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Ursid hybridAn ursid hybrid is an animal with parents from two different species or subspecies of the Ursidae (bear) family. Species and subspecies of bear known to have produced offspring with another bear species or subspecies include brown bears, black bears, grizzly bears and polar bears, all of which are members of the Ursus genus. Bears not included in Ursus, such as the Giant Panda, are probably unable to produce hybrids. Note all of the confirmed hybrids listed here have been in captivity (except Grizzly/Polar bear), but there are unconfirmed reports of hybrids in the wild. Additional recommended knowledge
Brown bear/Black bear hybridsIn 1859, a black bear and a European brown bear were bred together in the London Zoological Gardens, but the three cubs did not reach maturity. In "The Variation Of Animals And Plants Under Domestication," Charles Darwin noted:
Since black bears and brown bears have differing numbers of chromosomes, it is unlikely that such hybrids, if proven, would be fertile. Brown bear/Grizzly bear hybridsHybrids between the (European) brown bear and the grizzly bear (now considered to be a North American variety of brown bear rather than a separate species) have been bred in Cologne, Germany. See grizzly bear for taxonomy. Brown bear/Polar bear hybrids
Kodiak bear/Polar bear hybrids"Kodiak" or "Kodiak brown" is a term now applied to brown bears found in coastal regions of North America. In the far north these bears feed on salmon and often attain especially large size. "Alaskan Brown" is sometimes used for Alaskan bears, but the main distinction is how far the bear is found from the coast. Grizzly bear is the term used for the brown bear of the North American interior.
Grizzly bear/Polar bear hybridsThe Grizzly bear is now regarded by most taxonomists as a variety of brown bear, Ursus arctos horribilis.
On April 16, 2006 a polar bear of unusual appearance was shot by a sports hunter on Banks Island in the Northwest Territories. DNA testing released May 11, 2006 proved the kill was a Grizzly/Polar Bear hybrid. This is thought to be the first recorded case of interbreeding in the wild. [1] The bear was proven to have a polar mother and a grizzly father. The DNA testing also spared the hunter the C$1000 fine for killing a grizzly bear, and the risk of being imprisoned for up to a year. The hunter had bought a license to hunt polar bears; he did not have a license to hunt grizzly at that time. [2] The animal had dark rings around its eyes, similar to a panda's but not as wide. It also had remarkably long claws, a slight hump on its back, brown spots in its white coat, and a slightly indented face — the nasal "stop" between the eyes which polar bears lack. [3] The guide leading the hunt, Roger Kuptana of Sachs Harbour in the Northwest Territories, was the first to note the oddities. Several names were suggested for this specimen. The Idaho hunter who killed it, Jim Martell, suggested polargrizz. The biologists of the Canadian Wildlife Service suggested grolar or pizzly, as well as nanulak, an elision of the Inuit nanuk (polar bear) and aklak (grizzly or brown bear). Both grolar and pizzly were used by the Canadian Broadcast Corporation [4] in widely-distributed stories. Presently, though the mating seasons overlap, the polar bear's season begins slightly earlier than the grizzly bear's. A blog columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer suggested that more hybrids may be seen as global warming progresses and alters normal mating periods. Dateline Earth Blog, reporter Lisa Stiffler, "You got your grizzly in my polar bear," May 11, 2006 The Canadian Wildlife Service noted that grizzly-polar hybrids born of zoo matings have proven fertile.[5] Grizzly bears have been sighted in what is usually polar bear territory in the Western Arctic near the Beaufort Sea, Banks Island, Victoria Island, and Melville Island. A "light chocolate colored" bear, possibly a hybrid, is reported to have been seen with polar bears near Kugluktuk in western Nunavut. Sloth bear hybridsHybrids have been produced between the sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) and the Malayan sun bear (Ursus malayanus) at Tama Zoo in Tokyo, and also between the sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) and the Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus, or Selenarctos thibetanus). (Gray, 1972; Asakura, 1969; Scherren, 1907). See also
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ursid_hybrid". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia. |