“A new study led by a B.C. scientist suggests that grizzly bear genetic groups tend to inhabit territory that closely matches the regions where people speaking similar Indigenous languages live.
In a journal article published earlier this month, University of Victoria doctoral student Lauren Henson and fellow researchers said the habitats of three major genetic groups of grizzlies overlap geographically with three Indigenous language families: Tsimshian, Wakashan and Salishan Nuxalk.
“It is an indication of how deep that relationship is between bears and people in the landscape and these resources that they both rely on,” Henson told Carolina de Ryk, the host of CBC’s Daybreak North.
The scientific team studied DNA in the fur of more than 100 bears that was collected over 11 years across an area of 23,500 square kilometres. The area spans from Kitimat in the north to Bella Bella in the south, and from Bella Coola in the east to Hartley Bay in the west.
Henson said her team worked closely with the Nuxalk, Haíɫzaqv, Kitasoo/Xai’xais, Gitga’at and Wuikinuxv First Nations to sample and analyze the DNA.
“We’re a small part of this big emerging field of considering and incorporating different ways of knowing,” she said.
“This study is an example of the richness and the insight that this type of collaboration can provide.”
Jennifer Walkus, a Wuikinuxv scientist who was part of the research team, said she isn’t surprised by the findings.
“We and the bears have a lot of the same needs, and it makes sense that we stay fairly close to one area and we have enough resources to feed us,” she said.
“It’s definitely in line with the fact that most First Nations consider bears to be family. That is something that we’re very closely tied to.”
British Columbia News – 23 August 2021
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Besides volunteering, donating, and advocating for preserving our wildlife and their environments, I am donating net profits from my photo book “Friends.”
Your purchase WILL help!!
“Friends” is offered Exclusively on Apple Books.https://tinyurl.com/x3vtbekc
A great deal of what I am doing with my advocacy work is to offer a voice to those who may not be able to speak up for themselves.
The purpose of this book is to share photos of many of our non-human “Friends” with a larger audience. All photos were taken by the author
These “Friends” give us the impetus to speak up for them, our environment, and our habitat.
Net Profits from “Friends” will be contributed to the Woodland Park Zoo for their Conservation programs.
Woodland Park Zoo saves wildlife and inspires everyone to make conservation a priority in their lives. See other organizations we are supporting as highlighted on our Support Us page. https://tinyurl.com/8dn7muac on our Let Kids Be Kids, Inc. website
We All Deserve Better 