Family contrast
CANADA ENCHANTING images show a Spirit bear hunting for salmon with her little black-furred cub in the Great Bear Rainforest, Canada.
Spirit bears, also known as white Kermode bears, are a subspecies of the North American black bear with a rare recessive gene that makes their fur white or cream.
They are not albino since they have pigment in their skin and eyes, which albinos don’t.
Spirit bears have a single mutant gene that causes their unusual colouration.
These bears are only found in the Great Bear Rainforest, a 25k square mile ecosystem on British Columbia’s north and central coast.
It is the world’s largest intact temperate rainforest.
These pictures were taken by Taylor Thomas Albright, a 40-year-old professional wildlife photographer from Fairbanks, USA.
“I went to the forest in hopes of photographing the elusive spirit bear that I had read so much about but rarely ever seen,” he said.
“I was thrilled to have had the opportunity to capture the mother and cub in a way that really highlighted their contrasting colours.
“For a bear to have cream-coloured fur, a recessive gene must be passed from both male and female. Both dark and light-coloured bears can carry that gene.
“I am still in awe. They are mother and cub, yet they look so different from each other; nature is truly fascinating.”
ENDs