear

text: There are about 1,500 bears in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The population density is about two per square mile. They inhabit all elevations in the park.


title: American black bear

text: Throughout their range, habitats preferred by American black bears have a few shared characteristics. They are often found in areas with relatively inaccessible terrain, thick understory vegetation and large quantities of edible material (especially masts). The adaptation to woodlands and thick vegetation in this species may have originally been due to the American black bear having evolved alongside larger, more aggressive bear species, such as the extinct giant short-faced bear and the still-living grizzly bear, that monopolized more open habitats and the historic presence of larger predators, such as "Smilodon" and the American lion, that could have preyed on American black bears. Although found in the largest numbers in wild, undisturbed areas and rural regions, American black bears can adapt to surviving in some numbers in peri-urban regions, as long as they contain easily accessible foods and some vegetative coverage.


title: American black bear

text: In most of the contiguous United States, American black bears today are usually found in heavily vegetated mountainous areas, from in elevation. For American black bears living in the American Southwest and Mexico, habitat usually consists of stands of chaparral and pinyon juniper woods. In this region, bears occasionally move to more open areas to feed on prickly pear cactus. At least two distinct, prime habitat types are inhabited in the Southeastern United States. American black bears in the southern Appalachian Mountains survive in predominantly oak-hickory and mixed mesophytic forests. In the coastal areas of the Southeast (such as Florida, the Carolinas and Louisiana), bears inhabit a mixture of flatwoods, bays and swampy hardwood sites.


title: American black bear

text: In the northeastern part of the range (the United States and Canada), prime habitat consists of a forest canopy of hardwoods such as beech, maple, birch and coniferous species. Corn crops and oak-hickory mast are also common sources of food in some sections of the Northeast; small, thick swampy areas provide excellent refuge cover largely in stands of white cedar. Along the Pacific coast, redwood, Sitka spruce and hemlocks predominate as overstory cover. Within these northern forest types are early successional areas important for American black bears, such as fields of brush, wet and dry meadows, high tidelands, riparian areas and a variety of mast-producing hardwood species. The spruce-fir forest dominates much of the range of the American black bear in the Rockies. Important non-forested areas here are wet meadows, riparian areas, avalanche chutes, roadsides, burns, sidehill parks and subalpine ridgetops.


title: American black bear

text: In areas where human development is relatively low, such as stretches of Canada and Alaska, American black bears tend to be found more regularly in lowland regions. In parts of northeastern Canada, especially Labrador, American black bears have adapted exclusively to semi-open areas that are more typical habitat in North America for brown bears (likely due to the absence there of brown and polar bears, as well as other large carnivore species).


title: American black bear

text: The skulls of American black bears are broad, with narrow muzzles and large jaw hinges. In Virginia, the total length of adult bear skulls was found to average . Across its range, the greatest skull length for the species has been reportedly measured from . Females tend to have slenderer and more pointed faces than males. Their claws are typically black or grayish-brown. The claws are short and rounded, being thick at the base and tapering to a point. Claws from both hind and front legs are almost identical in length, though the foreclaws tend to be more sharply curved. The paws of the species are relatively large, with a rear foot length of , which is proportionately larger than other medium-sized bear species, but much smaller than the paws of large adult brown, and especially polar, bears. The soles of the feet are black or brownish and are naked, leathery and deeply wrinkled. The hind legs are relatively longer than those of Asian black bears. The vestigial tail is usually long. The ears are small and rounded and are set well back on the head.


title: American black bear

text: American black bears are highly dexterous, being capable of opening screw-top jars and manipulating door latches. They also have great physical strength; a bear weighing was observed turning flat rocks weighing by flipping them over with a single foreleg. They move in a rhythmic, sure-footed way and can run at speeds of . American black bears have good eyesight and have been proven experimentally to be able to learn visual color discrimination tasks faster than chimpanzees and just as fast as domestic dogs. They are also capable of rapidly learning to distinguish different shapes such as small triangles, circles and squares.


title: American black bear

text: American black bear weight tends to vary according to age, sex, health and season. Seasonal variation in weight is very pronounced: in autumn, their pre-den weight tends to be 30% higher than in spring, when black bears emerge from their dens. American black bears on the East Coast tend to be heavier on average than those on the West Coast, although American black bears follow Bergmann's rule and bears from the Northwest are often slightly heavier than the bears from the Southeast. Adult males typically weigh between , while females weigh 33% less at .


title: American black bear

text: In the state of California, studies have indicated that the average mass is in adult males and in adult females. Adult American black bears in Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge in east-central Alaska were found to average in males and in females, whereas on Kuiu Island in southeastern Alaska (where nutritious salmon are readily available) adult American black bears averaged an estimated . In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, adult males averaged and adult females averaged per one study. In one of the largest studies on regional body mass, bears in British Columbia averaged in 89 females and in 243 males. In Yellowstone National Park, a population study found that adult males averaged and adult females averaged . Black bears in north-central Minnesota averaged in 163 females and in 77 males. In New York, the two sexes reportedly average for males, and for females. It was found in Nevada and the Lake Tahoe region that American black bears closer to urban regions were significantly heavier than their arid-country dwelling counterparts, with males near urban areas averaging against wild-land males which averaged whereas peri-urban females averaged against the average of in wild-land ones. In Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, adults reportedly averaged . Adults typically range from in head-and-body length, and in shoulder height. The typically small tail is long. Although they are the smallest bear species in North America, large males exceed the size of other bear species, except the brown bear and the polar bear.


title: American black bear

text: The biggest wild American black bear ever recorded was a male from New Brunswick, shot in November 1972, that weighed after it had been dressed, meaning it weighed an estimated in life and measured long. Another notably outsized wild American black bear, weighing in at in total, was the cattle-killer shot in December 1921 on the Moqui Reservation in Arizona. The record-sized American black bear from New Jersey was shot in Morris County December 2011 and scaled . Even larger, the most massive American black bear recorded in Pennsylvania (one of six weighing over shot in the last 15 years in the state) weighed in at and was shot in November 2010 in Pike County. The North American Bear Center, located in Ely, Minnesota, is home to the world's largest captive male and female American black bears. Ted, the male, weighed in the fall of 2006. Honey, the female, weighed in the fall of 2007.


title: American black bear

text: The fur is soft, with dense underfur and long, coarse, thick guard hairs. The fur is not as shaggy or coarse as that of brown bears. American black bear skins can be distinguished from those of Asian black bears by the lack of a white blaze on the chest and hairier footpads. Despite their name, American black bears show a great deal of color variation. Individual coat colors can range from white, blonde, cinnamon, light brown or dark chocolate brown to jet black, with many intermediate variations existing. Silvery-gray American black bears with a blue luster (this is found mostly on the flanks) occur along a portion of coastal Alaska and British Columbia. White to cream-colored American black bears occur in the coastal islands and the adjacent mainland of southwestern British Columbia. Albino individuals have also been recorded. Black coats tend to predominate in moist areas such as Maine, New York, Tennessee, Michigan and western Washington. Approximately 70% of all American black bears are black, though only 50% of American black bears in the Rocky Mountains are black. Many American black bears in northwestern North America are cinnamon, blonde or light brown in color and thus may sometimes be mistaken for grizzly bears. Grizzly (and other types of brown) bears can be distinguished by their shoulder hump, larger size and broader, more concave skull.


title: American black bear

text: In his book "The Great Bear Almanac", Gary Brown summarized the predominance of black or brown/blonde specimens by location:


title: American black bear

text: American black bears have eyesight and hearing comparable to that of humans. Their keenest sense is their sense of smell, which is about seven times more sensitive than a domestic dog's. American black bears are excellent and strong swimmers, swimming for pleasure and to feed (largely on fish). They regularly climb trees to feed, escape enemies and hibernate. Four of the eight modern bear species are habitually arboreal (the most arboreal species, the American and Asian black bears and the sun bear, being fairly closely related). Their arboreal abilities tend to decline with age. They may be active at any time of the day or night, although they mainly forage by night. American black bears living near human habitations tend to be more extensively nocturnal, while those living near brown bears tend to be more often diurnal.


title: American black bear

text: American black bears tend to be territorial and non-gregarious in nature. However, at abundant food sources (e.g. spawning salmon or garbage dumps), they may congregate and dominance hierarchies form, with the largest, most powerful males dominating the most fruitful feeding spots. They mark their territories by rubbing their bodies against trees and clawing at the bark. Annual ranges held by mature male American black bears tend to be very large, though there is some variation. On Long Island off the coast of Washington, ranges average , whereas on the Ungava Peninsula in Canada ranges can average up to , with some male bears traveling as far as at times of food shortages.


title: American black bear

text: American black bears may communicate with various vocal and non-vocal sounds. Tongue-clicking and grunting are the most common sounds and are made in cordial situations to conspecifics, offspring and occasionally humans. When at ease, they produce a loud rumbling hum. During times of fear or nervousness, bears may moan, huff or blow air. Warning sounds include jaw-clicking and lip-popping. In aggressive interactions, black bears produce guttural pulsing calls that may sound like growling. Cubs squeal, bawl or scream when anxious and make a motor-like humming sound when comfortable or nursing. American black bears often mark trees using their teeth and claws as a form of communication with other bears, a behavior common to many species of bears.


title: American black bear

text: Sows usually produce their first litter at the age of 3 to 5 years, with those living in more developed areas tending to get pregnant at younger ages. The breeding period usually occurs in the June–July period, though it can extend to August in the species' northern range. The breeding period lasts for two to three months. Both sexes are promiscuous. Males try to mate with several females, but large, dominant ones may violently claim a female if another mature male comes near. Copulation can last 20–30 minutes. Sows tend to be short-tempered with their mates after copulating. The fertilized eggs undergo delayed development and do not implant in the female's womb until November. The gestation period lasts 235 days and litters are usually born in late January to early February. Litter size is between one and six cubs, typically two or three. At birth, cubs weigh and measure in length. They are born with fine, gray, down-like hair and their hind quarters are underdeveloped. They typically open their eyes after 28–40 days and begin walking after 5 weeks. Cubs are dependent on their mother's milk for 30 weeks and will reach independence at 16–18 months. At the age of 6 weeks, they attain , by the age of 8 weeks they reach and by the age of 6 months they weigh . They reach sexual maturity at the age of 3 years and attain their full growth at the age of 5 years.


title: American black bear

text: The average lifespan in the wild is 18 years, though it is quite possible for wild individuals to survive for more than 23 years. The record age of a wild individual was 39 years, while that in captivity was 44 years. The average annual survival rate for adult American black bears is variable, ranging from 86% in Florida to 73% in Virginia and North Carolina. In Minnesota, 99% of wintering adult bears were able to survive the hibernation cycle in one study. Remarkably, a study of American black bears in Nevada found that the amount of annual mortality of a population of bears in wilderness areas was 0%, whereas in developed areas in the state this figure rose to 83%. Survival in subadults is generally less assured. In Alaska, only 14–17% of subadult males and 30–48% of subadult females were found in a study to survive to adulthood. Across the range, the estimated number of cubs who survive past their first year is 60%.


title: American black bear

text: With the exception of the rare confrontation with an adult brown bear or a gray wolf pack, adult American black bears are not usually subject to natural predation. However, as evidenced by scats with fur inside of them and the recently discovered carcass of an adult sow with puncture marks in the skull, American black bears may occasionally fall prey to jaguars in the southern parts of their range. In such scenarios, the big cat would have the advantage if it ambushed the bear, killing it with a crushing bite to the back of the skull. American black bear cubs tend to be more vulnerable to predation than adults. Known predators of bear cubs have included bobcats, coyotes, cougars, gray wolves, brown bears and other bears of their own species. Many of these will stealthily snatch small cubs right from under the sleeping mother. There is a single record of a golden eagle snatching a yearling cub. Once out of hibernation, mother bears may be able to fight off most potential predators. Even cougars will be displaced by an angry mother bear if they are discovered stalking the cubs. Flooding of dens after birth may also occasionally kill newborn cubs. However, in current times, American black bear fatalities are mainly attributable to human activities. Seasonally, thousands of American black bears are hunted legally across North America to control their numbers, while some are illegally poached or trapped unregulated. Auto collisions also may claim many American black bear lives annually.


title: American black bear

text: American black bears were once not considered true or "deep" hibernators, but because of discoveries about the metabolic changes that allow American black bears to remain dormant for months without eating, drinking, urinating or defecating, most biologists have redefined mammalian hibernation as "specialized, seasonal reduction in metabolism concurrent with scarce food and cold weather". American black bears are now considered highly efficient hibernators. The physiology of American black bears in the wild is closely related to that of bears in captivity. Understanding the physiology of bears in the wild is vital to the bear's success in captivity.


title: American black bear

text: The bears enter their dens in October and November, although in the southernmost areas of their range (i.e. Florida, Mexico, the Southeastern United States), only pregnant females and mothers with yearling cubs will enter hibernation. Prior to that time, they can put on up to of body fat to get them through the several months during which they fast. Hibernation in American black bears typically lasts 3–8 months, depending on regional climate.


title: American black bear

text: Hibernating American black bears spend their time in hollowed-out dens in tree cavities, under logs or rocks, in banks, caves, or culverts and in shallow depressions. Although naturally made dens are occasionally used, most dens are dug out by the bear itself. Females have been shown to be pickier in their choice of dens in comparison to males.


title: American black bear

text: During their time in hibernation, an American black bear's heart rate drops from 40 to 50 beats per minute to 8 beats per minute and the metabolic rate can drop to a quarter of the bear's (nonhibernating) basal metabolic rate (BMR). These reductions in metabolic rate and heart rate do not appear to decrease the bear's ability to heal injuries during hibernation. Their circadian rhythm stays intact during hibernation. This allows the bear to sense the changes in the day based on the ambient temperature caused by the sun's position in the sky. It has also been shown that ambient light exposure and low disturbance levels (that is to say, wild bears in ambient light conditions) directly correlate with their activity levels. The bear keeping track of the changing days allows it to awaken from hibernation at the appropriate time of year to conserve as much energy as possible.


title: American black bear

text: The hibernating American black bear does not display the same rate of muscle and bone atrophy relative to other nonhibernatory animals that are subject to long periods of inactivity due to ailment or old age. A hibernating American black bear loses approximately half the muscular strength compared to that of a well-nourished, inactive human. The bear's bone mass does not change in geometry or mineral composition during hibernation, which implies that the bear's conservation of bone mass during hibernation is due to a biological mechanism. During hibernation American black bears retain all excretory waste, leading to the development of a hardened mass of fecal material in the colon known as a fecal plug. A special hormone, leptin, is released into the bear's systems to suppress appetite. The retention of waste during hibernation (specifically in minerals such as calcium) may play a role in the bear's resistance to atrophy.


title: American black bear

text: The body temperature of the American black bear does not drop significantly, like other mammalian hibernators (staying around ) and they remain somewhat alert and active. If the winter is mild enough, they may wake up and forage for food. Females also give birth in February and nurture their cubs until the snow melts. During winter, American black bears consume 25–40% of their body weight. The footpads peel off while they sleep, making room for new tissue.


title: American black bear

text: Many of the physiological changes an American black bear exhibits during hibernation are retained slightly post-hibernation. Upon exiting hibernation, bears retain a reduced heart rate and basal metabolic rate. The metabolic rate of a hibernating bear will remain at a reduced level for up to 21 days after hibernation. After emerging from their winter dens in spring, they wander their home ranges for two weeks so that their metabolism accustoms itself to the activity. In mountainous areas, they seek southerly slopes at lower elevations for forage and move to northerly and easterly slopes at higher elevations as summer progresses.


title: American black bear

text: The time that American black bears emerge from hibernation varies. Factors affecting this include temperature, flooding, and hunger. In southern areas, they may wake up in midwinter. Further north, they may not be seen until late March, April, or even early May. Altitude also has an effect. Bears at lower altitudes tend to emerge earlier. Finally, mature males tend to come out earliest, followed by immature males and females, and lastly mothers with cubs. Mothers with yearling cubs are seen before those with newborns.


title: American black bear

text: Generally, American black bears are largely crepuscular in foraging activity, though they may actively feed at any time. Up to 85% of the American black bear's diet consists of vegetation, though they tend to dig less than brown bears, eating far fewer roots, bulbs, corms and tubers than the latter species. When initially emerging from hibernation, they will seek to feed on carrion from winter-killed animals and newborn ungulates. As the spring temperature warms, American black bears seek new shoots of many plant species, especially new grasses, wetland plants and forbs. Young shoots and buds from trees and shrubs during the spring period are also especially important to American black bears emerging from hibernation, as they assist in rebuilding muscle and strengthening the skeleton and are often the only digestible foods available at that time. During summer, the diet largely comprises fruits, especially berries and soft masts such as buds and drupes. During the autumn hyperphagia, feeding becomes virtually the full-time task of American black bears. Hard masts become the most important part of the American black bear's diet in autumn and may even partially dictate the species' distribution. Favored masts such as hazelnuts, oak acorns and whitebark pine nuts may be consumed by the hundreds each day by a single American black bear during the fall. During the fall period, American black bears may also habitually raid the nut caches of tree squirrels. Also extremely important in fall are berries such as huckleberries and buffalo berries. American black bears living in areas near human settlements or around a considerable influx of recreational human activity often come to rely on foods inadvertently provided by humans, especially during summertime. These include refuse, birdseed, agricultural products and honey from apiaries.


title: American black bear

text: The majority of the American black bear's animal diet consists of insects, such as bees, yellow jackets, ants and their larvae. American black bears are also fond of honey and will gnaw through trees if hives are too deeply set into the trunks for them to reach it with their paws. Once the hive is breached, the bears will scrape the honeycombs together with their paws and eat them, regardless of stings from the bees. American black bears that live in northern coastal regions (especially the Pacific Coast) will fish for salmon during the night, as their black fur is easily spotted by salmon in the daytime. Other bears, such as the white-furred Kermode bears of the islands of western Canada, have a 30% greater success rate in catching salmon than their black-furred counterparts. Other fish, including suckers, trout and catfish, are readily caught whenever possible. Although American black bears do not often engage in active predation of other large animals for much of the year, the species will regularly prey on mule and white-tailed deer fawns in spring, given the opportunity. Bears may catch the scent of hiding fawns when foraging for something else and then sniff them out and pounce on them. As the fawns reach 10 days of age, they can outmaneuver the bears and their scent is soon ignored until the next year. American black bears have also been recorded similarly preying on elk calves in Idaho and moose calves in Alaska.


title: American black bear

text: Predation on adult deer is rare, but it has been recorded. They may even hunt prey up to the size of adult female moose, which are considerably larger than themselves, by ambushing them. There is at least one record of a male American black bear killing two bull elk over the course of six days by chasing them into deep snow banks, which impeded their movements. In Labrador, American black bears are exceptionally carnivorous, living largely off caribou, usually young, injured, old, sickly or dead specimens, and rodents such as voles. This is believed to be due to a paucity of edible plant life in this sub-Arctic region and a local lack of competing large carnivores (including other bear species). Like brown bears, American black bears try to use surprise to ambush their prey and target the weak, injured, sickly or dying animals in the herds. Once a deer fawn is captured, it is frequently torn apart alive while feeding. If it is able to capture a mother deer in spring, the bear frequently begins feeding on the udder of lactating females, but generally prefers meat from the viscera. American black bears often drag their prey to cover, preferring to feed in seclusion. The skin of large prey is stripped back and turned inside out, with the skeleton usually left largely intact. Unlike gray wolves and coyotes, American black bears rarely scatter the remains of their kills. Vegetation around the carcass is usually matted down by American black bears and their droppings are frequently found nearby. American black bears may attempt to cover remains of larger carcasses, though they do not do so with the same frequency as cougars and grizzly bears. They will readily consume eggs and nestlings of various birds and can easily access many tree nests, even the huge nests of bald eagles. American black bears have been reported stealing deer and other game from human hunters.


title: American black bear

text: Over much of their range, American black bears are assured scavengers that can intimidate, using their large size and considerable strength, and if necessary dominate other predators in confrontations over carcasses. However, on occasions where they encounter Kodiak or grizzly bears, the larger two brown subspecies dominate them. American black bears tend to escape competition from brown bears by being more active in the daytime and living in more densely forested areas. Violent interactions, resulting in the deaths of American black bears, have been recorded in Yellowstone National Park.


title: American black bear

text: American black bears do occasionally compete with cougars over carcasses. Like brown bears, they will sometimes steal kills from cougars. One study found that both bear species visited 24% of cougar kills in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, usurping 10% of the carcasses. Another study found that American black bears visited 48% of cougar kills in summer in Colorado and 77% of kills in California. As a result, the cats spend more time killing and less time feeding on each kill.


title: American black bear

text: American black bear interactions with gray wolves are much rarer than with brown bears, due to differences in habitat preferences. The majority of American black bear encounters with wolves occur in the species' northern range, with no interactions being recorded in Mexico. Despite the American black bear being more powerful on a one-to-one basis, packs of wolves have been recorded to kill black bears on numerous occasions without eating them. Unlike brown bears, American black bears frequently lose against wolves in disputes over kills. Wolf packs typically kill American black bears when the larger animals are in their hibernation cycle.


title: American black bear

text: There is at least one record of an American black bear killing a wolverine ("Gulo gulo") in a dispute over food in Yellowstone National Park. Anecdotal cases of alligator predation on American black bears have been reported, though such cases may involve assaults on cubs.


title: American black bear

text: At least one jaguar ("Panthera onca") has been recorded to have attacked and eaten a black bear: "El Jefe", the jaguar famous for being the first jaguar seen in the United States in over a century.


title: American black bear

text: American black bears feature prominently in the stories of some of America's indigenous peoples. One tale tells of how the black bear was a creation of the Great Spirit, while the grizzly bear was created by the Evil Spirit. In the mythology of the Haida, Tlingit and Tsimshian people of the Northwest Coast, mankind first learned to respect bears when a girl married the son of a black bear chieftain. In Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw mythology, American black and brown bears became enemies when Grizzly Bear Woman killed Black Bear Woman for being lazy. Black Bear Woman's children, in turn, killed Grizzly Bear Woman's children. The Navajo believed that the Big Black Bear was chief among the bears of the four directions surrounding Sun's house and would pray to it in order to be granted its protection during raids.


title: American black bear

text: Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan is named after a Native American legend, where a female bear and her two cubs swam across Lake Michigan in order to escape a fire on the Wisconsin shore. The mother bear reached the shore and waited for her cubs, but they did not make it across. Two islands mark where the cubs drowned, while the dune marks the spot where the mother bear waited.


title: American black bear

text: Morris Michtom, the creator of the teddy bear, was inspired to make the toy when he came across a cartoon of Theodore Roosevelt refusing to shoot an American black bear cub tied to a tree. The fictional character Winnie-the-Pooh was named after Winnipeg, a female American black bear cub that lived at the London Zoo from 1915 until her death in 1934. An American black bear cub, who in the spring of 1950 was caught in the Capitan Gap Fire, was made into the living representative of Smokey Bear, the mascot of the United States Forest Service.


title: American black bear

text: Terrible Ted was a de-toothed and de-clawed American black bear who was forced to perform as a pro wrestler and whose "career" lasted from the 1950s to the 1970s. The American black bear is the mascot of the University of Maine and Baylor University, where the university houses two live American black bears on campus.


title: American black bear

text: Although an adult bear is quite capable of killing a human, American black bears typically avoid confronting humans. Unlike grizzly bears, which became a subject of fearsome legend among the European settlers of North America, black bears were rarely considered overly dangerous, even though they lived in areas where the pioneers had settled.


title: American black bear

text: American black bears rarely attack when confronted by humans and usually only make mock charges, emit blowing noises and swat the ground with their forepaws. The number of attacks on humans is higher than those by brown bears in North America, but this is largely because black bears considerably outnumber brown bears. Compared to brown bear attacks, aggressive encounters with American black bears rarely lead to serious injury. Most American black bear attacks tend to be motivated by hunger rather than territoriality and thus victims have a higher probability of surviving by fighting back rather than submitting. Unlike female brown bears, female American black bears are not as protective of their cubs and rarely attack humans in the vicinity of the cubs. However, occasionally such attacks do occur. The worst recorded attack occurred in May 1978, in which an American black bear killed three teenagers fishing in Algonquin Park in Ontario. Another exceptional attack occurred in August 1997 in Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park in British Columbia, when an emaciated American black bear attacked a mother and child, killing the mother and a man who intervened. The bear was shot while mauling a fourth victim.


title: American black bear

text: The majority of attacks happened in national parks, usually near campgrounds, where the bears had habituated to close human proximity and food. Of 1,028 incidents of aggressive acts toward humans, recorded from 1964 to 1976 in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 107 resulted in injury and occurred mainly in tourist hot spots where people regularly fed the bears handouts. In almost every case where open garbage dumps that attracted American black bears were closed and handouts ceased, the number of aggressive encounters dropped. However, in the Liard River Hot Springs case, the bear was apparently almost fully dependent on a local garbage dump that had closed and so was starving to death. Attempts to relocate American black bears are typically unsuccessful, as the bears seem able to return to their home range, even without familiar landscape cues.


title: American black bear

text: A limitation of food sources in early spring and wild berry and nut crop failures in summer may contribute to American black bears regularly feeding from human-based food sources. These bears often eat crops, especially during autumn hyperphagia when natural foods are scarce. Favored crops include apples, oats and corn. American black bears can do extensive damage in areas of the northwestern United States by stripping the bark from trees and feeding on the cambium. Livestock depredations occur mostly in spring. Although they occasionally hunt adult cattle and horses, they seem to prefer smaller prey such as sheep, goats, pigs and young calves. They usually kill by biting the neck and shoulders, though they may break the neck or back of the prey with blows with the paws. Evidence of a bear attack includes claw marks and is often found on the neck, back and shoulders of larger animals. Surplus killing of sheep and goats are common. American black bears have been known to frighten livestock herds over cliffs, causing injuries and death to many animals; whether or not this is intentional is not known. Occasionally American black bears kill pets, especially domestic dogs, which are most prone to harass a bear. It is not recommended to use unleashed dogs to deter bear attacks. Although large, aggressive dogs can sometimes cause a bear to run, if pressed, angry bears often turn the tables and end up chasing the dogs in return. A bear in pursuit of a pet dog can threaten both canid and human lives.


title: American black bear

text: In British Columbia, a group of American black bears were used as guard animals to protect a marijuana plantation.


title: American black bear

text: The hunting of American black bears has taken place since the initial settlement of the Americas. The first piece of evidence dates to a Clovis site at Lehner Ranch, Arizona. Partially calcined teeth of a 3-month old black bear cub came from a roasting pit, suggesting the bear cub was eaten. The surrounding charcoal was dated to the Early Holocene (10,940 BP). Black bear remains also appear to be associated with early peoples in Tlapacoya, Mexico. Native Americans increasingly utilized black bears during the Holocene, particularly in the late Holocene upper Midwest, e.g., Hopewell and Mississippian cultures.


title: American black bear

text: Some Native American tribes, in admiration for the American black bear's intelligence, would decorate the heads of bears they killed with trinkets and place them on blankets. Tobacco smoke would be wafted into the disembodied head's nostrils by the hunter that dealt the killing blow, who would compliment the animal for its courage. The Kutchin typically hunted American black bears during their hibernation cycle. Unlike the hunting of hibernating grizzly bears, which was fraught with danger, hibernating American black bears took longer to awaken and hunting them was thus safer and easier. During the European colonisation of eastern North America, thousands of American black bears were hunted for their meat, fat and fur. Theodore Roosevelt wrote extensively on American black bear hunting in his "Hunting the Grisly and other sketches", in which he stated,


title: American black bear

text: He wrote that American black bears were difficult to hunt by stalking, due to their habitat preferences, though they were easy to trap. Roosevelt described how, in the southern states, planters regularly hunted American black bears on horseback with hounds. General Wade Hampton was known to have been present at 500 successful American black bear hunts, two-thirds of which he killed personally. He killed 30 or 40 American black bears with only a knife, which he would use to stab the bears between the shoulder blades while they were distracted by his hounds. Unless well trained, horses were often useless in American black bear hunts, as they often bolted when the bears stood their ground. In 1799, 192,000 American black bear skins were exported from Quebec. In 1822, 3,000 skins were exported from the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1992, untanned, fleshed and salted American black bear hides were sold for an average of $165.


title: American black bear

text: In Canada, American black bears are considered as both a big game and furbearer species in all provinces, save for New Brunswick and the Northwest Territories, where they are only classed as a big game species. There are around 80,900 licensed American black bear hunters in all of Canada. Canadian black bear hunts take place in the fall and spring and both male and female bears can be legally taken, though some provinces prohibit the hunting of females with cubs, or yearlings.


title: American black bear

text: Currently, 28 of the U.S. states have American black bear hunting seasons. Nineteen states require a bear hunting license, with some also requiring a big game license. In eight states, only a big game license is required to hunt American black bears. Overall, over 481,500 American black bear hunting licenses are sold per year. The hunting methods and seasons vary greatly according to state, with some bear hunting seasons including fall only, spring and fall, or year-round. New Jersey, in November 2010, approved a six-day bear-hunting season in early December 2010 to slow the growth of the American black bear population. Bear hunting had been banned in New Jersey for five years before that time. A Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll found that 53% of New Jersey voters approved of the new season if scientists concluded that American black bears were leaving their usual habitats and destroying private property. Men, older voters and those living in rural areas were more likely to approve of a bear hunting season in New Jersey than women, younger voters and those living in more developed parts of the state. In the western states, where there are large American black bear populations, there are spring and year-round seasons. Approximately 18,000 American black bears were killed annually in the U.S. between 1988 and 1992. Within this period, annual kills ranged from six bears in South Carolina to 2,232 in Maine.


title: American black bear

text: According to Dwight Schuh in his "Bowhunter's Encyclopedia", American black bears are the third most popular quarry of bowhunters, behind deer and elk.


title: American black bear

text: American black bear meat had historically been held in high esteem among North America's indigenous people and colonists. American black bears were the only bear species the Kutchin hunted for their meat, though this constituted only a small part of their diet. According to the second volume of "Frank Forester's Field Sports of the United States, and British Provinces, of North America":


title: American black bear

text: Theodore Roosevelt himself likened the flesh of young American black bears to that of pork, and not as coarse or flavorless as the meat of grizzly bears. The most favored cuts of the American black bear's meat are concentrated in the legs and loins. Meat from the neck, front legs and shoulders is usually ground into minced meat or used for stews and casseroles. Keeping the fat on tends to give the meat a strong flavor. As American black bears can have trichinellosis, cooking temperatures need to be high in order to kill the parasites.


title: American black bear

text: American black bear fat was once valued as a cosmetic article that promoted hair growth and gloss. The fat most favored for this purpose was the hard white fat found in the body's interior. As only a small portion of this fat could be harvested for this purpose, the oil was often mixed with large quantities of hog lard. However, animal rights activism over the last decade has slowed the harvest of these animals; therefore the lard from American black bears has not been used in recent years for the purpose of cosmetics.


title: Hannah Montana

text: Hannah Montana is an American teen sitcom created by Michael Poryes, Rich Correll and Barry O'Brien that aired on Disney Channel for four seasons between March2006 and January2011. The series centers on Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus), a teenage girl living a double life as famous pop singer Hannah Montana, an alter ego she adopted so she could maintain her anonymity and live a normal life as a typical teenager. Episodes deal with Miley's everyday struggles to cope with the social and personal issues of adolescence while maintaining the added complexities of her secret identity, which she sustains by wearing a blonde wig. Miley has strong relationships with her brother Jackson (Jason Earles) and father Robby Ray (Billy Ray Cyrus), as well as her best friends Lilly Truscott (Emily Osment) and Oliver Oken (Mitchel Musso), who become aware of her secret. Overarching themes include a focus on family and friendships as well as the importance of music and discovering one's identity.


title: Hannah Montana

text: The Walt Disney Company commissioned the series after the success of Disney Channel's previous music-based franchises, such as the made-for-television film "High School Musical" (2006). "Hannah Montana" was produced by It's a Laugh Productions in association with Poryes's production company, and premiered on Disney Channel on March 24, 2006. A concert film, "", in which Miley Cyrus performs as Hannah Montana and herself, was released in 2008. The following year, the feature film "" was released. The series concluded on January 16, 2011, as a result of Cyrus's growing popularity and music career, and her desire to move into more mature acting roles.


title: Hannah Montana

text: "Hannah Montana" is one of Disney Channel's most commercially successful franchises. It received consistently high viewership in the United States on cable television and influenced the development of merchandise, soundtrack albums, and concert tours; however, television critics disliked the writing and depiction of gender roles and stereotypes. "Hannah Montana" helped launch Cyrus's musical career and established her as a teen idol; after Cyrus began developing an increasingly provocative public image, commentators criticized "Hannah Montana" as having a negative influence on its audience. The series was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Children's Program between 2007 and 2010; Cyrus won a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Series, Leading Young Actress in 2008.


title: Hannah Montana

text: Miley Stewart is a fourteen-year-old middle school student who appears to live a normal life but has a secret identity, pop singer Hannah Montana, an alias she chose so she could have a private life away from the public spotlight. To conceal her true identity, she wears a blonde wig when she appears as Hannah. Miley's father, Robby Ray Stewart, was a famous country music singer before retiring after his wife's death to focus on raising his two children: Miley and her older brother Jackson. At the start of the series, the family have moved from Tennessee to Malibu, California, to allow Miley to develop her musical career; Robby Ray works as her manager. As her schoolmates idolize Hannah Montana, Miley is often tempted to reveal her secret and assume a celebrity status at school. In the pilot episode, Miley's best friend Lilly Truscott uncovers the truth about her alter ego and throughout the first season, Lilly adopts the alias Lola Luftnagle to help protect Miley's secret. Miley later reveals her secret to close friend Oliver Oken, leaving him and Lilly as the only schoolmates she trusts with the secret; he adopts the alias Mike Stanley III. Jackson works for Rico Suave at a local beach food stand; he and Rico often feature in the show's subplots. Miley and her friends begin attending high school at the start of the second season, and in the following season, Lilly and Oliver develop a romantic relationship.


title: Hannah Montana

text: In the third season finale, Miley relocates her horse Blue Jeans to California after she feels homesick for Tennessee. The horse is uncomfortable after being moved, and Miley contemplates permanently returning to her hometown. The Stewart family compromise and move out of their house in Malibu to a nearby ranch. In the final season, Miley is faced with extra difficulties in maintaining her double life, which affect her capacity to attend college with Lilly. She must decide between continuing being Hannah Montana and divulging her secret. Ultimately, she reveals her true identity to the world and before leaving for college has to deal with the effects of this decision. She merges her celebrity persona with her former private identity, and Miley Stewart enters adulthood with a newfound celebrity status.


title: Hannah Montana

text: The central conflict of the series is the disconnect between the public and private lives of Miley Stewart, and the lengths to which she must go to secure her life as a normal teenager and protect her relationships with her friends. She values her core identity as "just Miley" and endeavors to protect her sense of self. This is made evident in the pilot when she fears her friends might not treat her the same way if they become aware of her celebrity status; Miley's friendships and social opportunities at school are important to her. Jacques Steinberg of "The New York Times" said the series suggests celebrity status should not be confused with real life and that happiness comes as a result of staying true to one's self. In the "Celebrity Studies" journal, Melanie Kennedy states Miley must learn to remain as her "authentic self" while still being a celebrity; Tyler Bickford of "Women's Studies Quarterly" observes that lyrics in the theme song "celebrate authenticity" while also accentuating the benefits of a celebrity lifestyle. Morgan Genevieve Blue of "Feminist Media Studies" distinguished "Hannah Montana" from other programs about secret identities because of the public nature of Miley's alter ego.


title: Hannah Montana

text: Series creator Michael Poryes said his goal was not to focus on the gimmick but to write about characters and relationships, exploring the real issues Miley faces and how they would be affected by her celebrity lifestyle. While Miley discloses her secret to her close friends, she largely continues to hide her identity because the loss of the anonymity would, to her, represent a loss of her youth. When she reveals her true identity to the world, it is a symbolic representation of the end of her childhood. The final episodes reflect Miley's struggle to say goodbye to her alter ego.


title: Hannah Montana

text: According to Kennedy, "Hannah Montana" parallels the idea of "becoming a celebrity" with "growing up female" and teaches young women the perceived importance of investing in celebrity culture. This intensifies and normalizes the desire of young people to become famous. Bickford said the series discusses themes of publicness and consumerism. Friendship is an important theme of the series, which is evident between Miley and her best friend Lilly. When Miley tells Lilly about her hidden persona in the pilot episode, Lilly promises not to divulge the secret to anyone. Bickford described these relationships as the "emotionally fraught", "intensely valued" core of the series, reflecting the way best-friendship is an important element of childhood.


title: Hannah Montana

text: In the early 2000s, The Walt Disney Company found success with its pay television network Disney Channel, which had a pattern of original programming for a preadolescent audience that featured music. The girl group The Cheetah Girls was made popular by the eponymous television film and found commercial success outside the movie, and Hilary Duff's music was used to cross-promote the series "Lizzie McGuire". Disney sponsored concerts featuring music from the network and used their talent to build on the brands; Gary Marsh, the president of Disney Channels Worldwide, cited "Lizzie McGuire" as its "first success". The network believed the new series "Hannah Montana" could be marketed in a similar manner. Disney Channel had also found success with musical episodes of its earlier comedy series "Even Stevens" and "That's So Raven". Hollywood.com said the show could build on the success of Disney's television film "High School Musical" (2006), which also includes music. The sitcom premiered two months after "High School Musical". The concept of "Hannah Montana" was originally labeled "cast contingent", meaning the series would not progress until the central roles were appropriately cast. The project was publicly announced in 2004; casting advertisements for the filming of a pilot were published in January 2005.


title: Hannah Montana

text: Disney Channel officially greenlit "Hannah Montana" as a new, half-hour sitcom in August2005. Twenty episodes were initially ordered for the first season and six extra episodes were later added to the commission. The series was developed by Poryes, who had previously co-created and produced "That's So Raven" for Disney Channel. Poryes created the show with Rich Correll and Barry O'Brien, and Steven Peterman joined Poryes as an executive producer. Disney selected the pilot for "Hannah Montana" to progress to a series against a potential spin-off of "Lizzie McGuire", which the network also considered during the 2004–05 pilot season. The full main cast were attached to the project in August and filming for the remainder of the first season was scheduled to begin in November 2005. It's a Laugh Productions produced the program in association with the network. Former president of Disney Channels Worldwide Rich Ross stated the concept of the series conforms to the typical Disney Channel formula; "an ordinary person in an extraordinary situation". The series is primarily aimed at a preadolescent female audience, however, its framework as a family sitcom allows it to have a wider appeal.


title: Hannah Montana

text: The program and its primary cast were announced in August2005; Miley Cyrus would be portraying the central character of Miley Stewart. After receiving the script from her agents, Miley Cyrus, aged eleven at the time, auditioned against over 1,000 applicants for the lead role, originally named Chloe Stewart. She was rejected for being too young to play the character; Marsh cited her lack of professional experience. Cyrus persistently sent the producers more audition tapes. After six months of further casting searches, Marsh asked Cyrus, aged twelve, to audition again, and she received the role. Poryes later stated Marsh was responsible for selecting Cyrus over other "safe" choices who were more in-line with the producers' original vision. After Cyrus was cast, the character's name was changed to Miley Stewart in an attempt to limit confusion about the show's characters and premise. Network executives cited her confidence, comic timing, and "husky" singing voice as reasons for her casting on the series. In 2006, "Time" commented that Disney typically selected actors who had the potential to become popular celebrity figures and that Cyrus would likely experience the same process.


title: Hannah Montana

text: Cyrus's father, Billy Ray Cyrus, joined the cast as Miley's father Robby Ray Stewart; he was only asked to audition after his daughter had received the role. Peterman praised the pair's "natural chemistry". Billy Ray Cyrus was initially apprehensive about being cast in the series—he did not want to "screw up Miley's show" and suggested a "real actor" be cast instead—but later accepted the role.


title: Hannah Montana

text: The series also stars Emily Osment as Lilly Truscott, Mitchel Musso as Oliver Oken, and Jason Earles as Miley's older brother Jackson Stewart. Moisés Arias appears as Rico Suave in a supporting role throughout the first season; he was promoted to the main cast for the show's second season. The network dropped Musso's character Oliver to a recurring role in the fourth season because he had been cast in "Pair of Kings", which was developed for the sister channel Disney XD.


title: Hannah Montana

text: Guest stars including Vicki Lawrence, Jesse McCartney, and the Jonas Brothers appear throughout the series. Brooke Shields portrays Miley's deceased mother in dream sequences, through which she typically offers advice. Singer Dolly Parton, Cyrus's real life godmother, had a recurring role as Miley's godmother, Aunt Dolly. Parton stated Cyrus persuaded executives to write her into the series and credited her role for gaining her a following among young people. The final season includes guest roles from musicians Sheryl Crow and Iyaz; actors Christine Taylor, Ray Liotta, and Angus T. Jones; and television personalities Phil McGraw, Jay Leno, and Kelly Ripa.


title: Hannah Montana

text: "Hannah Montana" includes original music; Disney released albums of songs from the series. Miley Cyrus performs as Hannah Montana and sings the show's theme song, "The Best of Both Worlds". By April 2006, a soundtrack was scheduled for release in the latter half of the year; this would be followed by a studio album by Cyrus the following year. The soundtrack album "Hannah Montana" was released in October2006; many of the songs' lyrics allude to the show's premise and Miley Stewart's secret identity. Songwriter Matthew Gerrard intended to encompass the show's premise in the lyrics of the songs. Jeannie Lurie, another key songwriter, explained that it was important for their team to capture the character's voice and feelings within each song's lyrics. The soundtrack albums "" (2007), "Hannah Montana 3" (2009), and "Hannah Montana Forever" (2010) were released to coincide with their respective seasons. The lyrical themes later became more mature, and reflected storylines from the series such as romantic relationships.


title: Hannah Montana

text: The show's music includes elements of teen pop, pop rock, and country pop genres. Steve Vincent, an executive of Disney Channel music, had previously worked on "The Cheetah Girls" and "High School Musical", and helped to develop the sound of the projects. Vincent drew inspiration from country pop artists Shania Twain and Carrie Underwood, as well as pop artists such as Kelly Clarkson, to establish Hannah Montana's musical style. The music makes prominent use of acoustic guitars, synthesizers, and backing vocals. "Ready, Set, Don't Go", a song Billy Ray Cyrus wrote when Miley was cast, was used in the program. Guest stars, such as singer-songwriter David Archuleta, also contributed to songs on the series.


title: Hannah Montana

text: "Hannah Montana" was recorded in front of a live studio audience at Sunset Bronson Studios on Thursdays and Fridays. Cyrus was required to attend school on set, while Osment attended an external prep school. While filming the pilot, Cyrus performed a concert as Hannah Montana at Glendale Centre Theatre to acquire footage for the show.


title: Hannah Montana

text: Production of the second season began in Los Angeles, California, in November2006, and concluded in September2007. In April2008, the program was renewed for a third season, which had commenced production by August. By this time, Disney had optioned the program for a fourth season.


title: Hannah Montana

text: That December, the network ordered another six episodes, extending the third season to 30 episodes. Filming for the third season concluded in mid-2009.


title: Hannah Montana

text: The series also filmed episodes which aired as part of network crossover specials. The first special, "That's So Suite Life of Hannah Montana", aired on July 28, 2006, as a crossover featuring "That's So Raven" and "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody". The second special, "Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana", aired on July 17, 2009, and contained episodes of "Wizards of Waverly Place" and "The Suite Life on Deck".


title: Hannah Montana

text: "Hannah Montana" was renewed for a fourth season on June 1, 2009. The new set of episodes has a new setting; the Stewart family move out of their Malibu home to a nearby ranch. Billy Ray Cyrus stated this would be the final season and that Miley Cyrus hoped there would be a conclusion to the show's story. Production for the season began in January2010, when Disney confirmed the program would be officially concluding. The series finale was scheduled to air in early 2011. As the final season was filmed, Cyrus said she wanted to move on from the series, stating, "I can't base my career off of the six-year-olds". She became increasingly uncomfortable wearing the extravagant, colorful costumes associated with Hannah and stated she had "grown out of it". In 2019, Cyrus said she felt, immediately after having sex, she had matured beyond working on the series and dressing up as Hannah Montana. The final season premiered on July 11, 2010.