Can't we all just get along-Nunavut's half polar bear/half grizzly hybrid

[papau]

DNA Tests Confirm Bear Was a Hybrid

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.

<snip>Breeding seasons for the two species overlap, though polar bear gets started slightly earlier.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060511/ap_on_sc/hybrid_bear;_ylt=Ao.LOwHksjFER9JuXsBad99I2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

[xchrom]

1. wow that's amazing.

does anybody know how it is their territotries over lap?

where's hey hey?

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Well, mules and ligers and so forth exist. What I really want to know is

why is this particular cross-breed capable of reproducing?

(Wonder if this is nature's way of salvaging the polar bears during this time of global climate change?)

[Divernan]

3. This is how polar bears may adapt to loss of habitat.

This thread is a duplicate, and on the original thread, a poster replied that this cross-breeding may be nature's way/polar bear's way of surviving the loss of habitat due to global warming. I wonder if this hybrid is capable of reproducing & hope the scientists can determine that. Then it is imperative that hunters be barred from hunting these bears so that nature can have the time to help this new species develop. People can hunt to keep animal populations in balance, like deer; or to feed themselves; but I shed no tears if "Richie Rich" can't spend $20,000 to kill a magnificent animal like a polar bear with his high-power weaponry, and at no danger to himself. Put Mr. Megabucks down on an ice flow with a sharp knife, and let's make this a fair fight. Hunting is the only "sport" where one team (the animal) doesn't know it's in a game.

[FSogol]

4. Wow, maybe one day, someone will find a real compassionate conservative

Naaaah, even I don't believe that is possible.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. I bet ** will send Cheney out there to shoot any more of them. You know

he hates hybrids of any kind. :P

[kestrel91316]

6. A clever strategy for polar bear DNA to preserve itself, for a time in the

future when there will be a place for purebred polar bears again...........sigh.