A unique black bear was photographed in Michigan and has been attracting a lot of attention.
A trail camera in the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan captured images of a black bear with a white-colored coat.
The Yooper Outdoors #906, a Facebook page for trekking guides in the Upper Peninsula, shared photos of a bear captured on camera.
The post was captioned:
“Happy Bear Day!! A white black bear has been spotted on camera in the Yoop! It’s extremely rare, but you never know what may come walking into your bait!”
Officials from the Department of Natural Resources have not verified the white-colored black bear’s existence independently, but they are confident that the photos they received and other reports in the area are accurate.
According to Cody Norton from DNR, as reported by Fox Weather:
“I thought it was pretty neat. It’s exciting to see an animal like this show up here instead of somewhere else. We’ve seen some cinnamon, blonde, and chocolate color phases on trail cameras used for surveys, which is also really neat to see. But those are more typical within bear populations. White is unique in and of itself.”
He added that he thinks the bear is relatively young, likely around 2 years old.
The North American Bear Center states that black bears with white fur are not albino or polar bears. They are commonly referred to as “spirit bears” and it is estimated that there are only around 100 of them in existence.
The majority of spirit bears live on Princess Royal and Gribbell Islands, but outside of British Columbia, the likelihood of a black bear having white fur is around one in a million.
