Wildlife

A most mysterious bear

The elusive “glacier bear” of northwestern B.C. and southeastern Alaska remains a genetic mystery 
  • Dec 20, 2018
  • 336 words
  • 2 minutes
Glacier bear Expand Image
Advertisement

Of all the very good reasons to take a trip down the Tatshenshini and Alsek rivers, which run from Yukon through British Columbia and Alaska to the Pacific Coast, surely the most compelling is the chance to see one of the rarest animals on Earth. It’s a bear so uncommon, and about which so little scientific knowledge exists, that researchers are only now unravelling the mysteries around it. 

Glacier bears, also known as blue bears, are a rare colour phase of black bear. The bear’s striking pelage ranges in colour from silvery blue-grey to charcoal-grey to black with silvery tips. Even the colour of an individual glacier bear can vary, with lighter tones on the bear’s back and shoulders and dark hair on the legs and belly.

They live in a remote patch of wilderness that includes the extreme northwestern tip of British Columbia, southwestern Yukon and the southeastern coast of Alaska from Juneau to Yakutat. Within this exceptionally rugged terrain of icefields, fiords and the towering St. Elias Mountains, the Tatshenshini and Alsek rivers cut important corridors through the coastal mountain ranges, allowing plant and animal migration from coast to interior.

Some bear experts believe that glacier bears, most commonly observed in Alaska, use the Tatshenshini-Alsek river valley to range inland from the coast.

Canadian River Expeditions runs rafting trips through much of the region, 255 kilometres down the Tatshenshini River from Dalton Post, Yukon, through British Columbia’s Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park to Dry Bay, Alaska. But, admits the company’s owner Neil Hartling, “I’ve not seen a glacier bear in my 25 years on the river.” Nor have four other experienced area guides. 

Advertisement

Are you passionate about Canadian geography?

You can support Canadian Geographic in 3 ways:

Related Content

People & Culture

The truth about polar bears

Depending on whom you ask, the North’s sentinel species is either on the edge of extinction or an environmental success story. An in-depth look at the complicated, contradictory and controversial science behind the sound bites

  • 4600 words
  • 19 minutes

Wildlife

Think like a bear: learning to coexist

Human and bears sharing more landscapes now than ever before. As we continue to invade their world, will we be able to coexist?

  • 4432 words
  • 18 minutes

Wildlife

Celebrating Polar Bear Week with a collection of our favourite bear-themed stories

Honouring one of Canada’s most beloved bears with stories about how polar bears hunt, how they are adapting to life on land, how they may have evolved and more!

  • 1604 words
  • 7 minutes
Image of a polar bear, and the cover of

Wildlife

Walking away from the wild side

In a new book, Max Foran denounces Canada's failures in protecting its wildlife from human exploitation

  • 1968 words
  • 8 minutes