But are we all Polar Bears??

I have a big question for you. It’s as big as I am!

Do you know which bears in Canada have white coats?

You’re right! There are polar bears! Polar bears live all around the Arctic Ocean: across northern Canada, and in Greenland, Norway, Russia, and Alaska.

As big and magnificent as polar bears are, though, they’re only part of the answer to my question. There are other white bears in Canada.

In fact, we live right here in British Columbia. We’re the Kermode bears.

We are named after a man named Francis Kermode. He worked at the Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria. Have you ever visited that museum?

Kermode is pronounced KER-MO-DEE. We are also called Spirit Bears. Believe it or not, we are a kind of black bear! About one-tenth of Spirit Bears have a “double recessive” gene that makes our coats white instead of black. There are only about 400 of us in the wild.

We live along the central coast of British Columbia, from Princess Royal Island to Prince Rupert. This area is often called the Great Bear Rainforest. It is a region filled with ancient Western Red Cedar and Sitka Spruce trees. It is one of the largest stretches of temperate rainforest in the world.

My name is Bella Bella. It means “beautiful, beautiful” in Italian, which I think is very true, don’t you? Bella Bella is also the name of a nice town in the Great Bear Rainforest.

First Nations people have known about we Spirit Bears for thousands of years. In April of 2006, we were named the Official Mammal of the Province of British Columbia.

And now, I’m also one of Canada’s six Travelling Teddy Bears! I get to travel to interesting places with my friends in the Society of American Travel Writers. When I come home again, I can tell all of you where I’ve been, and what I’ve seen. I hope that you’ll learn about the world along with me.

Stay tuned for more about all the Canadian Travelling Teddies’ adventures.

Photos courtesy D. Wei and S. Wynne

Story © S. Clouthier