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This little white bear cub has fascinated onlookers in Whistler after being photographed last month with its mother, a known resident black bear.

Whistler tour guide Kathy Jenkins captured this video of the two playing last week.

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Longtime bear researcher Michael Allen, who operates bear viewing tours and writes a bear blog for the Whistler Blackcomb resort, doesn’t believe the cub is a Kermode bear or an albino.

“The fact that it does not have a black nose or pigmentation suggests that it is likely the result of a double recessive mutation,” Allen wrote.

“After 23 years of research, I have seen cubs ranging black, reddish brown, chocolate brown to blonde (after summer bleaching of coat) but, never have seen in this population, a cub with pelage this light to almost white. This is not an albino but rather, the cub is possibly a result of both parents having a recessive gene.”

sbrown@postmedia.com

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