Even Nature is Pushing Hybrids

Hybrids are in the news every day with gas prices pushing $4 a gallon. Now even nature is getting in the act:

Northern hunters, scientists and people with vivid imaginations have discussed the possibility for years.

But Roger Kuptana, an Inuvialuit guide from Sachs Harbour, Northwest Territories, was the first to suspect it had actually happened when he proposed that a strange-looking bear shot last month by an American sports hunter might be half polar bear, half grizzly.

Territorial officials seized the creature after noticing its white fur was scattered with brown patches and that it had the long claws and humped back of a grizzly. Now a DNA test has confirmed that it is indeed a hybrid — possibly the first documented in the wild.

"We've known it's possible, but actually most of us never thought it would happen," said Ian Stirling, a polar bear biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service in Edmonton.

Given that neither species of bear is known for its sunny disposition, I'll bet this is one mean critter. I'm sure that one way or the other, it will be Bush and Cheney's fault that this bear's parents were forced to find an "alternative lifestyle".

Of course, if they'd moved to Massachusetts it would all have been legal.