✌ oikos

rhamphotheca:

twothunderbirds:vanished:  Paul Nicklen - White Black Bear

Have you ever seen a black bear that was actually white? Known as the spirit bear or the Kermode bear, this revered and rare creature is found almost exclusively in the a moss-draped rainforest in British Columbia, Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest.

For National Geographic’s August issue, photographer Paul Nicklen captured the spirit bear in all its glory. With a population of only about 400 to 1,000, the white bear is a rare sight to behold.

Just how do they get that color? “Scientists know how black bears are born white. They’re just not sure why,” says Bruce Barcott of National Geographic. “The phenomenon, known as Kermodism, is triggered by a recessive mutation at the MC1R gene, the same gene associated with red hair and fair skin in humans. To be born white, a bear must inherit the mutation from both parents. The parents themselves don’t have to be white. They just need to carry the recessive mutation. So it’s not uncommon for white bears to be born to black parents.”

(via wildmammals)

thefluffingtonpost:

Red Panda Cubs Make First Daytime Outing

Red panda parents Angelina and Chota were proud to announce the birth of their twin daughters in June, but the cubs made their first daylight appearance outside the den on Friday, according to officials at the Dublin Zoo.

“They are just the cutest of all time,” said one excited onlooker, who photographed the cubs feverishly.

Via Dublin Zoo, by way of altheus84.

(via dendroica)

The white deer found at Seneca Army Depot are a natural variation of the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), which normally have brown coloring. The Seneca White Deer are leucistic, meaning they lack all pigmentation in the hair but have the normal brown-colored eyes. Albino deer, which lack only the pigment melanin, have pink eyes and are extremely rare. The Seneca White Deer interbreed freely with the brown deer in the former Depot and appear to share the habitat equally.  Some of the white bucks show a flattening, or palmation, of the antlers, but are physiologically similar in most other ways.

More information about this deer population - Please note that this appears to be a closed system — the resident deer are confined within a fenced area that was formerly a military depot, which has enabled this uncommon condition to become prevalent through inbreeding.  Should we allow this to remain a closed system?  Eventually we can only imagine that the gene pool will be weakened due to constant inbreeding (the bucks are already showing signs of this).  The deer have seemingly been confined within this location to facilitate the growth of the white deer population so that humans can enjoy them.  Is this ethical?  I think that this is an interesting wildlife management issue.  

(Source: Flickr / blmiers2)