Natural World

In these dark, ancient forests lives a creature of legend.

This is not an albino or polar bear,

but a rare North American black bear known as a ghost bear.

This white bear is a mother with two black cubs.

A bear family like this can be found in only one place on Earth.

The rainforest islands on the west coast of Canada.

My name is Jeff Turner and I'm a Canadian wildlife film-maker.

Alongside my own family, I'm heading into this wilderness to tell

the story of these special bears.

There's a lot at stake for this bear family.

They only have a few critical months to find enough food to

survive next winter's hibernation.

And they're not alone.

Hungry wolves...

and much larger bears share their island home.

It's going to take all the skills of this mother bear to get her

cubs through the many challenges they'll face.

This is their remarkable story.

Canada's ghost bears live on the west coast, in an area

known as the Great Bear Rainforest,

part of the world's largest temperate rainforest.

Here, the North Pacific Ocean

meets the coastal mountains of British Columbia.

This is one of the most productive landscapes on the planet,

and the life here is sustained by an abundance of fresh water.

The Great Bear Rainforest shelters thousands of different

species beneath its branches...

..but the one that we've come here to find, the most famous

and elusive, lives deep within the forest.

This isn't my first time I've been here looking for ghost bears.

25 years ago, my wife Sue and I

were the first people to ever make a film about these bears.

We had some amazing experiences and it changed the way

I have understood and worked around bears ever since.

Today, we're heading to a spot

where a ghost bear has been seen in recent years.

Although any bear could be frightened by human presence,

experience has taught me that if you're relaxed,

the chances are the bears will be, too.

And when we find her, this female is just awakening from a long sleep.

White black bears can occur in other places,

but it's one in a million odds, whereas here,

because these bears have been isolated on these islands for

so long, about one in ten black bears are white.

This year, she's come out of the den with two little cubs

that, unlike her, are black.

The genes that create white fur are not always expressed,

and a ghost bear mother is as likely to give birth to black cubs

as she is to white ones.

Getting both her cubs through their first year will be a challenge.

The main risk to cubs comes from other bears and wolves,

so when they're small, she'll keep them back here in the forest.

It's safer here because there's relatively little to eat,

and most animals are out on the coast,

where one of the year's greatest feasts is getting underway.

Hundreds of kilometres of shoreline are covered with sticky, white eggs.

Creatures from around the region are here to take advantage

of the abundant food.

This hungry male bear could easily kill the cubs.

But right now, he seems pretty content

with just licking up the rich eggs.

Wolves are also a threat to the cubs, and they're here, too.

At this time of year, they'll spend hours eating the rich eggs

while trying not to ingest too much of the seaweed underneath.

All these eggs come from Pacific herring

that have come up from deep water to spawn.

Male herring broadcast their sperm into the water,

turning it milky white.

This attracts females to the area,

who deposit their sticky eggs onto the vegetation.

Each female can lay up to 40,000 eggs.

There's a pheromone in the sperm that stimulates both the males

and females into a frenzy of spawning activity.

Herring are the most abundant fish on the coast,

providing rich pickings for any animal that can take advantage.

Like these Steller sea lions.

The big males can eat up to 70kg in a day.

DRAMATIC MUSIC

The herring spawn is one of the most important events of the year...

..but our white bear mother has not been able to take

advantage of this spring feast.

For now, she's continuing to keep her cubs hidden away.

They do seem nervous,

but it's not because there are wolves or other bears around.

We are the first people that these cubs have ever seen...

..and even though these cubs seem shy,

we know what's possible in a relationship

between humans and bears.

25 years ago, we lived side-by-side with the bears of the

Great Bear Rainforest, when our daughter Chelsea was just a baby.

SHE BABBLES

We quickly came to realise that these bears had never

encountered people before.

Over time, we were able to gain their trust,

so that they were comfortable allowing us

close enough to get a special view of their world.

Growing up with bears as her neighbours became normal to Chelsea.

- I don't remember being here as a child,

but the experience must have rubbed off on me,

because today, I feel instinctively comfortable around bears.

It's really special to be able to share this again with my dad,

only this time, I know how lucky I am to have such close,

personal encounters with bears.

Looking at her, this mother bear seems thin.

She needs to build herself up

if she's going to get her cubs through their first summer.

Black bear mothers produce milk that is 30% fat,

some of the richest milk of any land animal in the world.

And she's had to do this with only plants to eat.

Since coming out of the den, she's been slowly losing weight.

She needs high-protein food,

but she'll have to wait until the salmon arrive.

Waiting in the forest does offer her

and her cubs continued sanctuary, but it must be hard to stay back

from the coast, where the pickings are much richer.

Other inhabitants of these islands can take full advantage

of what this place has to offer.

The Great Bear Rainforest lies adjacent to the

North Pacific Ocean, one of the richest in the world.

The wolves have readily adapted to life in this marine environment.

They are more sea wolves than timber wolves.

They are genetically distinct from their cousins on the mainland

and are incredible swimmers.

They've been seen travelling up to 12km between islands.

SOMBRE MUSIC

Most of the food these wolves eat comes from the sea,

but they also eat bears.

A wolf pack kills at least one or two bears a year

in the Great Bear Rainforest.

There's a good reason the mother bear prefers the forest,

even though there's less to eat.

But with summer's imminent arrival,

she shouldn't have to wait much longer for a decent meal.

Millions of salmon are migrating from their distant offshore

feeding grounds, returning to the rivers where they were born,

to spawn and then die.

Many will swim hundreds of kilometres inland,

deep into the heart of the forest.

And for some, it will mean they have to travel underground.

Underlying huge parts of the coast is a type of bedrock that is

so porous and permeable that water flowing on the surface

will suddenly disappear into a hole.

The water flows underground, often for kilometres,

before re-emerging again, sometimes in a completely different valley.

In these regions, known as karst landscapes,

salmon may have to travel through many of these underground

river systems to reach their spawning grounds.

The water that flows through this special bedrock becomes very

alkaline and carries nutrients leached from the rocks.

Ideal for salmon.

This salmon creek is fairly small, but it's full of fish.

This could be a great spot to set up and wait for the mother bear...

..even though there are other bears here already.

This huge male is one of the biggest black bears I've ever seen.

He must be the dominant bear on the creek,

and could be a real problem for a mother bear with cubs.

There is at least a dozen bears that use this creek,

so I'm not sure our mother will make an appearance.

The salmon only have a few weeks to spawn before they die,

but many won't get the chance.

Those white paws definitely belong to a ghost bear...

..and I'm relieved to see that it's the mother bear.

She has been lured from the forest by the chance of a good meal.

This will be the first salmon she's tasted in almost a year.

Hopefully, the first of many.

But she's left her cubs behind in the forest.

Although they'll be alone, with all the other bears on the creek,

it's probably the right call.

There are so many salmon here,

it's almost like she doesn't know where to start.

PLAYFUL MUSIC

And it looks like she's not going to settle for just one.

I've never seen a bear with one salmon in its mouth

trying to catch another.

She's either really experienced, or very hungry.

Right now, it's still too risky to bring the cubs to the salmon...

..instead it looks like she's taking the salmon to the cubs.

It didn't take me long to learn that the mother bear

liked to eat her salmon beneath a particular tree

that the cubs were often in.

So I was able to set up a remote camera right there

to observe what the cubs thought of their first salmon.

One cub was quick to the dinner table,

but the other was definitely a little more cautious.

And he seemed far more curious about my camera,

than about the fresh salmon his mother brought him to eat.

While the mother bear seems

completely unconcerned by my camera,

she has other worries.

Keeping the cubs in the forest

will really limit her fishing-time.

Soon she is going to have to risk bringing them to the creek.

And she doesn't wait long.

With no other bears around,

she makes the move.

This is a big moment in the cubs' lives.

She's got to be careful, though,

another bear could turn up at any moment.

The cubs are a bit nervous being out in the creek,

and they know they have to stick close to her wherever she goes.