The world's largest land predator is crossing paths with brown bears at higher latitudes to bring hybrid bears into the north.
A bear that wasn't the same as the others was shot by a hunter in Canada. The animal was found to be part polar bear and part gryphon bear.
In the years since, 'pizzlies' or 'brolar bears' have popped up more and more in North America, and now researchers in Siberia are warning the same could happen elsewhere.
There are brown bears. There are brown bears in the lower reaches of the Kolyma River where polar bears live.
There are brown bears in the Anabar District. There is a chance that in the future there will be hybrid bears.
Around half a million years ago, polar bears and brown bears separated. In rare instances, the two can mate and result in offspring.
Climate change could lead to more rate events as brown bears and polar bears cross paths more frequently. The melting of sea ice makes polar bears more likely to come face to face.
People in parts of Russia have seen the two species in the same places. There are two populations of polar bears in the Yakutia region.
Save for a few lonely subpopulations in the highest reaches of thearctic, polar bears could be close to extinction by century's end. The pure species could disappear if enough of them interbreed with brown bears.
Experts are worried that any remaining polar bears will be affected by the melting sea ice.
As you read this, that is already happening. A brolar bear, whose mother was a hybrid and whose father was a brown bear, was discovered by researchers in 2010.
Brown bears have a different diet than polar bears. These are likely to better cope with any environmental changes that might come in the future because they will eat just about anything they can get their paws on.
New genes from brown bears could help the polar bears survive in the northern part of the world.
If that is the case, polar bears will not be the same as before.
They could be a completely new species one day.
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