A white bear with brown patches shot dead in northern Canada is the first grizzly-polar hybrid found in the wild, DNA tests have confirmed.
Canadian wildlife officials say it is the offspring of a male grizzly bear and a female polar bear.
There have long been stories of oddly coloured bears living in regions where the two territories overlap.
But until now, grizzly-polar hybrids, dubbed “grolar bears” or “pizzlies”, have been found only in zoos.
The hybrid bear was shot last month by an American big game hunter on Banks Island, Northwest Territories, Canada.
His guide, Roger Kuptana, noticed the creature had the long claws and slightly humped back of a grizzly bear and thought it might be a hybrid.
The body was seized by officials, who sent a DNA sample for tests which confirmed its unusual origins.
“It’s something we’ve all known was theoretically possible because their habitats overlap a little bit and their breeding seasons overlap a little bit,” said Ian Stirling, a biologist at the Canadian Wildlife Service in Edmonton.
“It’s the first time it’s known to have happened in the wild.”
Okay, now I don’t want you guys to get the wrong idea here, so don’t go judging before I tell the tale. Once, several years ago, myself and several of my good friends were out drinking and found an Inuit guys ID card in the street. We made it our quest to find him and of course did, in the nearest bar. In gratitude he bought us several rounds of beers and revealed that in his village he was the hereditary guy that assigned people their spirit animals. Apparently, his family was given the ability to see what other peoples animals were. He decided to tell us. He looked at me and said “You, you are Nanook. That is polar bear” then he looked at my good friend and said, “Ah, yes, I see why you two are freinds, you are Tatook, that is the Grizzly bear”, at this point our third freind was hanging off his barstool in anticipation of what his animal would be after hearing all the noble qualities associated with Nanook and Tatook. The Inuit looked at him and said, “It might be dangerous for you to hang out with these guys, Little Bird.” It was allwe could do to keep Little Bird from kicking that Inuits ass and we laughed as we did it. Now, needless to say, we didn’t breed, because even if the Polar Bear and the Grizzly Bear can, we two males had no desire to.