Grizzly Bear DNA Matches Indigenous Human Languages

Grizzly bears and humans have very similar needs in terms of diet and habitat. Find out about a fascinating study’s connection between bear DNA and human language groups in British Columbia.

One summer, when we were younger and more adventurous, my brother and I decided to follow the Cariboo Trail in British Columbia’s gold rush country. Along the trail, we learned about the history of the Cariboo Gold Rush in the 1860s, especially when we visited the ghost town of Barkerville.

Later, as we were paddling along the shores of the Bowron Lake Canoe Circuit, we noticed a bear lazily foraging along a ridge. He was minding his own business, and so were we, so we passed each other by without any trouble.

British Columbia is one of the last places in the world where large predators and their prey have followed the same ecological rules for thousands of years. That also applies to the indigenous peoples of the region, the Nuxalk, Haftzaqv, Kitasoo/Xai’xais, Gitga’at, and Wuikinuxv Nations.

Surprising Results from a New Study

Now, the journal Science is reporting surprising results from a new study by the Raincoast Conservation Foundation…