A Grizzly Bear Photo Gallery

These awe-inspiring giants tend to be solitary animals—with the exception of females and their cubs—but at times they do congregate. Dramatic gatherings of grizzly bears can be seen at prime Alaskan fishing spots when the salmon run upstream for summer spawning.





















Grizzly bears are powerful, top-of-the-food-chain predators, yet much of their diet consists of nuts, berries, fruit, leaves, and roots. Bears also eat other animals, from rodents to moose.

Despite their impressive size, grizzlies are quite fast and have been clocked at 30 miles (48 kilometers) an hour. They can be dangerous to humans, particularly if surprised or if humans come between a mother and her cubs.

Grizzlies once lived in much of western North America and even roamed the Great Plains. European settlement gradually eliminated the bears from much of this range, and today only about 1,000 grizzlies remain in the continental U.S., where they are protected by law.





















You can read more about grizzly bears at:
Defenders of Wildlife and National Geographic

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Posted in Animal Pictures , bears

Spirit Bear

The all white Kermode or Spirit Bear (Ursus americanus kermodei) is the rarest of the North American bears and something of a "holy grail" for wildlife enthusiasts and photographers, and of great spiritual significance to the Pacific Northwest First Nations community who consider its appearance to be a very good omen.

A genetic variation of the ubiquitous North American Black Bear (Ursus americanus), the Spirit Bear is not an albino but rather the product of two parents possessing a common recessive gene. Because both parents must possess the gene in order to produce a white cub, it is possible for a white cub to have two black parents (if they both carry the gene), or a white parent to have a black cub (if it's mate does not carry the gene). Due to the delayed implantation common among bears which means a female may carry eggs fertilized by different males, a female carrying the gene may even have a mixture of black and white cubs in a single litter.

Spirit Bears can occur in any Black Bear population but are exceptionally rare, except on a cluster of heavily forested islands off the Central Coast of British Columbia where there is an unusually high concentration of the recessive gene. Here 1 in 10 black bears are born white, and on some of the islands the ratio may be as high as 1 in 4. Although otherwise identical in biology and behaviour to other black bears, there is scientific evidence to suggest that spirit bears have some inherent advantages due to their otherwise very conspicuous colouration. Studies have shown that spirit bears have a greater degree of success catching salmon in broad daylight than their black brethren. This seems to be a result of their lighter colouration and light reflection off the water's surface, and may account for adult white bears being larger on average that their black contemporaries in the same area.

WOW!

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Posted in bears , rare

Double Take

Bev Doolittle is an amazing artist, isn't she?

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Posted in Animal Pictures , Art , bears , winter

Call of the Wild

Striking images of a wild polar bear





playing with sled dogs in the wilds of Canada's Hudson Bay.





The photographer, Norbert Rosing, was sure that he was going to see the end of his huskies when the polar bear materialized out of the blue, as it were.

Obviously it was a well-fed bear.
The Polar Bear returned every night that week to play with the dogs.

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Posted in Animal Pictures , bears , cool , Dog Pictures , heartwarming , story

Build it and they will come.

A young couple in Alaska built this playground in their back yard for their children. The next morning, when they looked out the window, this is what they saw...

Bears - they know how to have fun!

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Posted in Animal Pictures , bears , cute

Pandamonium!

One zoo in southwest China has its hands full with 16 baby pandas. The Sichuan Wolong Panda Protection and Breed Center is dealing with the results of a breeding boom -- 16 pandas have been born since July, 2006. The brood includes five sets of twins.







These baby bears are just way too cute for words!

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Posted in Adorable Pictures , Animal Pictures , bears , heartwarming