Whats a Grolar Bear?

I heard from a fellow classmate that some where out in the Canadian Arctic some hunters claimed to have shot and killed a polar bear grizzly hybrid.  I got home from class that afternoon and I found the article on National Geographic News dating back to May 11th 2006 confirming the news positive with DNA confirmation.  

In the article the local polar bear expert with the Canadian Wildlife service was stunned that a breeding between these two animals could take place in the wild.  It was stated that the polar bears and grizzlies both undergo an ongoing mating ritual.  With this in mind it was concluded that this was not some chance encounter.

"It's of interest because it's rare, but that's kind of it," stated Rosa Meehan, the chief of marine mammal management with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage, Alaska.  Rosa is currently overseeing how changing environmental conditions in the Arctic are affecting polar bears.  She claims that the hybrid doesn't prove the species' possible endangered status or on global warming's potential role in the decline of the polar bears.

David Paetkau the president of Wildlife Genetics International confirmed the bear is indeed a hybrid, but states its just one instance and that it is too early to conclude anything about the discovery. 

 According to Ian Stirling, a research scientist and polar bear expert grizzly bears have been showing up in the polar bears' territory for the past 50 years.  The hybrid, he said, is "definitely not" a sign of climate change.