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First Ever Wild Grizzly/Polar Hybrid Shot

tavilach writes "Jim Martell has a license to hunt polar bears, but when his latest kill had "white fur [that] was spotted brown and it had the long claws and slightly humped back of a grizzly," officials seized the body in order to conduct DNA tests. These tests confirm that the dead bear had a polar bear mother and grizzly father, the first documented grizzly-polar hybrid in the wild. This was lucky for Jim, who was facing a fine and jail time for possibly killing a grizzly. Scientists who would have liked to study the bear are not so lucky."

3 of 227 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Pathetic that this animal was shot... by Hannah+E.+Davis · · Score: 4, Informative

    As I understand it, polar bears are huntable in the arctic at least in part because they eat people. They're extremely dangerous animals -- apparently, they're known for showing no fear around humans and having no qualms about eating human flesh, so there are parts of Canada where you actually do have to go around armed in case one comes by looking for dinner.

    I'm still not a big fan of shooting them, but I can see why it might be allowed, especially near human settlements.

  2. Re:Headline misleading by Who235 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Read it again, friend. It says "First Ever WILD Grizzly/Polar Hybrid Shot" (emphasis mine).

    Wild in this case certainly means not bred in captivity.

    So maybe Parent should have spent less time reading TFA and more time reading TFH.

  3. Re:Was it a mule? by MadMidnightBomber · · Score: 2, Informative
    that would explain how the polar bears survived the previous warm periods (like the 8000 BC to 4000 BC "climate optimum").

    Wow! Homo Sapiens was destroying the planet that far back?

    Er, around then.

    "On Great Britain shade tolerant species like oak and ash are replaced in the pollen record by hazels, brambles, grasses and nettles. Removal of the forests led to decreased transpiration resulting in the formation of upland peat bogs. Widespread decreased in elm pollen across Europe between 6400-6300 BP and 5200-5000 BP, starting in southern Europe and gradually moving north to Great Britain, may represent land clearing by fire at the onset of Neolithic agriculture."

    --
    "It doesn't cost enough, and it makes too much sense."