Kermode bear
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| Kermode bear | ||||||||||||||||
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| Ursus americanus kermodei Hornaday, 1905 |
The Kermode bear, also known as the "spirit bear" or "ghost bear", is a genetically unique subspecies of bear found in the central coast of Canada. Kermodeis are noted for their appearance in their gene pool of a recessive trait that there gives them a small percentage of their population white or cream-coloured coats. They are neither albino nor related to polar bears, but they are related to instead being a color phase of the American black bear. Because of their ghost-like appearance, "spirit bears" hold a prominent place in the Native American mythology of the area.[citation needed]
The kermodei subspecies ranges from Princess Royal Island to Prince Rupert Island on the coast, and inland toward Hazelton, British Columbia. It is known to the native population as Moksgm’ol. In the February 2006 speech from the throne by the Government of British Columbia, the premier announced his government's intention to designate the Kermode or spirit bear as British Columbia's official animal.
The Kermode bear was named after Francis Kermode, a Canadian who researched the species and a colleague of William Hornaday, the zoologist who described it.[1]
[edit] Coat color
In 2001, it was reported that a single-nucleotide replacement in the melanocortin 1 receptor gene (mc1r) is responsible for the coat color of the Kermode bear. Scientists sampled the DNA from 220 bears and found a complete association of a recessive allele with the white phase. [2]
The habitat for the Kermode bear has been under threat from logging. As of February 2006, the government of British Columbia has brokered a land-use agreement with environmental and First Nations groups and with the logging industry to protect 18,000 square km of land, including one of the largest intact temperate rainforests in the world, called the Great Bear Rainforest; the home of the Kermode bear. The agreement will limit forestry in the area and help support eco-tourism. In September of 2006, logging began in the Green Watershed, a critical area of Spirit Bear habitat that was not protected under the land-use agreement, but the logging plan for the watershed was overseen and agreed upon by several environmental groups, including Greenpeace.
Eco-tourism, outlined by the BC government as a key economic initiative to be fostered in the area, is deemed by many an essential piece for the conservation of this rainforest and the Kermode bear. As many First Nations groups inhabit this area and rely on the natural resources for their livelihood, eco-tourism can be a viable alternative that will promote the protection of species and wilderness for low-impact tourism initiatives. Some of these initiatives include bear-viewing tours.
[edit] References
- ^ Steve Warmack. The Kermode Bear. Retrieved on 2008-04-18.
- ^ Kermit Ritland, Craig Newton, and H. Dawn Marshall (18 September 2001). "Inheritance and population structure of the white-phased “Kermode” black bear". Current Biology 11 (18): 1468-1472.
