The spirit bears
by Leo Bedard and Felix Bentz
This text will inform you about an animal that been featured in some incredible national geographic documentary on BBC. It is also the official mammal of British Columbia known as the ghost or spirit bears because of the legend behind it existence. In fact it real name is kermode bear. It was named by Frank Kermode, in 1905, who was the first one to discovered this incredible species.
Can we see spirits bear
They actually live in the north regions of B-C, more specifically close to the coast of Hazelton. The population of the Kermode bear is about 400 in Vancouver. There is also about 1200 black and white bears from Vancouver to Alaska . Their existences are potentially compromised by the gouvernements who planned to build some routes and pipelines in their habitats.
What`s a kermode bear
The ghost bears are cream-coloured just like the polar one, but, unlike what people think, they are not albinos. Kermode bears are actually black bears. The white fur comes from a recessive gene. Both parents must have this gene for their cub to be white. They are not effective as the grizzly for fishing because they have eyes issues and due to their colors what’s make them 30% less effective at fishing than the other bears at day. Because of that most of the time spirit bears go fishing during the night or at the sunset. They eat almost everything like deers,nuts,fruits,salmons,insects,mooses,fawns,carrions and plants just like we do.They could eat a human if they want but, hopefully as we know, they never eat one in their history.They can live without food for more than 7 months during their hibernation. The males are about 500 lbs and about 6”0 at their maturity. For female it is about 300 lbs for about about 6”0. They live about 25 years old. They can run up 55km /hour to give you an example Usain Bolt run at 43 km/h.
The spirit bears in captivity
The government put some bears in captivity to preserve future generation of the poaching and to protect them from the extinction of their forest. The British Columbia wildlife park was creating to put and protect the kermode bears from the hunter and the predator. The great bear rainforest is an area for special bears like the Kermode bear or for any other one in extinction.
Principal subject of legend in British Columbia
Raven the creator
More than a thousand year ago, the world was covered by snow and by ice. Raven the creator came from the haven and created vegetation and fire. Later, he started to popping out baby from the first women on earth. But even after that he was still unsatisfied. Raven wanted to create something that will remember the snow of the old time . The creator took the bears the keeper of dreams , the master of night sky .He made a treaty with somes grizzlies that every teen black bears turn white. That’s how the spirits came from.
References:
Shoumatoff, Alex. "This Rare, White Bear May Be the Key to Saving a Canadian Rainforest", Smithsonian Magazine, August 31, 2015.
Kaufman, Rachel (October 7, 2010). "Photos: Canadian Rain Forest Edges Oil Pipeline Path". National Geographic News. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
Save, Planet (November 4, 2011). "Canada's 'Spirit Bears' Threatened by Proposed Oil Pipeline". IBTimes UK. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
"Rare Spirit Bear Endangered in Canada". ZamanUSA.com. Associated Press. November 28, 2010. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
"Orphaned B.C. kermode bear becomes rare attraction at Kamloops wildlife park". Canadian Press. October 30, 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
"Orphaned B.C. kermode bear wants human contact, moves to Kamloops wildlife park". macleans.ca. 30 October 2012. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
"Fate of Clover the 'spirit bear' from B.C. draws international interest". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. 8 October 2012.
http://bcspiritbear.com/spirit-bear-legends/
