If black bears are so smart, then how are they caught when they come into suburban/urban areas like Glendale, CA? (See: Glendale Bear, Sleeping In Tree, Tranquilized & Returned To The Wild -- Again)
We had a girl dumping trash in a burn pit here at the mine. Cardboard boxes go to the pit, general trash goes into an incinerator that is diesel fired to prevent any garbage being edible for bears.
She saw a large black bear when she drove up, and it ran into the brush. She called security requesting he come out and keep her company, sat in the car 15 minutes without seeing security or the bear. Figuring it had moved on she got out of the truck and started tossing flattened boxes into the pit. She then walked into the center of the pit to light the boxes, just as the EMT/Security guy drove up. The bear charged out of the woods at her as the Security guy got out of the truck. He dropped it with a single 12ga shotgun slug.
If the bear could not get garbage, it decided it was going for some warm liver. They like liver...
The girl quit the job. Hard to get good trash burners out here in the Alaska Bush.