Photo: A screenshot from Xinhua

A white brown bear was recently captured by an infrared camera in the Altai Mountains in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, according to media reports on Tuesday, representing a new breakthrough for scientific research into the species.

Officials from the local forest administration department in Altai Mountains of Xinjiang found moving images of a white brown bear when organizing the footage of an infrared camera, and the bear in the video traveled through the forests, sometimes strolling leisurely, sometimes stopping to observe its surroundings.

One of the officials said that this is the second time since June 2021 that an all-white brown bear has been photographed in a forested area in the region, which could be a new brown bear with certain scientific research value. Employees of the local forest administration will strengthen the protection and detection of the area to ensure ecosystem integrity and biodiversity.

Brown bears are listed under the second class of wildlife protection in China, and are typically highly aggressive. 

Brown come in a great variety of coat colors, including gray-black, brown-black, dark brown, brown-red, light tan and gray. Only a very small number of bears are white brown bears, and the probability of such a chance of appearing is only one in 500,000, according to the report.

Global Times