Deep in the Canadian rainforest a saintly predator lurks.
Elusive, rare, and majestic, this giant has entranced humans for ages.
It’s not a polar bear, nor an albino grizzly.
It’s the spirit bear.
Today we’re on the coast of British Columbia looking for Kermode bears.
It’s getting cold and bears are getting ready to hibernate,
but the rainforest gives us the best chance to see one in the wild.
We’ve spotted some coastal black bears, but our goal is to see the elusive spirit bear,
the white variant of the Kermode bear.
You would think that a white bear in a rainforest would stick out like a sore thumb,
but they actually camouflage exceptionally well.
The Spirit Bear is a ghost.
To some indigenous cultures of this region,
the spirit bear is a sacred animal and a reminder of a harsh past.
The spirit bear represents the ice age.
It’s almost impossible to see them in the wild
as they only live in a small area of the Canadian rainforest.
The only way to get here is by boat or seaplane.
This is maybe the closest you get to Dagobah on planet Earth.
Hard to see this bear is.
Kermodies, or spirit bears, are actually just a colour morph of the black bear
and they have a recessive gene that gives them that beautiful blonde champagne colour.
That means that morphologically these bodacious bears are pretty much standard black bears.
They usually weigh between 100 and 200 kilograms, are about 1.8 metres tall
when standing on their hind legs, and are generally solitary forest roamers.
But only about 20 percent of black bears in the region get this unique colouration.
They're like the shinies of black bears.
Like coastal black bears, spirit bears are omnivores,
with a diet made up of a variety of roots, berries, and fish.
These rivers are the best areas to see them.
We're in salmon spawning season and their pungent smell brings all the bears to the yard.
There's a theory that spirit bears are excellent fishers because their light colour blends in with
the sky, making them less visible to the fish below them than a regular black bear would be.
Studies have shown that fish are twice as likely to avoid regular black bears than spirit bears.
Over time, that means spirit bears capture over 30 percent more fish.
The smell almost made me sick, but it also made my day.
A spirit bear appeared to get some easy snacks.
Seeing a spirit bear in person, you kind of understand
why they've been considered sacred for thousands of years.
They feel special.
Not only are they incredibly beautiful, but they also have an otherworldly presence.
This ghost is hefty.
He's equipped with one of the most sensitive noses in the animal kingdom
and strong paws to dig out delicious snacks.
Importantly, he's not above eating leftovers.
Or using his tongue to extract every bit of flavour.
Since it's almost the end of salmon spawning season,
this could have been one of its last meals of the year.
It's actually getting a little bit late in the season to find bears
because they're almost done gorging themselves, getting ready for their long hibernation.
They put on up to 15 kilograms of fat to sustain through the winter, can relate bud.
While hibernating, their metabolism slows down to conserve energy.
Their heart rate can go as low as 10 beats per minute.
So the pressure to eat as much as possible is immense, especially when they're eating for two.
A lot of female bears go into hibernation pregnant,
only waking up later in the winter to give birth and start feeding those new cubs.
That's right, they give birth while hibernating.
The babies will grow in the den until it's time to go out to look for berries in the forest.
I wonder what a baby Kermode would look, like I bet they're so cute.
Yep, they're adorable.
One key source of food for the spirit bear are the flowers of the skunk cabbage,
whose noxious fumes wake them up in the spring and clean their pipes when consumed.
Imagine going to the washroom after holding it in for five months!
It must be the best feeling in the world!
Not to end on that note, let's see that cute Kermode bear again.
So what should I talk about next?
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Thanks for watching!
Take care!