Today we continue our series on ecology and conservation with a look at a particularly endangered member of the black bear family. One in ten black bears is ________ born with a white coat, which is the result of a/an ________ gene that surfaces in a few. Local people have named it ‘the spirit bear’. And according to the legends of these communities, its snowy fur brings with it a special power. Because of this, it has always been highly ________ by them—so much that they do not speak of seeing it to anyone else. It is their way of protecting it when strangers visit the area.

The white bear’s ________ is quite interesting. The bear’s strong relationship with the old-growth rainforest is a complex one. The white bear relies on the huge centuries-old trees in the forest in many ways. ________, the old-growth trees have extremely long roots that help prevent erosion (腐蚀) of the soil along the banks of the many fish streams. Keeping these banks undamaged is important because these streams are home to salmon, which are the bear’s main food ________. The bear’s feeding habits nurture the forest ________. As the bears eat the salmon, they abandon the skin and bones in great amounts on the forest floor, which provide vital nutrients. These produce vegetation that ________ thousands of other types of life forms, from birds to insects and more.

Today, the spirit bear lives off the coast of the province of British Columbia on a few islands. There is great concern for their survival since it is estimated that less than two hundred of these white bears remain. The best way to protect them is to make every effort to preserve the ________ balance of their forest environment—in other words, their ecosystem.

The greatest ________ to the bear’s existence is the loss of its habitat. Over many years, logging companies have stripped the land by ________ a large number of trees. In addition, they have built roads which have fractured the areas where the bear usually ________, and many hibernation sites have also been lost. The logging of the trees along the streams has damaged the places where the bears fish. To make matters worse, the number of salmon in those streams is declining because there is no legal ________ on fishing at the moment.

All these ________ have a negative impact on the spirit bear’s very existence, which is made all the more fragile by the fact that reproduction among these bears has always been ________ low. While it is important to maintain the spirit bear’s habitat, there also needs to be more emphasis on its expansion. The move is justified as it will also create space for other bears that are losing their homes.