A black bear has come to eat. It is the spawning season of the great bear. Egg-heavy fish glut the streams near Gribbel island, a small piece of Canada’s great bear rainforests, one of the largest coastal temperate rainforests in the world. The bear takes a break from the long walk he has taken and sniffs the air.
The Kermode bear was named after Francis Kermode, former director of the Royal B.C. Museum, who researched the subspecies and a colleague of William Hornaday, the zoologist who described it. The Kermode bear is thought by scientists to be a genetic variation of the black bear that roams throughout British Columbia. They believe that the presence of a single recessive gene in these creatures is responsible for the white coat that as many as one in ten of these bears is born with and retain throughout their lives.
The Kermode subspecies ranges from Princess Royal Island to Prince Rupert, British Columbia on the coast, and inland toward Hazelton, British Columbia.
A male Kermode bear can reach 225 kg (500 lb) or more, females are much smaller with a maximum weight of 135 kg (300 lb). Straight up it stands 180 cm (6 ft) tall.
It is estimated that there are fewer than 400 Kermode bears in the coast area that stretches from the Alaska panhandle southwards to the northern tip of Vancouver Island, and approximately 120 Spirit Bears inhabit the large Princess Royal Island.
Due to their special color and rarity, the kermode bear is revered by local Native American culture. They are referred to as the spirit bear or ghost bear. According to Native American legend, the spirit bear is a reminder of times past, specifically the white color of ice and snow. The master of the universe created one white bear for every ten black bears as a reminder of the hardships during the ice age. During this period glaciers and cold blanketed the planet. The spirit bear also symbolizes peace and harmony.
Kermode bears mate during the summer months. When fall arrives the mother bear finds a suitable place to den such as a hollow tree trunk, rock shelter, or hillside dugout. They line their dens with dried grass, leaves, and twigs for comfort and insulation. Average litter size is 2, although 1 to 3 cubs is possible. Newborn cubs weigh up to a pound.
The major threat to this species is loss of pristine habitat from ongoing logging operations. Global warming is a long term threat that alters their balanced ecosystem. Reduction of salmon supplies by man made activities (e.g.: over fishing, pollution, etc.) also threaten the kermode spirit bear.
