Pizzly Bear Shot in Northwest Territories
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 05.11.06
All of Canada is agog at the news that Idaho hunter Jim Martell bagged the first known wild cross between a polar and grizzly bear. Their mating habits are completely different- the polar bear likes it on the ice and the grizzly prefers land. The polar bear likes a long term relationship and has to mate five times before becoming fertile while the grizzlies tend to party around. "It’s very interesting," said Ian Stirling, Canada’s leading polar bear biologist. Some in his office have begun floating the name "nanulak," combining the Inuit names for polar bear - nanuk - and grizzly - aklak. Behind all of the name-calling, the issue is serious- Grizzlies are moving north as the climate gets warmer. "As grizzly bears expand their range north, (inter-breeding) becomes another potential threat to polar bears," said [geneticist] Mr. Paetkau. "If there’s too much inter-breeding, the grizzly bear genes could eventually wash out the polar bear, and they could become basically grizzly bears with a little more northern habitat." ::National Post
This is sad, truly sad what is befalling the polar bears. Have you seen the polar expedition sponsored by Greenpeace? (http://www.projectthinice.org/) The explorers are trying to highlight global warming and the threats it poses to polar bears.
It's a cool site.
This isn't sad, it's just a normal evolutionary response to climate change.
I think that when the result of cimate change is the extinction or near-extinction of a species, we can call it "sad".
You're jumping the gun a bit on your conclusion that this is "just a normal evolutionary response to climate change". Is that a possibility, sure, but making that statement before any real study has been conducted is rash, and unresponsible.
That's fascinating! This might be a one-off situation of course, but if not, watching evolution at work is a truly amazing. It's better than all the bears drowning.
I don't think it'll keep polar bears from losing their habitat and drowing, it just means that those that don't have chances of cross-breeding with grizzlies that are now going further North.
IT EXSISTS!!!!
THE PIZZLY BEAR!
I prefer "Grolar Bear"
We are talking about the two of the largest bears on earth, here. Pizzly sounds like a toy or something.
He was probably an outcast in both circles, grew up fighting, couldn't find a job or a girl, and ends up getting shot. Poor guy.
Grolar? Pizzly? Are we missing the fact that he was needlessly gunned down with his dead face plastered all over the Internet?
i think the real tragedy is that it was shot. that little tidbit of info seems to have been just glossed over. it looks like a polar bear, arent there hunting restrictions or, or no hunting allowed for polar bears? this hunter has some serious explaining to do.
just read the actual article on the bear and the hunter's story. it sickens me that one can pay enough money to shoot a species in trouble for "fun." and this guy went to hunt grizzlies the next day. sorry for taking this slightly off topic, i just have no respect for the concept of hunting for sport.
What I'd like to know is if this bear would have been able to mate and produce viable offspring? We can cross lions and tigers in zoos, and get ligers or tiglons.. but they are sterile, because lions and tigers are diff species... Same with horses and donkeys = mule/jenny = sterile (I believe?) So I'd be surprised if this Grolar could reproduce. If not, then lets not start to worry about interbreeding decimating the pure polar species. If it can breed, then perhaps we should note that this means grizly and polars must be variations on the same species...? Curious.
http://messybeast.com/genetics/hybrid-mammals.html
Not the first wild Grolar:
"C Hart Merriam, taxonomists of grizzly bears, came across one bear that was significantly different from other grizzlies. Believing it to be a living fossil, he named it Vetularctos inopinatus ("ancient, unexpected bear"). The bear had been killed in 1864 at Rendezvous Lake, Barren Grounds, Canada. Merriam described it as "buffy whitish" with a golden brown muzzle and suggested it came from a separate lineage to the Ursinae, being a modern descendent of the extinct giant short-faced and relative of the modern spectacled bears. Today it is variously considered a natural hybrid between a grizzly bear and polar bear or an aberrant form of grizzly. A similar bear was reported from Kodiak Island."
I've seen totally white (albino and non-albino) deer, moose, snakes, horses, why not a white version of a grizzly bear?