Ursid Hybrid - Kodiak Bear/Polar Bear Hybrids

Kodiak Bear/Polar Bear Hybrids

"Kodiak" or "Kodiak brown" is a term now applied to brown bears found in coastal regions of North America. In the far north these bears feed on salmon and often attain especially large size. "Alaskan Brown" is sometimes used for Alaskan bears, but the main distinction is how far the bear is found from the coast. Grizzly bear is the term used for the brown bear of the North American interior.

• In 1936, a male polar bear accidentally got into an enclosure with a female Kodiak (Alaskan Brown) bear at the U.S. National Zoo, resulting in three hybrid offspring. One hybrid was named Willy and grew into an immense specimen. The hybrid offspring were fertile and able to breed successfully with each other, indicating that the two species of bear are closely related. The Kodiak is also considered by many to be a variant or subspecies of the basic Arctic (circumpolar) brown bear.

• In a 1970 National Geographic article Elizabeth C. Reed mentions being foster mother to 4 hybrid bear cubs from the National Zoological Park in Washington, where her husband was director.

• In 1943, Clara Helgason described a bear shot by hunters during her childhood. This was a large, off-white bear with hair all over his paws. The presence of hair on the bottom of the feet suggests it was not an unusually colored Kodiak brown bear, but a natural hybrid with a Polar bear.