PIZZLIES
I checked tags and went back a while and didn't see this, keep in mind I fell off the internet. I wonder how many other people saw the same documentary I did not too long ago ehehe.
There have been natural occurrences of hybridisation documented between polar bears and grizzly bears. Above is a taxidermy example of a specimen shot in 2006, and proven to be a hybrid by means of DNA testing.
Article here, regarding this specimen.(Warning: contains photographs of dead bloodied bear after being shot.)
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.
Jim Martell (pictured at left), a 65-year-old hunter from Idaho, shot the bear April 16 on the southern tip of Banks Island (see 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. Both live by themselves in large, open habitats.
To prevent wasting their eggs, females ovulate only after spending several days with a male, Stirling explained. "Then they mate several times over several days."
In other words, the mating between the polar bear and grizzly was more than a chance encounter. "That's what makes it quite interesting," he added.
Stirling says the hybrid has no official name, though locals have taken to calling it a "pizzly" and a "grolar bear."
-John Roach
And here is a wiki on polar/grizzly hybridisation.
With one confirmed case and other suspected sightings, zoologists are hypothesizing how wild hybrids might come into being. Although the two species are genetically similar and often found in the same territories, they tend to avoid each other in the wild. They also fill different ecological niches. Grizzlies (and also Kodiak bears and "Alaskan Brown Bears," which are all subspecies of the Brown bear, Ursus arctos) tend to live and breed on land. Polar bears prefer the water and ice, usually breeding on the ice. The yellowish-white MacFarlane's Bear, a mysterious animal known only from one specimen acquired in 1864, seems to attest, grizzly-polar bear hybrids may have always occurred from time to time.
Jim Martell, a hunter from Idaho, found and shot a grizzly-polar bear hybrid near Sachs Harbour on Banks Island, Northwest Territories, Canada, reportedly on April 16, 2006. Martell had been hunting for polar bears with an official license and a guide, at a cost of $25,000, and killed the animal believing it to be a normal polar bear. Officials took interest in the creature after noticing that it had thick, creamy white fur, typical of polar bears, as well as long claws; a humped back; a shallow face; and brown patches around its eyes, nose, and back, and having patches on one foot, which are all traits of grizzly bears. If the bear had been adjudicated to be a grizzly, he would have faced a possible CAN$1,000 fine and up to a year in jail.
A DNA test conducted by the Wildlife Genetics International in British Columbia confirmed that it was a hybrid, with the mother a polar bear and the father a grizzly. It is the first documented case in the wild, though it was known that this hybrid was biologically possible and other ursid hybrids have been bred in zoos in the past.
Amidst much controversy, the bear has since been returned to Martell.
Since the 2006 discovery placed the hybrid into the spotlight, the media have referred to this animal with several portmanteau names, such as pizzly, grolar bear, and polizzly; but there is no consensus on the use of any one of these terms. Canadian wildlife officials have suggested calling the hybrid "Nanulak," taken from the Inuit names for polar bear (Nanuk) and grizzly bear (Aklak). By one convention the name of the sire comes first in such combinations: the offspring of a male polar bear and a female grizzly would be a "Pizzly bear," while the offspring of a male Grizzly and a female polar bear would be a "Grolar bear." If the remains of MacFarlane's 1864 specimen - which was validly described according to ICZN rules - would be traced and confirmed to be such a hybrid by ancient DNA techniques, the scientific name Ursus × inopinatus would be available for these animals.
Two grizzly-polar bear hybrids were born at Osnabrück Zoo in 2004 (one female and one male), and their physical traits are generally an intermediate between the polar bear and the grizzly bear. For example, their bodies are smaller than polar bears but larger than grizzlies, while their heads fall between the broader grizzly head and the leaner polar bear head. They have long necks like polar bears, but small shoulder humps like grizzlies. The soles of the hybrids' feet are partially covered in hair; polar bears have hair-covered soles which act as insulation, and grizzlies have hairless soles. Similarly, the hair of the hybrids exhibits a pattern of hollowness which blends the traits of both polar bears and grizzlies. In cross section, the hair of polar bears is hollow, while the hair of grizzlies is either solid or has small hollow regions. This varies according to which part of the grizzly the hair is located. In the hybrid male, the paw hair was solid, but the dark back hair was somewhat hollow, albeit with "smaller empty regions than found in polar bear hair". The hair of the female hybrid, "contains a range of hollow regions".
The hybrids demonstrated behavior more similar to polar bears than grizzlies. They stamped toys similar to how polar bears break ice, and hurled bags to the side "as polar bears may hurl prey". Grizzlies given the same bags do not demonstrate this hurling behavior. The hybrids were also observed lying down similar to polar bears: on their stomachs with rear legs splayed.
This kinda thing intrigues me, especially because it occurs/ed in the wilderness. You can definitely pick out characteristics from both species too.
There have been natural occurrences of hybridisation documented between polar bears and grizzly bears. Above is a taxidermy example of a specimen shot in 2006, and proven to be a hybrid by means of DNA testing.
Article here, regarding this specimen.(Warning: contains photographs of dead bloodied bear after being shot.)
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.
Jim Martell (pictured at left), a 65-year-old hunter from Idaho, shot the bear April 16 on the southern tip of Banks Island (see 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. Both live by themselves in large, open habitats.
To prevent wasting their eggs, females ovulate only after spending several days with a male, Stirling explained. "Then they mate several times over several days."
In other words, the mating between the polar bear and grizzly was more than a chance encounter. "That's what makes it quite interesting," he added.
Stirling says the hybrid has no official name, though locals have taken to calling it a "pizzly" and a "grolar bear."
-John Roach
And here is a wiki on polar/grizzly hybridisation.
With one confirmed case and other suspected sightings, zoologists are hypothesizing how wild hybrids might come into being. Although the two species are genetically similar and often found in the same territories, they tend to avoid each other in the wild. They also fill different ecological niches. Grizzlies (and also Kodiak bears and "Alaskan Brown Bears," which are all subspecies of the Brown bear, Ursus arctos) tend to live and breed on land. Polar bears prefer the water and ice, usually breeding on the ice. The yellowish-white MacFarlane's Bear, a mysterious animal known only from one specimen acquired in 1864, seems to attest, grizzly-polar bear hybrids may have always occurred from time to time.
Jim Martell, a hunter from Idaho, found and shot a grizzly-polar bear hybrid near Sachs Harbour on Banks Island, Northwest Territories, Canada, reportedly on April 16, 2006. Martell had been hunting for polar bears with an official license and a guide, at a cost of $25,000, and killed the animal believing it to be a normal polar bear. Officials took interest in the creature after noticing that it had thick, creamy white fur, typical of polar bears, as well as long claws; a humped back; a shallow face; and brown patches around its eyes, nose, and back, and having patches on one foot, which are all traits of grizzly bears. If the bear had been adjudicated to be a grizzly, he would have faced a possible CAN$1,000 fine and up to a year in jail.
A DNA test conducted by the Wildlife Genetics International in British Columbia confirmed that it was a hybrid, with the mother a polar bear and the father a grizzly. It is the first documented case in the wild, though it was known that this hybrid was biologically possible and other ursid hybrids have been bred in zoos in the past.
Amidst much controversy, the bear has since been returned to Martell.
Since the 2006 discovery placed the hybrid into the spotlight, the media have referred to this animal with several portmanteau names, such as pizzly, grolar bear, and polizzly; but there is no consensus on the use of any one of these terms. Canadian wildlife officials have suggested calling the hybrid "Nanulak," taken from the Inuit names for polar bear (Nanuk) and grizzly bear (Aklak). By one convention the name of the sire comes first in such combinations: the offspring of a male polar bear and a female grizzly would be a "Pizzly bear," while the offspring of a male Grizzly and a female polar bear would be a "Grolar bear." If the remains of MacFarlane's 1864 specimen - which was validly described according to ICZN rules - would be traced and confirmed to be such a hybrid by ancient DNA techniques, the scientific name Ursus × inopinatus would be available for these animals.
Two grizzly-polar bear hybrids were born at Osnabrück Zoo in 2004 (one female and one male), and their physical traits are generally an intermediate between the polar bear and the grizzly bear. For example, their bodies are smaller than polar bears but larger than grizzlies, while their heads fall between the broader grizzly head and the leaner polar bear head. They have long necks like polar bears, but small shoulder humps like grizzlies. The soles of the hybrids' feet are partially covered in hair; polar bears have hair-covered soles which act as insulation, and grizzlies have hairless soles. Similarly, the hair of the hybrids exhibits a pattern of hollowness which blends the traits of both polar bears and grizzlies. In cross section, the hair of polar bears is hollow, while the hair of grizzlies is either solid or has small hollow regions. This varies according to which part of the grizzly the hair is located. In the hybrid male, the paw hair was solid, but the dark back hair was somewhat hollow, albeit with "smaller empty regions than found in polar bear hair". The hair of the female hybrid, "contains a range of hollow regions".
The hybrids demonstrated behavior more similar to polar bears than grizzlies. They stamped toys similar to how polar bears break ice, and hurled bags to the side "as polar bears may hurl prey". Grizzlies given the same bags do not demonstrate this hurling behavior. The hybrids were also observed lying down similar to polar bears: on their stomachs with rear legs splayed.
This kinda thing intrigues me, especially because it occurs/ed in the wilderness. You can definitely pick out characteristics from both species too.