May 11, 200619 yr Updated: 10:10 a.m. ET May 11, 2006 IQALUIT, Nunavut - Northern hunters, scientists and people with vivid imaginations have discussed the possibility for years. But Roger Kuptana, a guide from Canada’s Sachs Harbor 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. 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. Polar bear and grizzly territory also overlap in the Western Arctic around the Beaufort Sea, where the occasional grizzly is known to head onto the sea ice looking for food after emerging from hibernation. More at link...
May 11, 200619 yr Too bad we couldnt see what it looked like when it was alive. You know, when it wasnt paying attention when the hunter sneaked up on it and blew it away with a bullet the length of my hand.....
May 12, 200619 yr We're surprised that some guy would nail a chick no matter what she looed like? Maybe they were drunk
May 12, 200619 yr Too bad the hunters never caught Manbearpig. Now that is something to have a story about.
May 12, 200619 yr QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ May 12, 2006 -> 10:53 AM) Too bad the hunters never caught Manbearpig. Now that is something to have a story about. IM SUPER DOOPER CEREAL
May 12, 200619 yr QUOTE(Leonard Zelig @ May 12, 2006 -> 06:49 PM) Why are they killing bears? I wondered that too.
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