Rare white grizzly bear spotted in Banff National Park

Not quite a polar bear!

An extremely rare white grizzly bear was seen in Canada’s scenic Banff National Park, in Alberta. Though technically not considered an albino, it is equally as rare. Canada’s parks service explains to CTV News:

“The unique white colour of the grizzly is believed to be caused by a natural colour phase variation.”

“This colour phase variation is unusual for grizzly bears but has been seen before. Grizzly bears are typically brown, black or blond, however there have been records of grizzly bears with a white colour phase variation.”

The grizzly was originally spotted and caught on film by Bruce Pike, a mountain biker, in the scenic region of Canada.

Conservationists and park officials are warning the public to avoid bothering the grizzly–and others known to the parks service–as it may pose a risk both to the animals and to people. It may be a hard task, anyways, as grizzly bears have a range up to 1800 kilometres through the mountainous terrain and dense woods.