On National Geographic/Morphed, an interesting fate for some polar bears ......

[Stinky The Clown]

... they are mating with grizzly bears and forming a whole new species. National Geographic terms it 'watching evolution in action'.

That fact is cool and gives some measure of hope.

The reason it is happening is catastrophic.

Here is a story from a few years back when the first of these interbred bears was discovered.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/bear-hybrid-photo.html

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. It's so good that someone saw fit to kill it.

We are a better world for its death. :eyes:

[Raster]

3. The buttfuck that killed it is Jim Martell, a 65-year-old hunter from Idaho.

I propose OPEN SEASON on Mr. Martell.

on edit: or better yet, let's put him on an iceflow with a couple of polar bears. No gun. No safety cage. Just him and his fancy parka. Go Bears!

[BrklynLiberal]

7. I second your suggestion

[csziggy]

9. The National Geographic show about the "mystery bear" gave a better impression

Mr. Martell paid a native guide a significant fee to hunt a polar bear. Whatever tribe/group the guide was a member of makes big money off these fees for allowing a very limited number of bears to be killed a year. It was just the two men with dog sleds out on the ice, no fancy gear. Martell did not shoot until the guide indicated it was the proper time and quarry.

When it was determined that the bear was not a pure polar bear, the men both faced high fines - that is why the DNA tests were done in the first place, to determine exactly what species the bear was. On the TV program at the conclusion, the authorities were still trying to decide about the fines.

I do not approve of trophy hunting (Martell took the hide and a bunch of photos) but if the native group depends on those fees and they have the rights to do this, it is not up to me to make the decision.

[Raster]

11. Polar bears are heading toward extinction. It is NOT ok for anyone to hasten the process...

White man, red man, brown man, yellow man, polka-doted man.

The tribal guides should join Mr. Buttfuck Martel on said iceflow with said angry, hungry polar bears. Let's let them do a little "trophy hunting."

[Stinky The Clown]

4. Yeah, that sorta honked my horn, too.

Funny though ...... according to that story, that dead bear is how they discovered this (essentially) new species.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

5. He's a trophy hunter.

I'm a country boy. I have eaten black bear stroganoff and loved it. I have eaten moose and loved it. Deer, pheasent, quali, rabbit, squirrel, duck...all taken by hunters. And taken with the honor, thanks and respect throughout the process that I have learned good hunters have.

But trophy hunters? They kill to kill and have new toys they can sit in front of, late at night with a bourbon and branchwater and an illegal Cuban cigar and jerk their little twig.

I have absolutely no respect for those bastards.

I reiterate: I'm a country boy. I no longer hunt. I do fish with great delight and enjoyment, on the Delaware, which is a short walk from my apartment. But I catch and release, taking only one or two to eat, occasionally. I rarely take pure gamefish. I take catfish, the occasional walleye, an occasional striper, that is it. The smallmouths go back, always.

[aquart]

2. Bravo bears!

[Solly Mack]

6. The Grizzolar Bear

gets my vote anyway

:)

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. I thought I read somewhere that polar bears were morphed grizzlies in the first place? So in a sense

this would be sort of like returning to what they once were?

[Stinky The Clown]

10. I don't know about that, but could you imagine what a fearsome animal .....

.... would evolve if the interbreeding were polar bears and kodiaks (huge grizzly variants)?

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. That would be really scary. I have seen both animals close up and personal in a zoo and was

rather alarmed by the sheer size of them. (And felt very bad about them being in cages to boot.)