Kermode Bear

A subspecies of the North American Black Bear, the Kermode Bear is not an albino. The colour variant is due to a unique recessive trait in its genes. The greatest concentration of Kermode Bears is on the central and north coast of British Columbia. This bear population feeds on salmon during the spawning season and their range includes the temperate rainforest which provides habitat for thousands of other species of plants, birds and animals.

If we look further at the salmon which the Kermode Bear feeds on, we can enter into a much larger world of biodiversity that has an impact on the lives of these bears. Salmon spend part of their life cycle in the ocean and part in fresh water streams, migrating between the two. This links the Kermode Bear population to the health of other ecosystems and the biodiversity of the species within those ecosystems hundreds and even thousands of miles away. In short, it demonstrates that everything in nature is somehow connected. We only have to look for the connections.

Equally important, we need to consider that we are part of nature and our very well-being is dependent on having a healthy environment. In order to stay alive, we need to drink fresh water daily. The salmon, the Kermode Bear, and indeed all wildlife, need clean fresh water. Many people eat salmon and other saltwater fish from the ocean so we have to keep the ocean ecosystems with their various fish populations, healthy and sustainable.

If we look after wildlife and the various habitats that they rely upon, then we are also looking after ourselves. In order to understand the natural world and its importance to humankind, we need to establish direct out-of-doors connections with it.