Glacier bear

Glacier bear
A black bear with glacier bear cubs

Vulnerable  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Genus: Ursus
Species:
U. americanus
Subspecies:
U. a. emmonsii
Trinomial name
Ursus americanus emmonsii
Dall, 1895

The glacier bear (Ursus americanus emmonsii), sometimes referred to as the "blue bear", is a subspecies of American black bear with silver-blue or gray hair endemic from Southeast Alaska, to the extreme northwestern tip of British Columbia, and to the extreme southwest of the Yukon.[2][3] The Tlingit name for the glacier bear is a reference to their size, elusiveness, and ability to visually blend into snowfields: "sik noon", which means "a bear that disappears".[4] Little scientific knowledge exists of their total extent and the cause of their unique coloration. Most other black bears in southeast Alaska are listed under the subspecies Ursus americanus pugnax.[5][6] The USDA Forest Service lists U. a. emmonsii as one of several subspecies of black bears, although no evidence supports the subspecies designation other than hair coloration.[7]

  1. ^ "Glacier bear".
  2. ^ Britton Campbell, Ann. "A most mysterious bear". Canadian Geographic. The Royal Canadian Geographical Society.
  3. ^ "Glacier Bear". Bear Conservation.
  4. ^ "Bears in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve". National Park Service.
  5. ^ MacDonald, S.O. and Cook, J.A. (2007) Mammals and amphibians of Southeast Alaska. The Museum of Southwestern Biology, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001.
  6. ^ Schoen, J and Peacock, L. (2007) "Black Bear" in J Schoen and E Dovichin (eds.) The coastal forest and mountains ecoregion of southeastern Alaska and the Tongass National Forest Archived 2012-01-19 at the Wayback Machine. Audubon Alaska and The Nature Conservancy, 715 L Street, Anchorage, Alaska
  7. ^ "Ursus americanus".