Post by Woody Williams on May 10, 2006 11:57:58 GMT -5
www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=8d1d95a4-2843-477a-8886-11b60a8dbea3
Tests confirm bear was grizzly-polar cross
Nathan VanderKlippe
CanWest News Service
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
The DNA analysis is done, and the proof is in the chromosomes: an
odd-looking bear discovered in the Far North is the first cross-bred
polar and grizzly bear ever discovered in the wild.
That leaves only one thing to do. Find a name for it.
And there are plenty of contenders. "Pizzly" and "grolar bear" were
among the first to surface after the bear was shot April 16 on the
southern tip of Banks Island, about 2,000 kilometres north of Edmonton.
Jim Martell, a 65-year-old hunter from Idaho, prefers "polargrizz."
Martell shot the male bear after his Inuit guide pointed out what looked
like a polar bear in the distance. Authorities seized the animal after
noticing its polar-bear-white fur was mottled with brown patches, and
its eyes were set inside thin circles of black skin. It also bore some
distinctly grizzly-like features.
When it became clear this was not a normal polar bear Martell, who had
paid $50,000 to hire guides and buy a polar bear tag for the hunt, was
left facing possible charges for shooting an animal he was not permitted
to hunt. Now the Northwest Territories' Environment and Natural
Resources Department plans to return the bear, since its genetics are
half polar bear, leaving Martell with what might be the most unique
Arctic bear skin on earth.
"It will be quite a trophy," Martell said last week, before hearing that
the bear was his to keep. On Tuesday, he had returned to Yellowknife for
another hunt, this time for a grizzly bear, and was unavailable for
comment. Not surprisingly, though, his bear has stirred considerable
curiosity in the hunting and scientific communities.
"It's very interesting," said Ian Stirling, Canada's leading polar bear
biologist. Some in his office have begun floating the name "nanulak,"
combining the Inuit names for polar bear -- nanuk -- and grizzly --
aklak.
In tiny Sachs Harbour, where Martell's guide Roger Kuptana lives, the
bear is the talk of the town.
"Myself, I don't even know what to call it," said Kuptana. "The elders
and biologists have never heard of polar bears and grizzlies mating in
the wild, although it's been known to happen in zoos."
What's clear is that the union that produced the bear was more than a
chance encounter on the sea ice, a frozen one-night stand. Female polar
bears and grizzlies only become fertile after repeated mating -- and the
animals usually spend many days courting before parting ways again.
"They would have to have been together very likely for at least a week,"
said Stirling.
So was it love?
"I don't deal in things like that," he said.
Desperation is a more likely reason. Driven by a biological urge to pass
on its genetics, the grizzly bear could find none of its own species
high in the Arctic, and took the next-best option.
That kind of behaviour could have serious ramifications for the Arctic,
however.
"As grizzly bears expand their range north, (inter-breeding) becomes
another potential threat to polar bears," said David Paetkau, a
geneticist with Wildlife Genetics, the Nelson, B.C.-firm that confirmed
the bear's dual lineage. "If there's too much inter-breeding, the
grizzly bear genes could eventually wash out the polar bear, and they
could become basically grizzly bears with a little more northern
habitat."
Tests confirm bear was grizzly-polar cross
Nathan VanderKlippe
CanWest News Service
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
The DNA analysis is done, and the proof is in the chromosomes: an
odd-looking bear discovered in the Far North is the first cross-bred
polar and grizzly bear ever discovered in the wild.
That leaves only one thing to do. Find a name for it.
And there are plenty of contenders. "Pizzly" and "grolar bear" were
among the first to surface after the bear was shot April 16 on the
southern tip of Banks Island, about 2,000 kilometres north of Edmonton.
Jim Martell, a 65-year-old hunter from Idaho, prefers "polargrizz."
Martell shot the male bear after his Inuit guide pointed out what looked
like a polar bear in the distance. Authorities seized the animal after
noticing its polar-bear-white fur was mottled with brown patches, and
its eyes were set inside thin circles of black skin. It also bore some
distinctly grizzly-like features.
When it became clear this was not a normal polar bear Martell, who had
paid $50,000 to hire guides and buy a polar bear tag for the hunt, was
left facing possible charges for shooting an animal he was not permitted
to hunt. Now the Northwest Territories' Environment and Natural
Resources Department plans to return the bear, since its genetics are
half polar bear, leaving Martell with what might be the most unique
Arctic bear skin on earth.
"It will be quite a trophy," Martell said last week, before hearing that
the bear was his to keep. On Tuesday, he had returned to Yellowknife for
another hunt, this time for a grizzly bear, and was unavailable for
comment. Not surprisingly, though, his bear has stirred considerable
curiosity in the hunting and scientific communities.
"It's very interesting," said Ian Stirling, Canada's leading polar bear
biologist. Some in his office have begun floating the name "nanulak,"
combining the Inuit names for polar bear -- nanuk -- and grizzly --
aklak.
In tiny Sachs Harbour, where Martell's guide Roger Kuptana lives, the
bear is the talk of the town.
"Myself, I don't even know what to call it," said Kuptana. "The elders
and biologists have never heard of polar bears and grizzlies mating in
the wild, although it's been known to happen in zoos."
What's clear is that the union that produced the bear was more than a
chance encounter on the sea ice, a frozen one-night stand. Female polar
bears and grizzlies only become fertile after repeated mating -- and the
animals usually spend many days courting before parting ways again.
"They would have to have been together very likely for at least a week,"
said Stirling.
So was it love?
"I don't deal in things like that," he said.
Desperation is a more likely reason. Driven by a biological urge to pass
on its genetics, the grizzly bear could find none of its own species
high in the Arctic, and took the next-best option.
That kind of behaviour could have serious ramifications for the Arctic,
however.
"As grizzly bears expand their range north, (inter-breeding) becomes
another potential threat to polar bears," said David Paetkau, a
geneticist with Wildlife Genetics, the Nelson, B.C.-firm that confirmed
the bear's dual lineage. "If there's too much inter-breeding, the
grizzly bear genes could eventually wash out the polar bear, and they
could become basically grizzly bears with a little more northern
habitat."
