One Polar Bear Started an Entire Family Line of Rare Arctic Hybrids

Scientists have identified a hybrid bear that has started an entire new bloodline. Read on for the details of this startling discovery.

Hybrid Bear in Canada's Arctic Starts New Bloodline

Have you ever heard of a "grolar bear?" Or a "pizzly bear?" The discovery of this unique hybrid of bear species initially puzzled scientists. The bear first looked like a polar bear with pale-colored fur. Its discovery in Arctic Canada tracked with that theory; However, the bear's round body shape, long claws, and brown body markings did not fit the characteristics of a polar bear.

Subsequent DNA testing revealed that the animal was a wild hybrid resulting from the mating of a polar bear and a grizzly bear, earning it the nickname of a grolar or pizzly bear. Animal researchers then found that one of the first-generation hybrid bears mated with a grizzly bear to produce offspring. This means that hybrid genes have been passed to further generations, creating a unique family lineage.

The first observed wild bear hybrid was identified near Banks Island in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Genetic testing demonstrated that all of the known wild hybrids were born from one family line, starting with a female polar bear that had been mating with grizzly bears.

Researchers were able to determine that there were multiple first-generation hybrids, coming from one grizzly bear parent and one polar bear parent. A female hybrid bear mated with a grizzly bear, producing the offspring that were 75% grizzly and 25% polar bear. This type of ancestry is known in scientific circles as a backcross.

Scientists say that DNA continuing through multiple generations is the most remarkable part of this discovery. In other words, it was not a one-off hybrid that eventually died out.