“The coat of an individual bear may change colour during the year, with the new coat in summer a dark rich brown, while the worn coat becomes tawny or reddish brown. The winter fur is thicker and coarser than the summer fur and appears shaggy. During summer the old inner fur and guard hairs are shed; by autumn there is a fully developed coat, with guard hairs about 10 cm long, underfur about 8 cm long.” This explains the coat on this bear which appears to be in transition form a summer to winter coat. In our grizzly viewing area we have notice that the coats will darken after the grizzlies have been feeding on the oil rich salmon.
Sea Otter Sightings

The last 3 years we have been starting to view sea otters in our area more regularly. They are still often a distance away, but the sightings are increasing with some “rafts” of them developing in areas near the western portion of our whale watching trips. These animals were hunted heavily for their fur and were completely wiped out of British Columbia waters. Re-introduction occurred from Alaskan otters in the 1960’s. They have long been protected and their numbers have been steadily increasing along the exposed BC coast and are now moving back into inside waters. They are unique in that they don’t have the insulating blubber that other marine mammals use to keep warm. As a result they have dense (over 1 million hairs per square inch) fur and feed heavily. They are important in balancing the eco-system. They eat a lot of sea urchins, which eat a lot of kelp. Kelp is extremely important as it provides cover for juvenile fish and is where the herring spawn in the early spring. With the increase in these otters we are seeing a greater abundance and healthier kelp forests.
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