What do you get when you cross a polar bear and a grizzly? One badass bear, that's what you get.
[hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"][font color="#000000" face="Verdana,Sans-serif" size="2"]DNA Tests Confirm Bear Was a Hybrid[/font][font size="1"]
[/font][font face="Verdana,Sans-serif"][table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"][tbody][tr][td bgcolor="#cbcbcd"][table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"][tbody][tr][td height="2"]
[/td][/tr][/tbody][/table][/td][/tr][/tbody][/table] [a href="jvascript:eMail_Friend(540, 540);"][font face="Verdana,Sans-Serif" size="1"][/font][/a][font size="1"]
[/font][font size="1"][span class="L8"][span class="oldL8"]May 11, 7:57 AM (ET)
[/span][/span][/font] [table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="210"][tbody][tr][td align="center"][table border="1" bordercolor="#cbcbcd" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="150"][tbody][tr][td][table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"][tbody][tr align="center"][td][a href="http://apnews.myway.com/image/20060510/HYBRID_BEAR.sff_NY121_20060510210104.html?date=20060511&docid=D8HHIDO80"][img]http://ak.imgfarm.com/images/ap/thumbnails//HYBRID_BEAR.sff_NY121_20060510210104.jpg" border="0" hspace="4" vspace="4"][/a][/td][/tr][tr][td][font color="#000000" face="Verdana,Sans-serif" size="1"](AP) In this undated photo provided by the Canadian Wildlife Service, hunter Jim Martell, left, is seen...
[a href="http://apnews.myway.com/image/20060510/HYBRID_BEAR.sff_NY121_20060510210104.html?date=20060511&docid=D8HHIDO80"][font color="#3366cc"]Full Image[/font][/a][/font][/td][/tr][/tbody][/table][/td][/tr][/tbody][/table][/td][/tr][/tbody][/table][/font] [font face="Verdana,Sans-serif"][font color="black" size="2"]IQALUIT, Nunavut (AP) - Northern hunters, scientists and people with vivid imaginations have discussed the possibility for years.[/font][/font][/p] [font face="Verdana,Sans-serif"][font color="black" size="2"]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.[/font][/font][/p] [font face="Verdana,Sans-serif"][font color="black" size="2"]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.[/font][/font][/p] [font face="Verdana,Sans-serif"][font color="black" size="2"]"We've known it's possible, but actually most of us never thought it would happen," said Ian Stirling, a polar bear biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service in Edmonton.[/font][/font][/p] [font face="Verdana,Sans-serif"][font color="black" size="2"]Polar bears and grizzlies have been successfully paired in zoos before - Stirling could not speculate why - and their offspring are fertile.[/font][/font][/p] [font face="Verdana,Sans-serif"][font color="black" size="2"]Breeding seasons for the two species overlap, though polar bear gets started slightly earlier. [/font][/font]
