14 DAY TRIAL // Jim Martell, a 65-year-old hunter from Idaho, paid 50,000 Canadian dollars last month to hunt Polar bears, but the animal he shot proved to be a hybrid between a polar bear and a grizzly bear.
It was considered nearly impossible for the two species to mate in the wild, although they have previously mated in zoos, since they mate at different times of the year and inhabit vastly different regions - one lives on Arctic ice floes, the other in forests.
Nonetheless, the DNA test of the shot bear has now confirmed that it is indeed a hybrid. Wildlife officials first suspected it was a hybrid after noticing that its white fur was interspersed with brown patches. It also had long claws, a concave facial profile, and a humped back, which are characteristic of a grizzly.
"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.
"I don't think anyone expected it to actually happen in the wild," he added. According to Stirling, polar bears and grizzlies require an extended mating ritual to reproduce. To prevent wasting their eggs, females ovulate only after spending several days with a male. "Then they mate several times over several days," Stirling explained.
This means that the mating between the polar bear and the grizzly wasn't a mere chance encounter. "That's what makes it quite interesting," he added.
The hybrid has been called by the Canadian media "pizzly", "grolar bear" or "nanulak", after the Inuit names for polar bear (nanuk) and grizzly bear (aklak). But the Wildlife officials haven't settled for a name yet.