DNA Tests Confirm Bear Was a Hybrid

[Biarmicus]

Found this extremely interesting...

In the Northwest Territories in Canada the first wild Polar Bear/Grizzly Bear hybrid has been recorded. A picture of the bear and the story is on this site:
http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/060511_ap_hybrid_bear.html

Brittney

[GriffMJ]

Found this extremely interesting...

In the Northwest Territories in Canada the first wild Polar Bear/Grizzly Bear hybrid has been recorded. A picture of the bear and the story is on this site:
http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/060511_ap_hybrid_bear.html

Brittney

Why couldnt they just dart it and test it??? Why kill it?

[GregMik]

Why couldnt they just dart it and test it??? Why kill it?

Nobody lives up there.....It was prolly a fly in hunt. Someone would have to spend allot of money just to even find that bear to do research. It was pure luck he even shot the thing. If you read closely, he was going to be fined for shooting a grizzly if it wasn't a hybrid, as he had only a polar bear permit.

Greg

[Zam]

Very interesting !! Do you suppose there was a lack of breeding age polar or grizzly pairs in that area, which is why they inter-bred?

Strange that deliberate pairings/breeding have been achieved in zoos. I have to wonder why they wanted to do this? Just to see if they can?

Great thread,though!

[Biarmicus]

Very interesting !! Do you suppose there was a lack of breeding age polar or grizzly pairs in that area, which is why they inter-bred?

Strange that deliberate pairings/breeding have been achieved in zoos. I have to wonder why they wanted to do this? Just to see if they can?

Great thread,though!

Thanks Zam!

There have been pairings of different species of bear. There was an accidental breeding of a female Kodiak Bear and a Polar Bear in 1936 at the US National Zoo .

Here is more information regarding the accidental Kodiak Bear/Polar Bear hybrid and other known bear hybrids (Ursid hybrids):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursinae_hybrid

Brittney

[Intek Hosting]

Why kill it?

I may be somewhat mistaken in the exact details but it so happens that when you discover a "new" species, it doesnt exist until you are able to kill a male and female of the species to be stored in the archives of some natural history museum down in London.

I read something recently where a new monkey species in Tanzania had been accepted based on Photo's, but in the 80's I had a friend who was cataloging birds in Madagascar and two species she found were not registered, and couldnt be until she found a male and female of the species.

The moral of the story was in order to record and protect the species, she first had to kill at least one potential breeding pair.
Not something you do lightly when you've only managed to see 3 individuals of a species over 2 years on a tiny island.