With all of the buzz around Al Gore's Nobel Prize winning
efforts, many are hoping the heightened awareness of global
warming will turn some attention to the plight of the polar
bears. It would be utterly heartbreaking if this incredible
predator was relegated to zoos or worse, especially after
hundreds of years of adaptation to the hostile Arctic
environment. I was once lucky enough to see a family of bears in
the wild in the high arctic, a mother and two cubs - it was a
powerfully moving site, considering this wasn't a refuge but
actually ice flows viewed from a Russian Icebreaker. What a
great many people were not aware of until recently is that polar
bears need the sea ice to freeze over. This gives the polar
bears ideal hunting grounds for the seals that build dens and
breathing holes in on the floes. Polar bears are classified as
marine mammals and are surprisingly deficient in skills for
catching prey on land.

There have been several reports of polar bear migrating into
the northern boreal forests of Alaska and mating with grizzly
bears, resulting in a hybrid bear:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly%E2%80%93polar_bear_hybrid .
While this phenomenon is not entirely new, the frequency of the
polar bear's forays into southern lands is bound to increase. A
bear has gotta do what it's gotta do, afterall. Biologists fear
the interbreeding could dilute some of the polar bears greatest
(and least understood) adaptations, such as the ability to
navigate incredible distances in a dynamic environment with few
landmarks, their aquatic skills and the instinct to catch seals
under sea ice.