Pizzlies Are Hybrid Bears That Show A Worrying Future For The Arctic

[Paco Dennis]

I saw this new article this morning and I was a bit shocked. ( Polar bears mating with Grizzly bears )

Also called grolar bears, these hybrids are a child of our drastically changing planet.​

Pizzlies are hybrids born as a result of inter-species romping between a grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) and a polar bear (Ursus maritimus). Although rare, some scientists believe they could become more common due to climate change meddling with bear habitats in the northernmost stretches of our world.
...
Their existence wasn’t confirmed by scientists until 2006 when hunters shot a white bear sporting brown patches in Canada’s Northwest Territories. DNA analysis later confirmed that the individual was a hybrid of the two species.

The mating between polar bears and grizzlies doesn’t always appear to be a one-off incident. In 2017, a study traced eight known pizzlies back to one female polar bear that had mated with two grizzly bears.

Scientists have since documented incidences of second-generation hybrids (as in, the offspring of pizzly bears and grizzly bears). At Ulukhaktok airport in Canada's Northwest Territories, you can find a stuffed bear that researchers have identified as 3/4 grizzly and 1/4 polar bear. Families are never straightforward, eh?
...
Although the two species are closely related on the family tree – separated by merely 500,000 years of evolution – the evidence of interbreeding is pretty surprising since polar bears and grizzlies often have an adversarial, competitive relationship in the rare incidences they do meet.
...
Climate change is making these kinds of interactions between the two species more likely, much to the concern of some experts. As polar bears are heading further south due to their habitat melting, warming temperatures are pushing grizzly bears further north, increasing the overlap between the two habitats.

"These two animals that never really ran into each other are now being forced to share closer quarters. I guess sometimes that can make for some 'fun times', but it's also a signal that the Arctic is no longer as it once was," Dickie explained.

This could be very bad news for the planet's already-suffering population of polar bears. Some scientists fear that hybridization could continue to the point where polar bears will one day be subsumed into the general grizzly population, effectively out-breeding them into extinction.

Pizzlies Are Hybrid Bears That Show A Worrying Future For The Arctic.

 

[Robb.hisself]

I saw this new article this morning and I was a bit shocked. ( Polar bears mating with Grizzly bears )

View attachment 306696

Also called grolar bears, these hybrids are a child of our drastically changing planet.​

Pizzlies are hybrids born as a result of inter-species romping between a grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) and a polar bear (Ursus maritimus). Although rare, some scientists believe they could become more common due to climate change meddling with bear habitats in the northernmost stretches of our world.
...
Their existence wasn’t confirmed by scientists until 2006 when hunters shot a white bear sporting brown patches in Canada’s Northwest Territories. DNA analysis later confirmed that the individual was a hybrid of the two species.

The mating between polar bears and grizzlies doesn’t always appear to be a one-off incident. In 2017, a study traced eight known pizzlies back to one female polar bear that had mated with two grizzly bears.

Scientists have since documented incidences of second-generation hybrids (as in, the offspring of pizzly bears and grizzly bears). At Ulukhaktok airport in Canada's Northwest Territories, you can find a stuffed bear that researchers have identified as 3/4 grizzly and 1/4 polar bear. Families are never straightforward, eh?
...
Although the two species are closely related on the family tree – separated by merely 500,000 years of evolution – the evidence of interbreeding is pretty surprising since polar bears and grizzlies often have an adversarial, competitive relationship in the rare incidences they do meet.
...
Climate change is making these kinds of interactions between the two species more likely, much to the concern of some experts. As polar bears are heading further south due to their habitat melting, warming temperatures are pushing grizzly bears further north, increasing the overlap between the two habitats.

"These two animals that never really ran into each other are now being forced to share closer quarters. I guess sometimes that can make for some 'fun times', but it's also a signal that the Arctic is no longer as it once was," Dickie explained.

This could be very bad news for the planet's already-suffering population of polar bears. Some scientists fear that hybridization could continue to the point where polar bears will one day be subsumed into the general grizzly population, effectively out-breeding them into extinction.

Pizzlies Are Hybrid Bears That Show A Worrying Future For The Arctic.

The only thing notable, here is that people have been worrying about the future since the very beginning of time. Rather than declare it is worrisome and seeing it that way, why not simply see it as something unexpected. And, because it is unexpected does not mean it is worrisome. Interracial marriage was at one time worrisome, but not now. Consciousness raising.

 

[Paco Dennis]

The only thing notable, here is that people have been worrying about the future since the very beginning of time. Rather than declare it is worrisome and seeing it that way, why not simply see it as something unexpected. And, because it is unexpected does not mean it is worrisome. Interracial marriage was at one time worrisome, but not now. Consciousness raising.

No worries here mate. I never heard of this before. That got my attention. I accept drastic climate heating as a fact, I don't worry about it.