Minnesota is unusual among non-mountainous states in having three major ecological zones, or biomes, and the meeting of pine forest, hardwood forest, and prairie creates a rich diversity of plant and animal life. All three are evident at the mouth of the Crow Wing River, where the legendary Ojibwe hunter No-Ka harvested buffalo, elk, and deer in one day's hunt. Although buffalo and elk are now scarce in central Minnesota, the area still supports a healthy variety of plants and wildlife. The pine forest, Minnesota's largest biome, covers the north-central and northeastern part of the state, where glaciers left thick deposits of soil over bedrock, creating lakes, bogs, and vast forestlands in the scenic “Up North” region; cold winters and cool summers favor white pine, red pine, jack pine, black spruce, fir, and upland white cedar. The hardwood forest forms a diagonal band from the northwest to the southeast, where warm summer temperatures and humid, sunny days support maple, basswood, oak, ironwood, elm, hickory, butternut, birch, and aspen. The prairie biome covers most of western and southern Minnesota and, before European settlement, ranged from sparsely vegetated sand dunes to short-grass and tall-grass prairies growing 8 feet tall. Climatic research indicates that central Minnesota has been shifting dynamically among these three biomes for millions of years. Although logging, farming, and other human activities are evident today, remnants of the original vegetation survive, and habitats ranging from prairie remnants to floodplains and pine and oak forests remain favorable to wildlife. Black bears live in the northern half of Minnesota and are most common in the northeast; they are usually black but can also be brown, reddish, or cream-colored, typically weigh 100 to 300 pounds, are usually 4½ to 5 feet long, can climb skillfully and run up to 25 miles per hour, often seek accessible human food, and will rip open beehives to eat honey bee larvae, protected from stings by their thick coats.