Manitoba white bear cub

10 February 2005, 22:47

375 AI

I guess this is actually a bit dated, but I just found this. A white cub was born to a black bear in 2004. Unfortunately, this caused such a sensation that the sow was hit by a car. People had been stopping on the road to feed the bears in hopes of seeing the cub.

The orphaned cub has since been moved to the Assiniboine Park Zoo where it is being cared for. Official say that the bear's fur is darkening as it ages.

11 February 2005, 01:19

Cariboo

That makes for a good story but that picture is one taken of a Kermode bear and it's mother that from THIS SITE

The Kermode is a white colour phase often found amoung a group of black bears living along the north coast of British Columbia. (A long way from Manitoba!

) It is a recessive gene that can result in a black sow with the gene giving birth to white cubs.

The white, and blue, colour phases are protected in BC.

11 February 2005, 18:01

375 AI

quote:
Originally posted by Cariboo:
That makes for a good story but that picture is one taken of a Kermode bear and it's mother that from THIS SITE

The Kermode is a white colour phase often found amoung a group of black bears living along the north coast of British Columbia. (A long way from Manitoba! ) It is a recessive gene that can result in a black sow with the gene giving birth to white cubs.

The white, and blue, colour phases are protected in BC.

Sorry, but that is not true. The picture came from here: http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/whitecub.asp and further was confirmed by the province of Manitoba here: http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/press/top/2004/07/2004-07-22-04.html

So, while this may be a Kermode bear, it ended up in Manitoba.

Here are a couple sites with images and info on the Kermode bears: http://www.terracetourism.bc.ca/bear.htm and http://www.ronthiele.com/kermode/spectrum.html

15 February 2005, 21:57

pioneeroutfitters

I also have a vidio of a white bear that was at one of my baits about 10 years ago. It weighed around 250 lbs.(estimated)

16 February 2005, 00:08

375 AI

So much for an isolated population

I would love to see that video some day. If you ever put it on the web, let me know.

16 February 2005, 05:04

pioneeroutfitters

375AI
I found the vidio. I will see if I can find someone that knows how to download it