Rare Grizzly-polar bear hybrid believed killed in Canada (Photo)

What’s the word for a bear that’s half polar bear and half grizzly? No one’s come up with a definitive name yet (grizzlar?) but a hybrid animal of this type was shot and killed recently by an Inuit hunter in northern Canada.

Researchers believe it was both: a polar-grizzly hybrid, something only rarely seen in the wild, but becoming increasingly common as the polar bear’s habitat continues to disappear, forcing it to cross paths with grizzlies. And, apparently, fall in love with them.

A DNA test will determine if the bear is a polar-grizzly hybrid. If so, it would be just the third confirmed grolar or pizzly bear (the name depends on which bear is the father and which is the mother) found in the wild. The other two were killed in 2006 and 2010. The one found in 2010 was actually a second generation hybrid, the offspring of a male grizzly and a female hybrid. There have also been unconfirmed sightings of the hybrids.

So, next time you’re tallying all the terrifying things that global warming may bring, you can add “giant hybrid predators,” alongside the rising of the seas.

Agencies/Canadajournal