Glacier bear facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Glacier bear |
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| A black bear with glacier bear cubs | |
| Conservation status | |
Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Ursidae |
| Genus: | Ursus |
| Species: | |
| Subspecies: |
U. a. emmonsii
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| Trinomial name | |
| Ursus americanus emmonsii Dall, 1895
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The glacier bear (Ursus americanus emmonsii), also called the blue bear, is a special type of American black bear. It has unique silver-blue or gray fur. These bears live only in Southeast Alaska. Scientists don't know much about how many there are or why their fur is this special color. Most other black bears in southeast Alaska are a different type called Ursus americanus pugnax.
The USDA Forest Service lists the glacier bear as a subspecies. However, the main difference found so far is just their fur color.
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Cool Features of the Glacier Bear
The main thing that makes the glacier bear different is its fur color, also called its pelage. This fur can be silvery-blue or gray. William Healey Dall first wrote about this type of bear in 1895.
Sometimes, a single glacier bear can have different shades of color. Their backs and shoulders might be lighter. Their legs and belly can be much darker, sometimes even black.
Where Glacier Bears Live
Glacier bears have been seen in coastal areas of Alaska. This includes places between Cross Sound and Cape St. Elias. They also live from Prince William Sound to Glacier Bay in southeast Alaska. A few have even been spotted near Juneau, Alaska, and the Taku River.
This area includes Glacier Bay National Park and parts of Tongass National Forest. This forest is a temperate rainforest preserve. Not many studies have looked at exactly where glacier bears live compared to other black bears.
Glacier bears are very much like other black bears. They like similar places to live, eat the same foods, and are about the same size. They also have similar breeding habits. They prefer forests with lots of thick plants and areas with plenty of greenery. However, they can also be found near towns.
Where a glacier bear lives depends on where it can find food. They move between forests, meadows, streams, and mountains to find food and shelter. Black bears are great climbers. They often use trees to stay safe. Glacier bears go into their dens in early winter. A den can be an overturned tree, a rock ledge, or a cave.
What Glacier Bears Eat
Glacier bears, like all black bears, are omnivores. This means they eat both plants and animals. Their diet changes with the seasons and where they are. In early spring, they eat young plant shoots and roots.
During the summer in Alaska, glacier bears eat lots of Pacific salmon. These fish swim up streams to lay their eggs. In some places, black bears also eat moose and deer. In the fall, bears eat starchy roots from ground cones. They also enjoy many types of berries found in Alaska. These include blueberries, salmonberries, raspberries, and cranberries.
Glacier Bear Reproduction
Glacier bears breed much like any other black bear. A female glacier bear usually has her first litter of cubs when she is 3 to 5 years old. They breed during June and July.
The mother bear is pregnant for about 235 days. The cubs are born in January or early February. Because different types of black bears have spread out more since the last ice age, they now breed with each other. This means a black-colored bear can have cubs with the glacier bear's special fur. And a glacier bear can have black-colored cubs.
Research on Glacier Bears
Not much is known about this rare color of bear. Because of this, some things could become a problem for glacier bears. One concern is overharvesting, which means too many bears are hunted. Another is "gene swamping," where their unique genes might become less common due to breeding with other black bears.
Right now, scientists can't guess how many glacier bears there will be in the future. This is because they don't fully understand their genetics. Since glacier bears can breed with other black bears, it might become even harder to track their special color and how many there are. Some people also wonder if glacier bears came from a mix of black bears and grizzlies.
Images for kids
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A glacier bear showing its unique fur color.
See also
- Canadian Geographic: The north's elusive: Glacier bear, by Ann Britton Campbell, 139, #1, January/February 2019, pp 37 – 44, cf. The bear that disappears, by the same author, December 2018, added: Link to a video
In Spanish: Oso negro glaciar para niños
