Maroon Jay
Airborne
I have spent the past few days searching the rain forest for a white Black Bear. To my surprise, I found one. The white bear is not an albino. Albinos have pink eyes and nose. This bear has black eyes, nose, lips and pads on its feet. Albinism is caused by a defect that results in a lack of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes. This is not the case for this white bear. It has no defect and no lack of pigment. Nor is it related in any way to Polar Bears. It is simply a Black Bear with white fur.
These white bears are known as Kermoda Bears and are supposedly a subspecies of the Black Bear known as Ursus americanus kermodel but this does not make sense to me. Bears often have twins and one could be white and the other black. How can a bear be a different species than its twin brother? How can a bear be a different species than its mother? Like a person that has red hair, this is not a subspecies but simply the same species with a different colour fur. Grizzlies come in many colours from light tan to dark brown, but not white. Many birds have colour morphs and are not seen as a subspecies.
These white bears exist only in Canada. To be more specific, they exist only in west central British Columbia. There are none in any other country, in the wild nor in zoos. There is only one in a zoo and that is also in British Columbia. Black Bears are common throughout most of North America but only in this small area do they have the genes that produce white fur.
I am no scientist but the way I understand this is that genes are made up of alleles that determine the traits of the animals such as blood type, colour of hair, colour of eyes, etc. Some alleles are dominant and some are recessive. In the case of the Black Bear there are six possible matches as follows:
Two black-coloured bears that both have dominate black alleles will produce black cubs.
If two black-coloured bears mate and one has dominate black alleles and the other has one dominate and one recessive allele, the resulting cubs will be black.
If a black-coloured bear with dominate alleles mates with a white bear that has recessive alleles, all the cubs will be black.
If two black-coloured bears mate that both have one dominate and one recessive allele, 25% of the offspring will be white.
If a black-coloured bear with one dominate and one recessive allele mates with a white bear that has only recessive alleles, half of the offspring will be white.
If two white bears mate, the cubs will be white.
This is complicated. The photos of a chart that I am including can explain it better than I.
Kermoda bears are known to the native Indians of the area as Spirit Bears and were not hunted as black-coloured bears were. When the first white trappers appeared in the area, the natives did not tell them about the existence of the white bears. This was a very good thing. Had the hunters and trappers of the 1800's known about these bears they would have been hunted for their fur and possibly wiped out.
My photos of this bear are not sharp because they were taken at a great distance in poor light at sunset. Although the pictures are not best, I was thrilled to see this animal. The population of white Black Bears is unknown but is estimated to be somewhere between 400 and 1,000.
They are very rare. Has anyone else in this forum seen one?
These white bears are known as Kermoda Bears and are supposedly a subspecies of the Black Bear known as Ursus americanus kermodel but this does not make sense to me. Bears often have twins and one could be white and the other black. How can a bear be a different species than its twin brother? How can a bear be a different species than its mother? Like a person that has red hair, this is not a subspecies but simply the same species with a different colour fur. Grizzlies come in many colours from light tan to dark brown, but not white. Many birds have colour morphs and are not seen as a subspecies.
These white bears exist only in Canada. To be more specific, they exist only in west central British Columbia. There are none in any other country, in the wild nor in zoos. There is only one in a zoo and that is also in British Columbia. Black Bears are common throughout most of North America but only in this small area do they have the genes that produce white fur.
I am no scientist but the way I understand this is that genes are made up of alleles that determine the traits of the animals such as blood type, colour of hair, colour of eyes, etc. Some alleles are dominant and some are recessive. In the case of the Black Bear there are six possible matches as follows:
Two black-coloured bears that both have dominate black alleles will produce black cubs.
If two black-coloured bears mate and one has dominate black alleles and the other has one dominate and one recessive allele, the resulting cubs will be black.
If a black-coloured bear with dominate alleles mates with a white bear that has recessive alleles, all the cubs will be black.
If two black-coloured bears mate that both have one dominate and one recessive allele, 25% of the offspring will be white.
If a black-coloured bear with one dominate and one recessive allele mates with a white bear that has only recessive alleles, half of the offspring will be white.
If two white bears mate, the cubs will be white.
This is complicated. The photos of a chart that I am including can explain it better than I.
Kermoda bears are known to the native Indians of the area as Spirit Bears and were not hunted as black-coloured bears were. When the first white trappers appeared in the area, the natives did not tell them about the existence of the white bears. This was a very good thing. Had the hunters and trappers of the 1800's known about these bears they would have been hunted for their fur and possibly wiped out.
My photos of this bear are not sharp because they were taken at a great distance in poor light at sunset. Although the pictures are not best, I was thrilled to see this animal. The population of white Black Bears is unknown but is estimated to be somewhere between 400 and 1,000.
They are very rare. Has anyone else in this forum seen one?
![genetics-white-black-bear[1].jpg](/data/attachments/429/429333-7c82bef9e42cabf08cc71fb41babfeaf.jpg)
