Muledeer, I have read a bunch of your post. Have to say your knowledge and information is spot on. Yes the SE Glacier Bear is another color phase of the Black Bear. Look at the numbers of these bears they are small. I have seen many Black bears up on and around the Mendenhall Glacier and on and around the Taku Glacier. In all the bears I have seen only three "Glacier bears". While kayaking in Tracy Arm I have never seen anything but jet black Black Bears. If it were a gene it would be more dominatain in these areas. Which leads me to believe in what I have read and what my buddy has told me. That is that there is no scientific evidence of color Phase being a Gene. As I said earlier it is environment that creates the color Phasing. Don't get me wrong I am not saying that is absolute. I am saying thats what is known right now and generally accepted by Biologist and Zoologist (the experts). Me I am just an outdoor junkie clown.
A C&P from your website re: Glacier Phase.....bold is mine.
"While white is the rarest color phase, a very uncommon and particularly beautiful color phase of the black bear is the blue-gray or glacier bears of southeastern Alaska, northwestern British Columbia and the southwest Yukon. The undercoat of the glacier bears is a rich blue-black, while the outer guard hairs are long and white (or light yellow) with silver tips.
This color variation probably evolved during the last ice age when populations were isolated along the unfrozen sections of the coastline, due to the biological process of genetic drift (random fluctuations in the genetic composition of a small population). The blue-gray color is ideal camouflage against the backdrop of frozen ice - the bears are nearly impossible to spot unless they are moving. Unfortunately, this color phase is on the decline.
Immigration of non-glacier black bears and emigration of glacier bears across the now unfrozen landscape, are causing the gene frequency to be eliminated in the face of more dominant color phases, as the two mingle and mate. Just for conversation....
