news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/bear-hybrid-photo.html
Photos: Grizzly Bears in National Geographic Magazine May 11, 2006--DNA analysis has confirmed that a bear shot in the Canadian Arctic last month is a half-polar bear, half-grizzly hybrid. While the two bear species have interbred in zoos, this is the first evidence of a wild polar bear-grizzly offspring.
Northwest Territories map), the CanWest News Service reports. Wildlife officials seized the bear after noticing its white fur was interspersed with brown patches. It also had long claws, a concave facial profile, and a humped back, which are characteristic of a grizzly. Now the genetic tests have confirmed that the hybrid's father was a grizzly and its mother was a polar bear. "I don't think anyone expected it to actually happen in the wild," said Ian Stirling, a polar bear expert with the Canadian Wildlife Service in Edmonton. Polar bears and grizzlies require an extended mating ritual to reproduce, Stirling said. To prevent wasting their eggs, females ovulate only after spending several days with a male, Stirling explained. In other words, the mating between the polar bear and grizzly was more than a chance encounter. Stirling says the hybrid has no official name, though locals have taken to calling it a "pizzly" and a "grolar bear."
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