DNA Tests Confirm Bear Was a Hybrid

Associated Press via Earthlink News ^ | Staff

[VadeRetro]

IQALUIT, Nunavut - Northern hunters, scientists and people with vivid imaginations have discussed the possibility for years.

But Roger Kuptana, an Inuvialuit guide from Sachs Harbour, Northwest 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.

"We've known it's possible, but actually most of us never thought it would happen," said Ian Stirling, a polar bear biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service in Edmonton.

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.

[VadeRetro]

Interesting if not surprising that this degree of relatedness hides under the physical dissimilarity of grizzly and polar bears.

[VadeRetro]

Submitted for your review.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Interracial dating amongst bears?

[avg_freeper]

I imagine the grizzly probably didn't have a whole lot of say in the matter.

[VadeRetro]

North Side Story.

[small voice in the wilderness]

...even more dangerous than that...a bi-polar bear. They're crazy..

[Fighting Irish]

So...is it a Pizzley? Golarbear? Helen Thomas in a fur coat?

[VadeRetro]

Don't know what you call it, but if it doesn't like it you don't call it that.

[PJ-Comix]

ManBearPig!

[Fighting Irish]

bi-polar bear

...........priceless!

[TexasCajun]

Hybrid Polar Bears eat corn with their seal meat?

You do know how to catch a Polar Bear huh?

You dig a big hole in the ice and line the hole with peas.

When the polar bears comes to take a pea, you kick him in the icehole. :)

[Disambiguator]

Now Ruger will need to add another large-bore revolver to the "Alaskan" family, and call it the "Arctican" or something.

[bondjamesbond]

That is (was) one odd looking polar bear!

[VadeRetro]

You oughta be ashamed of yourself.

[toomanylaws]

"Territorial officials seized the creature"

Typical government action by seizing property from a private citizen who probably paid many thousands of dollars for the hunt.

[nmh]

I don't know WHY this is so startling.

My cat is part ASIAN LEOPARD and EGYPTIAN MAU.

She's gorgeous. Long body, glitter, green eyes with a blond background with black and brown spots - even on her tummy and black bottomed paws. Her tail is black and white like a raccoon. She is VERY intelligent and likes to chirp. She is a direct mix between the leopard and the domestic Egyptian Mau. She LOVES water and will join you in the shower or the bathtub - whether you want her company then or not. She's commonly known as a Bengal.

What's the big deal about this "hybrid" in bears?

Ever hear about "ligers"? They are 50% tiger and 50% lion. It happens all the time.

[Fester Chugabrew]

Was he fuzzy?

[nmh]

WOW though ... what a neat pet that would be ... if only he/she was a few generations removed. Gorgeous animal!

[massadvj]

More phony stories from the liberal media promoting interspecies mating as a vehicle toward their pro-evolution, pro-secular agenda. I know it's not possible to mate polar bears with grizzlies because the way I interpret the bible, it would be impossible. And so I wish to use the force of law to suppress stories of this nature; and teach our children the bible, only the bible, and nothing but the bible. That is all.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Resolves the question of "what do you get when you cross-breed a bore and a sow?"

I dunno, but Hillary will never have another child after Webb Hubble.