Could a polar bear mate with a grizzly bear?

Question

Just curious.
:D
Because they mate lions & tigers, horses & donkeys, why not grizzly bears & polar bears? They are even more closely related than the others, aren't they?

Answer 1

Apparently yes. See the link below.

Answer 2

From the National Geographic

May 11, 2006—DNA analysis has confirmed that a bear shot in the Canadian Arctic last month is a half-polar bear, half-grizzly hybrid. While the two bear species have interbred in zoos, this is the first evidence of a wild polar bear-grizzly offspring.

Jim Martell (pictured at left), a 65-year-old hunter from Idaho, shot the bear April 16 on the southern tip of Banks Island (see Northwest Territories map), the CanWest News Service reports.

Wildlife officials seized the bear after noticing its white fur was interspersed with brown patches. It also had long claws, a concave facial profile, and a humped back, which are characteristic of a grizzly.

Now the genetic tests have confirmed that the hybrid's father was a grizzly and its mother was a polar bear.

"I don't think anyone expected it to actually happen in the wild," said Ian Stirling, a polar bear expert with the Canadian Wildlife Service in Edmonton.

Polar bears and grizzlies require an extended mating ritual to reproduce, Stirling said. Both live by themselves in large, open habitats.

To prevent wasting their eggs, females ovulate only after spending several days with a male, Stirling explained. "Then they mate several times over several days."

In other words, the mating between the polar bear and grizzly was more than a chance encounter. "That's what makes it quite interesting," he added.

Stirling says the hybrid has no official name, though locals have taken to calling it a "pizzly" and a "grolar bear."

—John Roach

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Answer 3

Yes, they can mate. Polar bears and grizzly bears are both bears, so it's like breeding two types of bears. People do it with dogs all the time. They are very related, and you are right that they are more closely related than lions/tigers and horses/donkeys.

Answer 4

Some people have mentioned reproductive isolation as a characteristic that distinguishes one species from the other. This definition refers to only ONE of the many species concepts, namely, the biological species concept.
In fact, the application of this concept has restrictions and is not useful in all cases. Many "species" interbreed normally in nature (this has been recorded both in genetically similar species such as domestic cat- wild cat, many canids, etc., but also between less closely related ones such as whales belonging to different genera which were considered as more distant.) The outcome of these matings is usually not fertile because their chromosomes cannot match during gamete production, but they're otherwise healthy animals.
As others have said, one such polar-grizzly hybrid was recorded recently. This is the first record for wild animals, but interspecific matings are very common among captive animals that live together with rather "unnatural" companions, and that's not news.


And _please_, human races are just constructs and not subspecies, and of course they're not different species, so there's nothing comparable about that!

Answer 5

Well some scientists found a bear that was part grizzly bear part polar bear and is trying on deciding to name it either the prizzley bear or the Golar Bear. So to answer your question yes they can mate!!

Answer 6

yes. They recently shot a polar bear/grizzly bear mix in Alaska. Look it up on the net.

Answer 7

Yes they have. There was a recent report on TV about a recent sighting of a polar/grizzly mix.

Answer 8

yes just recently it was shown that a grizzly and polar bear did mate in nature and yes they are genetically very close

Answer 9

Below is hallowed_are_the_ori's answer.. I think it is wonderful... It is absolutely right.. YES, BUT THEY COULND"T PRODUCE CHILDREN... You are right hallowed_are_the_ori ,,,, only humans' produce Children!!!! LOL


Yes. But they couldn't produce children, That is the distinction of species. If they can produce offspring, they are in the same species, with the exception of horses and donkeys, but mules cannot mate (with effect) with anything, including other mules.

Answer 10

Yes,but it could get a little hairy, LOL! just joking. YES,they could,
because they are both bears,BUT it might be difficult with their attiudes that they have. (probely not used to mating with a different breed of bear.) Good Luck ~Moneydudeguy~

Answer 11

Yes. But they couldn't produce children, That is the distinction of species. If they can produce offspring, they are in the same species, with the exception of horses and donkeys, but mules cannot mate (with effect) with anything, including other mules.