‘I’m not extinct yet’ - intrepid foreign tourists spot rare blond bear scientists feared had died out decades ago

By The Siberian Times reporter

23 June 2018

Unique pictures taken this month show the Sailugem bear, proving both that this species was not mythical - and has survived - in the Altai Mountains.

It’s an unusual pleasure for us to bring you this report of the survival of the legendary Sailugem - aka Saylugemsky - bear. 

We are indebted one of Siberia’s top tour companies - Kaichi Travel -  for these amazing and heart-warming pictures. 

On a recent trip they proved something experts strongly suspected but dared not commit to scientific journals.

Looking for rare birds of prey and argali mountain sheep, the tourists found a prize on an altogether different scale.

As the travel company say, their tourists saw ‘almost a ghost’ - because there have been doubters that these animals ever existed, while others were convinced that they had long vanished from our planet.

Three years ago we carried a report suggesting that there was evidence for the survival of these blond bears. 

At the time we reported that scientists had discovered dens, holes and paw prints of this creature, probably a little-studied subspecies of the brown bear. 

But there had been no confirmed sightings for decades. 

A camera trap image the following year - the video is here -  appeared to show a cub from this species, although the colouring was darker.

The cub was quickly named Sayli yet the adult that must have been with it was not captured on camera.

Continued