A Very Rare White Bear Caught On Camera By Natural Resources Center Professor

Ilpo Kojola, a research professor at the Natural Resources Center, says that the bear is very rare.- It's special. Yes, it caught my eye very suddenly when it came to the area. This is what Veijo Toivoniemi from Haapajoki says, who managed to capture an exceptionally special white bear. Toivoniemi took the pictures in Kuhmo Lentiira, a bear-watching area a few kilometers from the Russian border.

Ilpo Kojola, a research professor at the Natural Resources Center, confirms to Ilta-Sanomat that a bear sighting in Toivoniemi is very rare even at the international level. The bear is not albino, but very intensely pale. I don't remember seeing one blond bear anywhere. Maybe there are some of these in the world. However, it is a very exceptionally colored individual. A research professor at the Natural Resources Center believes that light fur can be explained by genetic factors. Photo: Veijo Toivoniemi. Kojola also believes that the pigment of the bear has been affected by genetic factors. For example, in birds that eat a lot of junk food, color changes, such as white feathers, have been observed, but bears do not have a lot of junk food there. Kojola thinks that the bear belongs to a litter that went public in Kuhmo in 2018, and that Iltalehti, among others, reported on the light fur of two puppies.