Kermodebär
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Kermodebear ( Ursus americanus kermodei ) |
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| Ursus americanus kermodei | ||||||||||||
| Hornaday , 1905 |
The Kermodebär or "Spirit bear" ( Ursus americanus kermodei ) is a subspecies of the American black bear ( Ursus americanus ) that occurs only in a small region of the Canadian province of British Columbia . They live in the northern coastal area of the province in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest .
In this subspecies, about ten percent of all animals have a white or cream-colored fur. The remaining 90% of the Kermode bears, like all American black bears, have a variable dark coat color that can range from black to red-brown. The ratio of dark to light on the mainland is around 40 to 100 to one, on Princess Royal Island ten to one and on neighboring Gribbell Island almost three to one. This coloration is due to a gene mutation , a recessive mutation in the gene MC1R , due, so the white animals are not albinos .
The temperate rainforests are the habitat of these animals . In lifestyle and behavior, Kermodeb bears do not differ from other American black bears.
Kermode bears play a role in Native American mythology. According to the Tsimshian mythology , the Creator made one black bear in ten white to commemorate the time when glaciers covered the land. In their language the animals are called Mooksgm'ol (Spirit Bear).
Parts of their range are threatened by deforestation and an oil pipeline . The Great Bear Rainforest was established as a protected area , where ecotourism has also developed.
literature
- Kermit Ritland, Craig Newton, and H. Dawn Marshall: Inheritance and population structure of the white-phased “Kermode” black bear. In: Current Biology 11 (18), 2001, pp. 1468-1472, doi : 10.1016 / S0960-9822 (01) 00448-1
- Günter Kast: White on black. Black bears with white fur, in 360 ° Canada. The all- round perspective, 3, summer 2019, 360-degree media, Mettmann ISSN 1869-8328 pp. 68–75, with pictures
References
- Kermodebär ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .
- Steve Warnack: The Kermode Bear
- Report about Kermodebears in National Geographic Germany
- In the rainforest of the ghost bearsin the ARD media library, available until January 3, 2021
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. by Bruce Barcott: Der Heilige Bär , National Geographic Germany , 8, 2011, pp. 36–52 online edition