If I have my geography right, the new hybrid bears could range as far as the north pole, but no farther north than that.

The notion that wandering male griz will impregnate female polar bears and produce hybrid cubs suggests a new subspecies will evolve. As polar bears are pure carnivores while griz will eat almost anything edible one wonders about whether the hybrids would be predisposed to meat or would be as omnivorous as griz. This could result in very large preditory bears in a few years time, one would wonder how far the new bears would range. Exciting new hunting oppertunities for sure (perhaps TOO exciting).

Range

Grizzly bears are found in Asia, Europe and North America, giving them one of the widest ranges compared to other bear species. The grizzly bear originated in Eurasia and traveled to North America approximately 50,000 years ago.[12] This is a very recent event in evolutionary time, causing the North American grizzly bear to be very similar to the brown bears inhabiting Europe and Asia. In North America, grizzly bears previously ranged from Alaska to Mexico and as far east as the Hudson Bay area.[12] In the United States the species is now found only in Alaska, south through much of western Canada, and into portions of the northwestern United States including Idaho, Montana, Washington and Wyoming, extending as far south as Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, but is most commonly found in Canada. There may still be a small population in Colorado in the southern San Juan Mountains. In September 2007 a hunter produced evidence of grizzly bear rehabilitation in the Selway-Bitterroot ecosystem, in Idaho and western Montana, by killing a male grizzly bear.[13] Its original range also included much of the Great Plains and the southwestern states, but it has been extirpated in most of those areas. Excluding Alaska, the United States has less than 1000 grizzly bears.[12] In Canada there are approximately 25,000 grizzly bears occupying British Columbia, Alberta, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the northern part of Manitoba.[12] Combining Canada and the United States, grizzly bears inhabit approximately half the area of their historical range.[12] In British Columbia, grizzly bears inhabit approximately 90% of their original territory. There were approximately 25,000 grizzly bears in British Columbia when the European settlers arrived.[12] However, population size significantly decreased due to hunting and habitat loss. In 2008 it was estimated that there were 16,014 grizzly bears. Population estimates for British Columbia are based on Hair-Snagging, DNA-based inventories, Mark-Recapture and a refined Multiple Regression model.[14] Other provinces and the United States may use a combination of different methods for population estimates. Therefore it is difficult to say precisely what methods were used to produce total population estimates for Canada and North America as they were likely developed from a variety of different studies. The grizzly bear currently has legal protection in Mexico, European countries, some areas of Canada and in the United States. However, it is expected that the re-population of its former range will be a slow process, due equally to the ramifications of reintroducing such a large animal to areas which are prized for agriculture and livestock and also to the bear's slow reproductive habits (bears invest a good deal of time in raising young). There are currently about 55,000 wild grizzly bears located throughout North America.[12]

Nothing "prissy" about these bears.

I have always wondered what was the limiting factor in grizzly bear range. Grizzly bears were perhaps more abundant on the Great Plains than the mountain regions at early historical periods. As the plains were settled the bears were eliminated in the southern areas. What was the limiting factor in keeping the bears from extending into Eastern North America? In Canada there is no physical boundary, so what factors kept old Ephraim out of Labrador and Quebec and the East?

Looks like I'm taking more than my bow the next bear trip to Manitoba.

I'm curious what evolution will do with all the animals (including bears) that will lose their habitat. This is just another example of the effects of global warming. However, the out come of this type of hybrid will be very very interesting.

http://www.bear-hunting.org

Talk about timing:

Title: Polar bears found to descend from brown bears

http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&source=hp&q=Underwater+fishing+camera's&rlz=1R2ADRA_enUS339&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=ay-MS5SbLoL8M5GtkW4&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=3&ved=0CCMQrQQwAg

But it still bothers me that scientists can "confirm" this through calculations ... based on assumptions, of course.

If they are right and polar bears somehow go kaput because of loss of ice, and if brown bears survive, then a new species of polar bears should evolve during the next ice age. And knowing that is forthcoming, if PETA is still around, I am sure they will hatch plans to introduce genetic changes to make seaweed and tundra eaters out of the carnivores.