Scientists know the bear as Ursus americanus kermodei, or the Kermode bear, named after biologist Frank Kermode. Kermode, a for­mer director of the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, was among the first to research the subspecies. The bear is a color polymorphism of the black bear Ursus americanus. “Spirit bears have one of the most distinctive and conspicuous such poly­morphisms of any mammal,” says ecol­ogist Tom Reimchen, of the University of Victoria. Reimchen has spent much of his career