Surrounded by mystery and reverence, the white-furred spirit bear is a vital part of the Great Bear Rainforest and the culture of its people
Words Victoria Williams
Kermode bear/spirit bear
Ursus americanus kermodei
Class Mammalia
territory British Columbia
diet Salmon, berries, seaweed, nuts, leaves
Lifespan 25 years
adult weight Males: 225kg (496lb)
Females: 135kg (297.6Ib)
Conservation status
NOT EVALUATED
Before the world was green, everything was white. Snow and glaciers covered the whole planet, until Raven the creator came down and fashioned the forests. Once his work was done, Raven found the black bears among the trees and told them that every tenth cub they produced would be born white as snow as a reminder of the harsh times in the Ice Age. These white spirit bears would live deep in the forest for safety and would bring peace to the land and those that lived there.
So goes the story of the spirit bears told by the native people of British Columbia. It’s an important part of their culture, reflected by the status of the bears as the official mammals of the province. The only white bear besides the polar bear, this mysterious and rare subspecies of the black bear is almost entirely limited to the Great Bear Rainforest. To the Kitasoo people who have lived in the province for thousands of years, the spirit bear is called Moksgm’ol, meaning simply ‘the white bear’. It’s also known as the Kermode bear, named after Frank Kermode, the former director of the Royal British Columbia Museum who was among the first to discover and study it.
Spirit bears are not albinos, nor are their hairs transparent like the fur of a polar bear. The effect that produces these pale bears with dark eyes is known as Kermodism. It’s caused by a recessive mutation in the same gene that creates pale skin and red hair in humans; a male and female don’t need to be white to produce a spirit bear, but they do both need to be carrying the mutation in their DNA. This is relatively unlikely, which is why only one in ten bears in the Great Bear Rainforest is born white.
The mutation is carried by more bears on some of the islands along British Columbia’s coast; on the mainland there is around one white bear for every 40 to 100 black bears, but on Gribbell Island spirit bears make up a third of the overall ursine population.
Their striking white fur makes them easier for people to spot among the dark trees, but spirit bears have an advantage over their black relatives when it comes to catching salmon during daylight hours. Looking up from under the water, bears with black fur are obvious against the light sky and only catch every fourth fish, while the white hunters stand out less and are successful in a third of their attempts. Black bears are omnivores, but salmon forms a large part of their diet and is a vital source of fat as they prepare for winter. Bears don’t truly h
