Did Pizzly Bears Exist — And are they Common

You’re in luck if you’ve ever wondered what would happen if a polar bear and a grizzly bear had cubs. A “pizzly bear” hybrid was just found by scientists, and they are becoming more and more common.

According to Live Science, polar and grizzly bear offspring known as “pizzly bears” or “grolers” have become increasingly prevalent as a result of climate change. It may have an impact on how and with whom polar bears mate when they move into areas where grizzly bears reside.

There is a chance that these hybrids might be able to forage for a wider range of food sources, according to Larisa DeSantis, a paleontologist and associate professor of biological sciences at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. Typically, hybrids aren’t better suited to their environments than their parents.

The Canadian Arctic saw the first sightings of this spectacular animal in 2006 when a guy sighted a “pizzly” with “white fur of a polar bear but the big claws, humped back, shallow face, and brown spots of a grizzly.” Since then, the precise quantity in the wild has remained unclear, but researchers who study the new hybrid claim that the population is expanding.

“I sincerely hope there are still polar bears in the Arctic in the future because apex predators help maintain ecosystems, said DeSantis. But after all of that, could the grizzly allow for the survival of bears in intermediate Arctic regions? Perhaps, yes. We must therefore keep researching them.”

“Pizzlys” might become a permanent feature given the numerous changes to grizzly and polar bear habitats.