Polar bear plus grizzly equals?

Polar bear / grizzly crosses are very rare. One was shot in the wilds of Canada some time ago. A handful exist in zoos across the world.

Now, the first study of these bears has been done. Turns out they really are a unique blend of the two bears.

BBC - Polar bear plus grizzly equals?

I have thought alot about this and how a polar bear acts and how a grizzly acts.
What you get is a hunter of man.
A polar bear willhunt you and so will a grizzly.
When you combine the 2 then my opinion is you get a very scary manhunting bear.

I just saw a show about the hybrid bear that was shot, two weeks ago.

It was either a Discovery Channel, National Geographic or Animal Planet program.

Maybe it's on the net somewhere.

I am just a bit confused about the title of the article (not your thread) as it appears that the cross is of a polar bear and an Alaskan brown bear.

The Alaskan brown bear put's a grizzly to shame with it's size, and you would be hard pressed to find any human that could even put its arms all the way around a brown bears neck. These things are huge.

As to what Drums said, I quite agree, a man hunter for sure, and one that could adapt to climate conditions that neither of it's parents would like.

Fascinating find.

Originally posted by tribewilder
I am just a bit confused about the title of the article (not your thread) as it appears that the cross is of a polar bear and an Alaskan brown bear.

I thought that myself. Though the BBC had that title for their article, so I went with it as my thread title as well.

I did find this bit from the Alaska Fish & Game Site

Alaska Fish & Game - Brown Bear

Brown bears (Ursus arctos), also known as grizzlies, occur throughout Alaska except on islands south of Frederick Sound in southeast Alaska, west of Unimak in the Aleutian Chain, and Bering Sea islands. They also occur in Russia, northern China, northern Japan, Europe, western Canada, and in limited portions of the northwestern United States. Brown bears symbolize Alaska as depicted on the back of the state quarter and on the state flag (Ursa Major – The Big Dipper). They are also important to Native Alaskans, local residents, hunters, fishers, photographers, and hikers.

General description: Brown and grizzly bears are classified as the same species even though there are notable differences between them. Kodiak bears (brown bears from the Kodiak Archipelago) are classified as a distinct subspecies (U. a. middendorffi) from those on the mainland (U. a. horribilis) because they have been isolated from other bears since the last ice age about 12,000 years ago. “Brown bears” typically live along the southern coast of the state where they have access to seasonally abundant spawning salmon. The coastal areas also provide a rich array of vegetation they can use as food as well as a milder climate. This allows them to grow larger and live in higher densities than their “grizzly” cousins in the northern and interior parts of the state. To minimize confusion, this report uses the term “brown bear” to refer to all members of Ursus arctos.

Maybe they just went with the more widely known "Grizzly" for a name when doing the article.

reply to post by Frogs


Polar bear plus grizzly equals..panda bear!


Just kidding. Interesing find. but actually, it looks like a lighter grizzly bear or darker polar bear. Kind of anti climatic. *laughs* Darn it, I want swirls.

Well - that's good point. I'll admit it would more sensational if the cross produced something to the bear world that the liger is to the big cat world.

But, this bear seems very much a blend of the two. Size is between a polar and brown / grizzly as is the apperance. Longer neck than a brown, but not as long as polar. It has a shoulder hump, but not as large a one as a brown, etc.

Thus far, behavior seems closer to a polar than brown/grizzly. The article did state that the make-up of the fur is unique to the hybrid though.

As others have stated I'm thinking that in the wild this might be a very "adaptable" bear. One able to live in a varity of climates. Also, as others have suggested probably not one you'd want to meet on the trail.





[edit on 30-10-2009 by Frogs]

I have also wondered if this is just a natural survival mechanism.
If the Arctic is getting warmer and the caps are melting then a polar bear would naturally have to keep its species going.
It almost makes sense to breed with a more southern species to adapt and survive.
I could be wrong but its something I have been wondering about,I do alot of stuff alone in the woods and bears are always a concern....one of these bears is a big concern.

In theory yeah big man eating bear, but has anyone ever seen the Ligers?

Cross between tiger and Lion, these hybrids grow absolutely huge





But are said to be docile and not to be able to survive in the wild due to their size.

A liger looks like a giant lion with muted stripes but like thier tiger ancestors, ligers like swimming. This goes against the nature of a lion but is what makes creature special. It gets the best of both parents. That is not always the case though with crossbreeds. Sometimes the results go the other way and the animal gets theworst of both parents

www.liger.org...

en.wikipedia.org...

It's a nice thought to get the best of 2 species but DNA is not for us to mess with, though i cannot explain natural occurences with the bears but i know a tiger and a lion would not mate in the wild due to habitats etc.. this only happens in captivity.

This is really, really cool. This is an awesome evolutionary process happening right now, especially since the habitat of the polar bear is being so depleted. I'm pretty sure both of these species have 74 chromosomes. Perhaps the offspring that are hybrid will be fertile, such as in some canine species.

And you know what that would do? It would rock.

Because it could mean that the genetic lineage of the polar bear will not completely disappear when they go extinct.

And that would also rock.

One really B-I-G Bear, that probably would hunt down a human just because it is hungry. I don't even want to imagine.