[güttsfükk]

YELLOWKNIFE, N.W.T. -- DNA analysis has confirmed that an odd-looking bear discovered in the Far North is the first cross-bred polar and grizzly bear ever discovered in the wild.

Now the search is on to name it. "Pizzly" and "grolar bear" were among the first to surface after the bear was shot April 16 on the southern tip of Banks Island, 2,000 kilometres north of Edmonton.

Jim Martell, a 65-year-old sporthunter from Idaho, prefers "polargrizz."

Mr. Martell shot the mid-sized male after his Inuit guide pointed out what looked like a polar bear in the distance. Authorities seized the animal after noticing its polar-bear-white fur was mottled with brown patches, and its eyes were set inside thin circles of black skin. It also bore some distinctly grizzly-like features, including long claws, a humped back and a dished face.

When it became clear this was not a normal polar bear Mr. Martell, who had paid $50,000 to hire guides and buy a polar bear tag for the hunt, was left facing possible charges for shooting an animal he was not permitted to hunt. Now the Northwest Territories' Environment and Natural Resources Department plans to return the bear, since its genetics are half polar bear, leaving Mr. Martell with what might be the most unique Arctic bear skin on earth.

"It will be quite a trophy," Mr. Martell said last week, before hearing that the bear was his to keep. Yesterday, he had returned to Yellowknife for another hunt, this time for a grizzly bear, and was unavailable for comment.

Not surprisingly, though, his bear has stirred considerable curiosity in the hunting and scientific communities.

"It's very interesting," said Ian Stirling, Canada's leading polar bear biologist. Some in his office have begun floating the name "nanulak," combining the Inuit names for polar bear - nanuk - and grizzly - aklak.

In tiny Sachs Harbour, where Mr. Martell's guide Roger Kuptana lives, the going name is "Half-Breed" - and the bear is the talk of the town.

"Myself, I don't even know what to call it," said Mr. Kuptana, who has hunted bears for 40 years. "The elders and biologists have never heard of polar bears and grizzlies mating in the wild, although it's been known to happen in zoos."

What's clear is that the union that produced the bear was more than a chance encounter on the sea ice, a frozen one-night stand. Female polar bears and grizzlies only become fertile after repeated mating - and the animals usually spend many days courting before parting ways again.

"They would have to have been together very likely for at least a week," said Mr. Stirling.

So was it love?

"I don't deal in things like that," he said.

Desperation is a more likely reason. Driven by a biological urge to pass on its genetics, the grizzly bear could find none of its own species high in the Arctic, and took the next-best option.

"You can imagine that animal eventually lowering its standards," said David Paetkau, a geneticist with Wildlife Genetics, the Nelson, B.C.-firm that confirmed the bear's dual lineage.

That kind of behaviour could have serious ramifications for the Arctic, however. Grizzly bears normally live on the Arctic mainland and southern Victoria Island, but in the past decade they have been sighted on islands farther north in the Arctic archipelago. The hybrid bear could be a one-time anomaly, but it could also be a worrisome sign of things to come.

"As grizzly bears expand their range north, (inter-breeding) becomes another potential threat to polar bears," said Mr. Paetkau. "If there's too much inter-breeding, the grizzly bear genes could eventually wash out the polar bear, and they could become basically grizzly bears with a little more northern habitat."

Scientists already have evidence that grizzly bears can adapt to hunting seals, and Mr. Kuptana said the bear's stomach contained bits of seal meat, suggesting it had adopted polar bear ways.

And though it remains unclear which species sired the bear, Mr. Stirling said there could actually be more cross-breeds roaming the High Arctic.

"There could be a litter-mate," he said. "Or, one male might mate with two, three, four, maybe even five different females in the same season. So it's always possible there could be more of these dudes out there."

[kellyhound]

I hope Jim Martell gets shot by someone else so he can experience how it feels.

[Kehko]

i bet that was a mean son of a gun

[snosux]

$50,000 to hunt a bear? I can hunt deer in my backyard for $23.75 and the meat is better!

[Sharon]

I hate this need to shoot things that are unusual. It's an amazing bear, leave it alone.

[nightinggale]

anyone else get the impression from the article that polar bears are rather endangered....yet for 50k I can hunt and kill one for the hell of it? how does that make any sense at all...

[australianoutlaw]

the only "grolarbear" in the world and this genius shot it dead, shoot first ask later, brainless.

[Pink.]

and other species can not?

When polar bears and grizzlies breed, they can produce fertile offspring. Why can't other species?





Scientists confirmed last week that a bear shot by an Inuvialuit hunter in the Northwest Territories is a second-generation grizzly-polar bear hybrid—a "pizzly" or "grolar" bear. Why can some interbreeding species produce fertile offspring, while others—like horses and donkeys—cannot?

Because they have more recent common ancestry. When geographical barriers—such as rising sea levels or retracting ice floes—separate populations, they may develop genetic, physiological, or behavioral differences; changes in chromosome structure or number; differently shaped genitalia; or incompatible mating times and rituals—any of which can prevent successful reproduction. Take horses and donkeys, which probably diverged about 2.4 million years ago. Horses have 64 chromosomes, while donkeys have 62, and when they mate, their chromosomes don't pair up properly, inhibiting meiosis in their offspring. As a result, mules are sterile. Brown bears and polar bears, by contrast, evolved from the same ancestor only about 150,000 years ago—a relatively brief period—and have not developed significant genetic differences.

The prevailing theory holds that polar bears diverged from brown bears at the end of the last ice age (the Pleistocene), when a population followed retreating ice northward. As they adapted to their new arctic home, the separated population lost the brown bear's hump and developed the polar bear's characteristic hair (which is actually clear), narrower shoulders, longer neck, smaller head, and partially webbed toes. Despite appearances, polar bears and grizzlies are still genetically quite similar. In fact, there are multiple instances of the two species successfully interbreeding in zoos.

[Psychonautical]

Worst names ever. Nice post, interesting to see how they adapted to their environment beyond just the white coat compared to Grizzlies.

[Nite]

yep why not just call them polar-grizzlies?great post