hybrid bear: good eatin?

jesus, please bless my inspired friends booga and chickpea for passing along this article about a half-grizzly, half-polar bear shot in nunavut, canada. (geez, so timely given my last post!)

dna tests said the bear had 'a polar bear for a mother and a grizzly bear for a father.' sure, theyve been successfully crossed in zoos before (why?), but this could be the first reported case in the wild. that said, colin adjun, a local wildlife officer, described reports of a bear on the cross-specie tundra prowl in the past. 'it was a light chocolate color along with a couple of polar bears.' slut.

as mentioned, zoo couplings have shown that polar/grizzly half-breeds can procreate, unlike their typically sterile mule (donkey + horse), liger (lion+tiger), beefalo (cow + bison), wolphin (orca + dolphin) and cama (camel + llama) cousins. more hybrid animal photos here.

these clever names are brought to us by the portmanteau method, which names these frankenbeasts by combining the parent species' names. since the traits of hybrid offspring typically vary according to whos mom and whos dad, dads specie name goes first with mommys to follow (eg a 'liger' vs. a 'tigon'). in your excitement, however, do not confuse these beasts with chimera or the wild world of hybrid horticulture... plants (eg boysenberries, tangelos and ugli fruit) hybridize much more easily, but thats a posting for another day.

back to our poor grizpo bear. in a tale reminiscent of the popular tragic mulatto films of the early 20th century, i can imagine this poor exotic thang drifting in-between the grizzly and polar bear worlds until, out alone in the cruel cold, and blinded by her own bitter tears, she wanders into a hunter's gunsight and is shot dead. you know, i wouldnt be surprised if she shot herself. snif.