Rare fossil helps scientists trace ancestry of polar bears to brown bears

Cox News ^ | 3-1-10 | RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer

[cajuncow]

WASHINGTON (Associated Press) -- When it comes to bears, the polar species seems to be the new kid on the block. A rare fossil jaw found in Norway's Svalbard archipelago is helping researchers confirm that polar bears evolved from brown bears only about 150,000 years ago.

Polar bears live much of the year on the Arctic sea ice and have become something of a symbol of the threat of global warming, which is melting that ice.

"Our results confirm that the polar bear is an evolutionarily young species that split off from brown bears some 150,000 years ago and evolved extremely rapidly," Charlotte Lindqvist, an assistant professor in the University of Buffalo's department of biological sciences, said in a statement.

[FlingWingFlyer]

...the threat of global warming, which is melting that ice.

I wonder if this jughead has any proof of that claim.

[JoeProBono]

[ClearCase_guy]

I see huge parallels between the junk science of Global Warming and the junk science of Evolution. This article seems to want to put them together for double the fun. Oh joy.

[autumnraine]

So is the fossil a polar bear or a brown bear? Are they saying that because they found a brown bear fossil in the artic, that must be that polar bears descended from brown bears? Or is this a polar bear fossil that hold DNA elements of the brown bear? Or can the species breed and it be an offspring of the two?

This article explains nothing.

[autumnraine]

According Wiki; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly%E2%80%93polar_bear_hybrid the brown bear and polar bear can breed naturally in the wild.

How do scientists know that this isn’t a polar bear fossil with a brown bear in ‘the woodpile’ so to speak?

[Sacajaweau]

You must believe....

[infowarrior]

So is the fossil a polar bear or a brown bear? Are they saying that because they found a brown bear fossil in the artic, that must be that polar bears descended from brown bears? Or is this a polar bear fossil that hold DNA elements of the brown bear? Or can the species breed and it be an offspring of the two?

This article explains nothing.

Welcome to "science"...

the infowarrior

[lurk]

They deduced all of this info from a jaw bone?

They had to pull so many assumptions out of their fannies for this, they’ll need Preparation H in caulking gun tubes.

[muir_redwoods]

Don’t blame the scientists. Remember, you’re reading the words of a journalist, not a scientist.

[count-your-change]

Bears evolved into........bears? whoa ho! This IS news!

[ClearCase_guy]

Some of the crown jewels of Evolution are Ring Species. One of the hardest things for evolution to prove is that one species can actually become another species. Through Ring Species, biologists feel that they have uncovered actual evidence that this occurs. They have examples of salamaders turning into salamanders, and sea gulls turning into sea gulls.

That's the best they have for the whole "speciation" concept. It's their Crown Jewel.

Pathetic, huh?

[count-your-change]

The ring species concept is analogous to Africans and Eskimos meeting up and each not wanting to live where and in the manner the other does. No one suggests they are of a different species.

[ClearCase_guy]

There have been pro evolution freepers who have loudly declared that ring species show that one species can evolve in the wild into "totally different" species.

I place no stock in such claims. But some folks think the concept validates their belief system.

[SunkenCiv]

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