A Polar Bear or a Grizzly Bear?
Everybody knows what a polar bear or a grizzly bear looks like. But you heard of a pizzly? What is that, you ask? A pizzly is a strange-looking bear which was caught by people the first time in 2006. It all happened in the Northwest Territories of the Canadian Arctic. This bear by scientists as a kind of bear that combines a polar bear and a grizzly bear. A pizzly is also as a hybrid bear. Bears like these had been born in zoos , but the 2006 meeting was the first recorded meeting between a human and a hybrid bear in the wild.
One of the first people who to journalists about such a meeting was hunter Roger Kuptana. ‘I American hunter Jim Martell on his hunting trip in April 2006 and I am almost sure that it was a pizzly he shot. I got this feeling after the bear’s white and brown fur and the small hill on the bear’s back,’ remembers Roger.
‘The bear actually was a hybrid,’ confirmed Judy McLinton, one of the officials from the Northwest Territories. She added, ‘Jim Martell, an American hunter, shot the animal in 2006. He paid $58,400 hunt polar bears in our region.’
And Mr Martell, the hunter, told The National Post, ‘Everybody thought that the animal was a polar bear but then they it more closely. That’s when they discovered signs that showed the creature might be a grizzly bear. The bear had white fur, typical of polar bears, but the shape of its back and face were typical of a grizzly bear.’
Nowadays, it is easy to recognize a pizzly because the differences are known. There is actually a chance to see a pizzly travelling to Canada – in Germany, for example. If you to the German city of Osnabrück, you will see a pizzly at the local zoo. You can to see the difference for yourself! Have fun!
