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There is a place in northwestern North America that is a real rainforest, although it is not a tropical place. It is located on Princess Royal Island, British Columbia, Canada. There are black bears living there that are not black. They are white, or cream-colored. Their claws are also white. There is a recessive gene in black bears that is for white fur. (Sometimes white black bears may be found in the U.S. also!)

This is not an albino bear - it does not have pink eyes or skin, nor does it have a white nose. It has a brown nose and eyes. A Kermode bear can be born white and have parents that are jet black. This bear is truly amazing, and very beautiful. It was named after Frank Kermode, Director of the Royal British Columbia Museum. On Princess Royal Island, one in every ten black bears may be born white.

These bears eat the same foods that other black bears eat, with perhaps more fish, since fish are abundant where they live.

The rainforest where this bear is predominantly found is over 10,000 years old, and is a virgin forest. For this reason, the area has been in danger of being logged, during which time rare habitat could have been lost. The Valhalla Wilderness Society was founded in 1994 by private citizens who live there. They embarked on an eight-year legal battle to save this area and set it aside for the bears and the trees and the other animals that live there. They have won this battle, and the area set aside is named Valhalla Provincial Park. On February 7, 2006, it was announced that a new Spirit Bear Conservancy Complex would be created. (Visit their website at www.savespiritbear.org for more information about this important initiative and more photos of Spirit Bears.)

Below is a film clip about Spirit Bears from the Nature Conservancy:

Read about these bears on these pages: http://www.vws.org/project/spiritbear/index.html - http://www.vws.org/project/spiritbear/about_bear/index.html - and http://www.bcspiritbear.com (see video of denning bear here!)

To see still more photos of Spirit Bears, please also visit the website of Ron Thiele, a photographer who has seen this beautiful bear: http://www.ronthiele.com/kermode/spectrum.html.

If you look carefully at the shape of bears, you can identify this bear as an American Black Bear. A grizzly bear would have a shoulder hump on its back, and a different shaped face, and it would be browner. A polar bear would have a large body, and its head would be more sleek and longer, less round, and its head would be smaller in proportion to its body. The bear above is an American Black Bear.

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Click here to go to Black Bear #1 DVD

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