Video shows super rare white grizzly bear spotted in Alberta
While we humans are not yet allowed to emerge from our winter dens, grizzly bears and other wildlife are having the time of their lives, including one rare white bear spotted in Alberta.
The white grizzly bear was captured on video by a family in Banff late last month where it's since been posted to the The Rimrock Resort Hotel's social media.
The footage shows the bear happily foraging for food in the snow beside a fence along Trans-Canada Highway in Banff National Park with another bear that appears partially white as well.
Retired Parks Canada carnivore specialist Mike Gibeau told St. Albert Today that white grizzly bears are "exceedingly rare."
"A white colour-phase in black bears is seen more often than in grizzly bears. I don’t know of a white grizzly bear," Gibeau said.
He added that he doesn't think it's an albino bear because the animal retains its pigment in the skin and hair — as seen by a dark stripe on its upper back — and does not have pink eyes.
He explained that the colour is the result of a recessive gene that makes fur white.
The two bears seen in the video are actually siblings first spotted two springs ago and their movements have been closely tracked by wildlife management specialists and Parks Canada staff.
The fences are meant to keep them away from the highway.
@rimrockresort
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