Half grizzly, half polar bear found

[milkabum]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12738644/?GT1=8199
IQALUIT, Nunavut - Northern hunters, scientists and people with vivid imaginations have discussed the possibility for years.

But Roger Kuptana, a guide from Canada’s Sachs Harbor 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...

Amazing, no?
Emily

 

[olena]

The part that got my attention was that this hybrid has been achieved previously in zoos. Where? Maybe in the past? Maybe as a circus side-show?

 

[milkabum]

It sounds..I can't explain it but cruel may give it a start.
Emily

 

[chyam]

What got my attention is that this guy has $50,000 to kill an animal! Couldn't he use it to do some good in the world!

 

[beckmrk04]

What got my attention is that this guy has $50,000 to kill an animal! Couldn't he use it to do some good in the world!

THAT's what I was thinking.

I'm sure they've crossed all kinds of animals, including polar bears and grizzlies in the zoos. They have crossed lions and tigers, and a whale with a dolphin; a zebra with a donkey.

Personally, I think it's sort of unnatural. But, if it happened in the wild- then hey, two bears had a good day.

 

[binny]

wow... in the wild thats actually kind of cool. Nature is amazing!


in a zoo setting Im not so sure but giving the benefit of the doubt maybe they are trying to find ways to preserve the species? I dont know that for a fact, like I said, Im just speculating.

 

[beckmrk04]

Well, the thing is, they can't be preserving the species because they are creating NEW species when they mate.

A liger is a whole different animal than a tiger or a lion.

Plus, many times when they cross-mate species, the resulting offspring are infertile. Not all the time, but a common example would be a mule (the non-fertile result of a donkey and a horse).

 

[chyam]

I know that they have cross bred a Texas cougar with a Florida panther and released them into the wild since they are trying to build on a dwindling panther species down here, I think they do that kind of thing hoping that in the wild the cross breed will breed again with the original and sooner or later the species will be almost pure again. There are some cases where it can be very beneficial.
But in the wild that is so cool......unfortunate that it had to be slaughtered by some guy with more money than brains and for just a trophy........quite honestly it disgusts me, nature can be beautiful in so many ways, and I can understand killing something to curb over population or to thin the species of overcrowding, but this guy just had to have a $50,000 bear! The only good thing if you can call it that is that we now know that there is cross breeding in the wild.

 

[Virgo10]

But in the wild that is so cool......unfortunate that it had to be slaughtered by some guy with more money than brains and for just a trophy........quite honestly it disgusts me, nature can be beautiful in so many ways, and I can understand killing something to curb over population or to thin the species of overcrowding, but this guy just had to have a $50,000 bear!

What you said. Geez I hope his next trip isn't to Arkansas to bag an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker.

 

[beckmrk04]

chyam- good point on the 50,000 trophy (which I'm glad he doesn't get to keep- should teach him a lesson).

I just think of how much more beneficial it would have been to researchers to track this animal, rather than have it's dead carcass.

I'm so disgusted thinking about it.

I'm not anti-hunting, either. It serves it's purpose- deer here in IL would be outrageous. Plus, people eat the meat.

But to slaughter JUST for a trophy and to 'prove' how manly you are (or more specifically that you can aim and fire) is just sad.

 

[gypsydoodlebug]

Whoa! Props to Mother Nature! Our zoo bred a zebra with a horse in the 80s -- it was brown in the front but had a striped rear. Can't remember why -- wonder what ever happened to that...

ETA: I was wrong -- I Googled it -- but I was only 9 at the time. The horse just CARRIED the embryo...

From the New York Times (printed on my 9th birthday!!)

FOLLOW-UP ON THE NEWS;

Zebra Transplant
By RICHARD HAITCH
Published: March 3, 1985

After a horse gave birth to a full- blooded zebra last May in an embryo- transplant experiment by the Louisville (Ky.) Zoo, zoo officials said the procedure might be used to increase the populations of endangered equine breeds.

The embryo was that of a Grant's zebra and had been fertilized normally and implanted in the mare.

The Grant's zebra is not considered endangered, but officials cited Grevy's and Chapman's zebras as breeds that might be helped.

The veterinarians who did the implantation - Dr. Bill Foster, who is with the zoo, and Dr. Scott Bennett of Simpsonville, Ky. - are planning to repeat the experiment this month with another Grant's zebra embryo. The intention, Dr. Foster says, is to perfect the method before trying it with an endangered breed.

The offspring from the first experiment is now stabled - ''spoiled is probably a better word,'' Dr. Foster says - at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, one of the nation's largest thoroughbred-horse-breeding centers.

''Since he was not born in the herd of zebras at the zoo,'' explains a zoo spokesman, Mary Duane, ''he might have been harmed if we had introduced him into the herd. That's just normal zebra behavior.''

Named Equuleus after a constellation of stars, the zebra was nursed and raised by his surrogate mother, a quarter horse named Kelly. ''She was an excellent mother,'' Miss Duane says. ''She was very, very protective of her offspring.''

Miss Duane says the zoo hopes to train Equuleus - ''we call him Equ for short'' - for an artificial-insemination program.

 

[Quinn222]

How revolting that this person paid $50,000 to kill that beautiful animal for 'sport.'

 

[mickeyfan2]

Humans have cross breeding animals for ages. The Mule is a great example. The difference is that all other cors breeding resulted in offspring that could not reproduce, thus it is not a new species. This bear could reproduce and was produced in the wild.

 

[RoyalCanadian]

chyam- good point on the 50,000 trophy (which I'm glad he doesn't get to keep- should teach him a lesson).

I just think of how much more beneficial it would have been to researchers to track this animal, rather than have it's dead carcass.

I'm so disgusted thinking about it.

I'm not anti-hunting, either. It serves it's purpose- deer here in IL would be outrageous. Plus, people eat the meat.

But to slaughter JUST for a trophy and to 'prove' how manly you are (or more specifically that you can aim and fire) is just sad.

The latest news here in Canada is that the polar bear/grizzly bear pelt has been returned to the hunter. He did nothing wrong. He paid to hunt a polar bear -- the Inuit guides tracked a white bear and he shot it. It wasn't until they inspected the carcass that they discovered these anomalies that suggested the bear was something rather different. Even a detailed inspection of the carcass suggested it was still just a polar bear -- it was only through DNA testing that the truth was revealed. I'm not sure what would have been proven by tracking the polar/grizz -- the help to science would have been from tracking its parents.

As for the $50,000 -- this is money that is paid to the Inuit community for taking part in a polar bear hunt. As well, the meat will be used in the community. Inuit hunt polar bear all the time. Polar bear meat is considered to be delicious and is an excellent source of iron and protein. Polar bear fat provides Inuit with Vitamin A and omega-3 fatty acids which helps reduce the risk of heart disease.

It's a different way of life than what we are used to in the southern regions of North America -- but there is no difference between hunting a deer in Illinois and hunting a polar bear in Nunavut.

 

[beckmrk04]

The latest news here in Canada is that the polar bear/grizzly bear pelt has been returned to the hunter. He did nothing wrong. He paid to hunt a polar bear -- the Inuit guides tracked a white bear and he shot it. It wasn't until they inspected the carcass that they discovered these anomalies that suggested the bear was something rather different. Even a detailed inspection of the carcass suggested it was still just a polar bear -- it was only through DNA testing that the truth was revealed. I'm not sure what would have been proven by tracking the polar/grizz -- the help to science would have been from tracking its parents.

As for the $50,000 -- this is money that is paid to the Inuit community for taking part in a polar bear hunt. As well, the meat will be used in the community. Inuit hunt polar bear all the time. Polar bear meat is considered to be delicious and is an excellent source of iron and protein. Polar bear fat provides Inuit with Vitamin A and omega-3 fatty acids which helps reduce the risk of heart disease.

It's a different way of life than what we are used to in the southern regions of North America -- but there is no difference between hunting a deer in Illinois and hunting a polar bear in Nunavut.

I was aware that he didn't know it wasn't just a polar bear- I was implying that had it never been shot in the first place, perhaps it could have been studied. But, it's shoot first, ask questions later.

And it would have been beneficial to track this animal- to see if it mates, if it is fertile, whether it was rejected by polar bears or grizzlies for being different. There would have been plenty for scientists to learn.

I didn't know that the Inuits used the meat. But, I still think it's sad that some guy paid $50,000 just to shoot the bear. Hunting for food is different than hunting for sport. The guy that paid was not an Inuit hunting polar bears for food and Omega-3's. He wanted a trophy- and honestly, I think hunting with guns for sport is just ridiculous- where's the sport? Now maybe if he was hunting with a knife, that'd be a challenge... But- he had people track the bear for him, and then he shot it with a gun. Ok. That took guts.

I am glad that the poor animal didn't die for naught, though. Something has been learned and the Inuit people will be able to use the meat.

 

[MouseWorshipin]

DH hunts. He's a big believer in eating whatever he kills. But that's not why he does it.

He likes the hunt itself. He will describe (to me and me only ) the entire scene, every move made by him and the deer, everything that happened. It is a passion for him that even I don't totally "get." We have a big ol deer head hanging up in the house. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd have one in MY house. We also have a fake fish mounted on a plaque that sings and dances in his office. Just call me the Queen of Tacky!

He also fishes, but I think that is more for relaxation. I never hear fish stories...except, of course, The One That Got Away.

 

[RoyalCanadian]

Unfortunately, the only way anyone has even known this animal existed is because it was shot. The thought of a polar bear mating with a grizzly bear was apparently legend, but never considered scientific fact. If it wasn't the American hunter shooting the bear, it would have been an Inuit hunter. If it had been an Inuit hunter, the news might never have surfaced.

This newspaper article in the National Post sheds some more light on the subject from a Canadian point of view.

I took a look through the Nunavut government website -- he paid at least $800 in government fees (hunting licence, to the Nunavut government alone to even be able to take a shot at this bear. He would have paid $50 to the Canadian government for a non-resident firearm possession licence. All of this is taxed by the federal government at the 7% rate. Welcome to Canada -- where we nickel and dime you to death and then charge you tax.