Xena, Utah’s oldest ever black bear, has died at 31

(Photo courtesy Utah Division of Wildlife Resources) This undated photo shows Xena, a female thought to be the oldest black bear in Utah, when she died in mid-June 2019 at approximately age 31. Xena, who had a radio collar placed on her in 1992, is believed to have died of natural causes in the Book Cliffs.She outlived other black bears, including many of her own cubs, and the original study of which she was a part. The biologists who tracked her collar believes Xena was 31 and the oldest documented bear in state history when she died last month.

“This bear’s the oldest known bear in Utah — period," said Hal Black, a professor emeritus of wildlife biology at Brigham Young University and one…