Nikki-vdp on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/nikki-vdp/art/Spirit-Bear-542609698Nikki-vdp

Deviation Actions

Nikki-vdp's avatar

Spirit Bear

By
Published:
1K Views

Description

Kermode bear 'Clover' at BC Wildpark, Kamploops, Canada. They initially never meant for this guy to be available for public viewing, but after numerous attempts to reintroduce him to the wild failed, they made him an enclosure.

Some Wikipedia info source
The Kermode bear /ˈkɜrˌmoʊd/ (Ursus americanus kermodei), also known as the "spirit bear" (particularly in British Columbia), is a subspecies of the American black bear living in the Central and North Coast regions of British Columbia, Canada. It is the official provincial mammal of British Columbia. It is noted for about 1⁄10 of their population having white or cream-colored coats. This color is due to a double recessive gene unique in the subspecies. They are not albinos and not any more related to polar bears or the "blonde" brown bears of Alaska's "ABC Islands" than other members of their species. Sometimes, a black mother can have a white cub.

Spirit bears hold a prominent place in the oral traditions of the indigenous peoples of the area. They have also been featured in a National Geographic documentary. Scientists have found that black bears are not as effective at catching fish as white bears, as the white bears are less visible from the perspective of the fish. While at night, the two colours of bears have similar success rates at catching fish, such as salmon, during the day, the white bears are 30% more effective.

The Kermode bear was named after Francis Kermode, former director of the Royal B.C. Museum, who researched the subspecies and was a colleague of William Hornaday, the zoologist who described it. A common mispronunciation of "Kermode" as "ker-MOH-dee" differs from the actual pronunciation of the Kermode surname, which originates on the Isle of Man and is properly pronounced "KER-mode", which is the usual way to pronounce "Kermode bear".
Image size
4928x3264px 8.82 MB
Make
NIKON CORPORATION
Model
NIKON D7000
Shutter Speed
1/1000 second
Aperture
F/6.3
Focal Length
200 mm
ISO Speed
400
Date Taken
Jun 9, 2015, 6:53:04 PM
© 2015 - 2024 Nikki-vdp
Comments8
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Peekeeboo's avatar
Someone wrote a book called "Spirit Bear" about a teen who hurt another boy and was sent to an island where he encounters the indigenous people and also the spirit bear and has to learn to survive on his own.  This is definitely a sweet photo!