Polar bears can be mixed too!
CVK
(Thanks to Danise for this!) A bear believed to be half polar bear, half grizzly was found in Canada last month. Now it’s been confirmed that it is indeed, a hybrid bear. How did they know? You guessed it: they did a DNA test! 
From the Associated Press:
Northern hunters, scientists and people with vivid imaginations have discussed the possibility for years.
But Roger Kuptana, an Inuvialuit guide from Sachs Harbour, North West Territories, was the first to suspect it had actually happened when he proposed that a strange-looking bear shot last month by an American sports hunter might be half polar bear, half grizzly.
Territorial officials seized the creature after noticing its white fur was scattered with brown patches and that it had the long claws and humped back of a grizzly. Now a DNA test has confirmed that it is indeed a hybrid — possibly the first documented in the wild.
Polar bears and grizzlies have been successfully paired in zoos before — Stirling could not speculate why — and their offspring are fertile. Breeding seasons for the two species overlap, though polar bear gets started slightly earlier.
Lyonside wrote:
Hm. I’m torn. I saw the story yesterday and thought 1) if this happens often enough to be documented and it results in fertile offspring, this may change the species classifications for both animals (in other words, they may be considered both subspecies of the same species, since they can interbreed), 2) this may be more and more commonplace in the next century as we lose more polar ice and the polar bears change their behavior to coincide more w/ grizzlies, and 3) I hope nobody (in earnest) applies this to mixed-ethnic humans.
Posted 12 May 2006 at 7:55 am ¶
justin wrote:
I want them to be called pollies, but I think consensus will fall on the side of grizzlars.
Posted 13 May 2006 at 9:53 am ¶
Lyonside wrote:
*LOL* Grizzlers sounds like either a candy or a steakhouse chain… oh wait.. ew.
Posted 13 May 2006 at 3:23 pm ¶
Rachel S wrote:
LOL!!! That’s a good one. I was thinking the same thing.
Posted 13 May 2006 at 8:46 pm ¶
Anonymous wrote:
They shouldn’t have killed the bear.
Posted 15 May 2006 at 5:13 am ¶
Lyonside wrote:
Anonymous:
Personally I agree (I prefer hunting where you can actually EAT what you kill, or it is deemed necessary for the greater good (deer culls to restore forests, a predator that has learned to kill humans, etc.)), but while both species are regulated with licenses, neither is considered threatened or endangered. Yet. I suspect this “hunter” planned this trip since there is talk of putting polar bears on the endangered list since they are losing habitat to global warming.
Posted 15 May 2006 at 5:30 am ¶
Andrew wrote:
I just hope people don’t compare mixed bears to humans, though, ’cause biologically, there’s no such thing as race in modern humans, but in bears, I’m sure there’s a greater difference between “types”. In humans the differences between popuations are nothing, but in bears, I’ve read there are some slightly signifigant differences between different species/sub-species.
So… yeah. I know the title for this article was a joke, but we all know there are people out there who still think black people evolved from gorillas, white people from chimpanzees, Asians from orangutants, etc. -____- I dealt with someone like that at school (University of Toronto) once. I have no idea what they were doing there.
Posted 15 May 2006 at 11:43 pm ¶