According to CBC News, the DNA of a bear shot in the Northwest Territories in April shows it was a hybrid of polar bear and grizzly — perhaps the first ever seen in the wild.

It was considered nearly impossible for the two species to mate, since polar bears mate on the ice, while grizzlies mate on land. Plus, He said the relationship between polar and grizzly bears is usually more adversarial. But desperation might be a factor in this new breed - driven by a biological urge to pass on its genetics, the grizzly bear could find none of its own species high in the Arctic, and took the next-best option.

But why was it up there in the first place? Grizzly bears normally live on the Arctic mainland (and southern Victoria Island) but in the past decade they have been sighted on islands farther north in the Arctic archipelago. Global warming is being blamed for this change in accessible territory.