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DNA Tests Confirm Bear Was a Hybrid
Associated Press via Earthlink News ^
| Staff
Posted on 05/11/2006 6:57:25 AM PDT by VadeRetro
IQALUIT, Nunavut - Northern hunters, scientists and people with vivid imaginations have discussed the possibility for years.
But Roger Kuptana, an Inuvialuit guide from Sachs Harbour, Northwest Territories, was the first to suspect it had actually happened when he proposed that a strange-looking bear shot last month by an American sports hunter might be half polar bear, half grizzly.
Territorial officials seized the creature after noticing its white fur was scattered with brown patches and that it had the long claws and humped back of a grizzly. Now a DNA test has confirmed that it is indeed a hybrid - possibly the first documented in the wild.
"We've known it's possible, but actually most of us never thought it would happen," said Ian Stirling, a polar bear biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service in Edmonton.
Polar bears and grizzlies have been successfully paired in zoos before - Stirling could not speculate why - and their offspring are fertile.
Breeding seasons for the two species overlap, though polar bear gets started slightly earlier.
TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: crevolist; science; zoology
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Interesting if not surprising that this degree of relatedness hides under the physical dissimilarity of grizzly and polar bears.
1
posted on
05/11/2006 6:57:26 AM PDT
by
VadeRetro
To: PatrickHenry
Submitted for your review.
2
posted on
05/11/2006 6:58:06 AM PDT
by
VadeRetro
(Faster than a speeding building; able to leap tall bullets at a single bound!)
To: VadeRetro
Interracial dating amongst bears?
To: VadeRetro
I imagine the grizzly probably didn't have a whole lot of say in the matter.
4
posted on
05/11/2006 6:59:17 AM PDT
by
avg_freeper
(Gunga galunga. Gunga, gunga galunga)
To: PBRSTREETGANG
North Side Story.
5
posted on
05/11/2006 6:59:59 AM PDT
by
VadeRetro
(Faster than a speeding building; able to leap tall bullets at a single bound!)
To: PBRSTREETGANG
...even more dangerous than that...a bi-polar bear. They're crazy..
To: VadeRetro
So...is it a Pizzley? Golarbear? Helen Thomas in a fur coat?
To: Fighting Irish
Don't know what you call it, but if it doesn't like it you don't call it that.
8
posted on
05/11/2006 7:01:23 AM PDT
by
VadeRetro
(Faster than a speeding building; able to leap tall bullets at a single bound!)
To: VadeRetro
9
posted on
05/11/2006 7:01:39 AM PDT
by
PJ-Comix
(Join the DUmmie FUnnies PING List for the FUNNIEST Blog on the Web)
To: small voice in the wilderness
bi-polar bear
...........priceless!
To: VadeRetro
Hybrid Polar Bears eat corn with their seal meat?
You do know how to catch a Polar Bear huh?
You dig a big hole in the ice and line the hole with peas.
When the polar bears comes to take a pea, you kick him in the icehole. :)
To: VadeRetro
Now Ruger will need to add another large-bore revolver to the "Alaskan" family, and call it the "Arctican" or something.
12
posted on
05/11/2006 7:03:20 AM PDT
by
Disambiguator
(Unfettered gun ownership is the highest expression of civil rights.)
To: VadeRetro
That is (was) one odd looking polar bear!
To: TexasCajun
You oughta be ashamed of yourself.
14
posted on
05/11/2006 7:03:50 AM PDT
by
VadeRetro
(Faster than a speeding building; able to leap tall bullets at a single bound!)
To: VadeRetro
"Territorial officials seized the creature"
Typical government action by seizing property from a private citizen who probably paid many thousands of dollars for the hunt.
To: VadeRetro
I don't know WHY this is so startling.
My cat is part ASIAN LEOPARD and EGYPTIAN MAU.
She's gorgeous. Long body, glitter, green eyes with a blond background with black and brown spots - even on her tummy and black bottomed paws. Her tail is black and white like a raccoon. She is VERY intelligent and likes to chirp. She is a direct mix between the leopard and the domestic Egyptian Mau. She LOVES water and will join you in the shower or the bathtub - whether you want her company then or not. She's commonly known as a Bengal.
What's the big deal about this "hybrid" in bears?
Ever hear about "ligers"? They are 50% tiger and 50% lion. It happens all the time.
16
posted on
05/11/2006 7:04:24 AM PDT
by
nmh
(Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God) !)
To: Fighting Irish
To: VadeRetro
WOW though ... what a neat pet that would be ... if only he/she was a few generations removed. Gorgeous animal!
18
posted on
05/11/2006 7:05:30 AM PDT
by
nmh
(Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God) !)
To: VadeRetro
More phony stories from the liberal media promoting interspecies mating as a vehicle toward their pro-evolution, pro-secular agenda. I know it's not possible to mate polar bears with grizzlies because the way I interpret the bible, it would be impossible. And so I wish to use the force of law to suppress stories of this nature; and teach our children the bible, only the bible, and nothing but the bible. That is all.
19
posted on
05/11/2006 7:06:07 AM PDT
by
massadvj
To: VadeRetro; Fighting Irish; Argh; Miss Behave
Resolves the question of "what do you get when you cross-breed a bore and a sow?"
I dunno, but Hillary will never have another child after Webb Hubble.
20
posted on
05/11/2006 7:07:11 AM PDT
by
Robert A Cook PE
(I can only donate monthly, but Hillary's ABBCNNBCBS continue to lie every day!)
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