by Kiran Jayasinghe
Imagine you’re taking a trip to the Great Bear Rainforest, on Canada’s West Coast. Suddenly, you see a white bear. “A polar bear in a rainforest?” you say to yourself. Isn’t that strange? Actually, it’s not any kind of polar bear, nor an albino bear (a bear with no pigment). It’s a black bear. A white black bear, that is indeed strange!
These white black bears are most commonly known as the Kermode (pronounced Ker-mo-dee) bear. It is named after Francis Kermode of the Royal British Columbia Museum. They are also known as spirit bears. Less than 400 hundred of these rare bears exist in the whole world. Many of them live in the Great Bear Rainforest. The spirit bears’ white fur comes from a recessive gene (DNA that determines somebody’s characteristics). This gene needs to be in both parents for a cub to have white fur, although the parents do not have to be white themselves (i.e. the parents can be carriers of the gene). Yes, I know, it’s a little confusing at first.
Though they are considered white, spirit bears don’t exactly have white fur, the fur is a little dirty. More like a carpet that needs to be cleaned. Because of their whitish fur they stand out from their surroundings, unlike their black relatives who blend in with their surroundings better.
An interesting fact is that spirit bears catch more fish during the day than black bears, although both types catch the same amount of fish at night. Scientists think that this is because fish are less afraid of the white color than black when then look up out of the water during the day. Because spirit bears can catch more food they have a survival advantage, and therefore, some scientists think that the white-fur trait will continue in the black bear population.
When there is plenty to eat, spirit bears can be finicky eaters. Sometimes they eat only fish eggs, sometimes they’ll eat everything but the eggs. Some eat only the fish heads, while others eat only the tail .
When they cannot find fish, they climb trees and eat nuts, and berries, and sometimes even small rodents!
To learn more, check out these links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermode_bear
ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/08/kermode-bear/barcott-text