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May 24, 2010
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Twice a week, John Platt shines a light on endangered species from all over the globe, exploring not just why they are dying out but also what's being done to rescue them from oblivion. Follow on Twitter @johnrplatt.
Twice a week, John Platt shines a light on endangered species from all over the globe, exploring not just why they are dying out but also what's being done to rescue them from oblivion. Follow on Twitter @johnrplatt.
An extremely rare “grolar bear“—a polar-grizzly bear hybrid—was shot and killed by an Inuit hunter in Canada’s Northwest Territories last month.
Global warming has reportedly been driving grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) farther north in search of food, bringing them into polar bear (U. maritimus) territory. Polar bears, meanwhile, are finding themselves stranded on land instead of their usual sea ice, bringing them into contact with the grizzlies.
This is only the second time that a grolar bear has been encountered in the wild and confirmed, but even with its rarity, it is more distinctive than expected. DNA tests released by the N.W.T. Environment and Natural Resources Department reveal that this was actually a second-generation grolar bear—meaning one of its parents (its mother) was already a polar-grizzly hybrid. The father was a purebred grizzly, the tests found.
The hunter knew he had something unusual, which is why he asked to have it identified. The bear had the polar bear’s white fur but a bigger head, brown paws and longer claws more typical of a grizzly bear.
The first grolar bear confirmed in the wild was killed by a hunter in 2006. A few others have been born in zoos.
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And the next generation will mate a Kodiak with a Grolar Bear and create the Uberbear: Ursa Uberas and the world will tremble.
Link to thisI don’t see what the deal is with the "groler bear" scientist have to do what they have to do in order to keep both of these species alive from becoming extinct.
Link to thisSince these two groups can breed and produce fertile offspring then they are one species. Are blacks a different species than caucasians? It’s kind of a different answer when it has to do with you personally isn’t it?
Link to thisA picture would have been in place here…
Link to thisIce ages have periodically frozen the artic ocean, the polar bear as far as humans are concerned must surely come and go with the climate.
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