Seeing this cute little bear cub, maybe everyone will wonder, how can the black bear mother give birth to a white baby polar bear? Why don't they live in the Arctic?
In fact, this white bear is not a polar bear, on the contrary, it has a beautiful name - Spirit Bear.
Moreover, the white spirit bear is not caused by albinism, because they still have black eyes and noses, and many people will classify them as albino bears, which is not correct.
The White Spirit Bear is a rare white-haired black bear, a subspecies of the American black bear that lives in the coastal temperate rainforest of northwestern British Columbia, Canada. Their milky white fur is caused by an uncommon recessive genetic gene.
Genetic studies have confirmed that two black bear parents carrying the MC1R recessive mutation gene can give birth to black cubs, but there is also a high probability of giving birth to white cubs, depending on which gene the bear inherits from the parents. Similarly, the parents of two white bears may also give birth to baby black bears.
Wild white bears live for about 25 years. Like all other black bears, white bears are omnivores, which means they eat both animals and plants, such as berries, insects, mussels, etc.
But their favorite is the autumn salmon, which is the spawning season for fish, and the salmon with roe belly can provide enough energy for the bear to store fat from hibernation.
Zoologists have found that white bears have an advantage over black bears when catching salmon during the day, with a 35 percent higher success rate.
Lemosh, a scientist at the University of Victoria, speculates: "When salmon look up from underwater, the bear's white fur lacks contrast with the gray-blue sky." "This makes it impossible for salmon to distinguish between predators. Perhaps, this is also an evolution of the black bear gene mutation to adapt to the environment.
The total number of white bears on the northwest coastal islands is unknown, with estimates ranging from 100 to 200 to a maximum of 220 to 310.
Revered by the local aborigines as the "mooksgm'ol", the white spirit bear plays an important role in indigenous culture and has become a sign of ecotourism.
The mascot designed according to the White Spirit Bear is also super cute.