Yes, grizzly polar bear hybrids are real, but they are very rare. The first wild one was shot on Canada’s Banks Island in 2006. DNA studies have found only eight wild hybrids, and all of them come from one female polar bear, reports Polar Bears International.
What is a grizzly polar bear hybrid called?
There is no official name. People call it a “pizzly” or a “grolar” bear, and Polar Bears International uses both. Scientists simply call it a hybrid: an animal whose parents belong to two different species.
Here the parents are the polar bear, Ursus maritimus, and the grizzly bear. Grizzlies are the North American form of the brown bear, Ursus arctos, so a “brown bear hybrid” is the same cross. Our page on polar bear vs grizzly bear size shows how different the two parents look.
The first wild grizzly and polar bear hybrid
In April 2006, American hunter Jim Martell shot what he thought was a polar bear on Banks Island, in Canada’s Northwest Territories. But the bear looked odd. It had brown patches on its white coat, long claws and the humped back of a grizzly, says the Alaska Science Forum at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
A DNA test showed that its mother was a polar bear and its father was a grizzly. It was the first wild bear known to have that mix of parents. Zoos had already shown that the two species could breed. The surprise was that it had happened in the wild.
How many pizzly bears are there?
Only eight wild hybrids are known. In 2017, a team led by Jodie Pongracz traced all of them with DNA, in a study in the journal Arctic. Four were first-generation hybrids, with one polar bear parent and one grizzly parent. The other four were second-generation bears. Their mothers were hybrids and their fathers were grizzlies.
The twist is that all eight belong to one family. A single female polar bear mated with two grizzly males. Her hybrid daughters then mated with grizzlies too. The polar bear mother and three of her first-generation cubs were later killed by hunters, the study reports.
| What was counted | Number | Source |
|---|---|---|
| First wild hybrid confirmed by DNA | 2006, Banks Island, Canada | University of Alaska Fairbanks |
| First-generation hybrids (polar bear × grizzly) | 4 | Pongracz et al. 2017 |
| Second-generation hybrids (hybrid mother × grizzly father) | 4 | Pongracz et al. 2017 |
| Polar bear mothers behind all eight | 1 | Pongracz et al. 2017 |
| Grizzly males that fathered the first generation | 2 | Pongracz et al. 2017 |
| Bears checked in a 2024 DNA survey | 371 polar bears and 440 grizzlies | Polar Bears International |
| New hybrids found in that survey | 0 | Polar Bears International |
What does a polar bear grizzly mix look like?
No two hybrids look exactly alike, because each one gets a different mix of genes. Wild hybrids have had a brown streak down the back, brown rings around the eyes like a pair of glasses, and longer claws than a polar bear, says Polar Bears International. The 2006 bear also had a grizzly’s shoulder hump.
| Feature | Polar bear | Grizzly bear | Wild hybrids |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coat | White or cream | Brown | White with brown patches, or a brown streak down the back |
| Face | Plain white face | Brown face | Brown rings around the eyes |
| Shoulder hump | None | A large hump of muscle | A hump, in the 2006 bear |
| Claws | Shorter | Long | Longer than a polar bear’s |
Second-generation bears can look almost fully brown. One hybrid female had three cubs with a grizzly. They were about 75% brown bear and 25% polar bear, and they looked like brown bears, reports Polar Bears International.
Can pizzly bears have babies?
Yes, at least some can. The proof is in that one wild family. The hybrid daughters of the polar bear mother had cubs of their own with grizzly fathers (Pongracz et al.). So pizzlies are not like mules, which almost never breed.
This works because polar bears and brown bears are close relatives. Scientists do not agree on when they split. A 2024 article from Polar Bears International says polar bears evolved from grizzly bears several hundred thousand years ago. An older page from the same group gives about 5 million years. Either way, the two species are still close enough for their genes to work together.
Grizzly and polar bear hybrids in zoos
Zoos have produced hybrids too. At Germany’s Osnabrück Zoo, twins named Tips and Taps were born in 2004. Their father was a polar bear and their mother a brown bear, says the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart. Tips looked more like her mother in size and in her shoulder hump.
When museum staff prepared her body, they found more polar bear in her than her looks suggested. Her back paw pads and parts of her skull and teeth were like her father’s. Tips escaped from her enclosure in March 2017 and was shot for safety. Her mounted body is now in the Stuttgart museum.
Why are grizzly bears and polar bears meeting now?
Grizzlies are moving north. In 2003 and 2004, researchers photographed a grizzly on Melville Island, in Canada’s high Arctic. DNA from its hair matched grizzlies from Paulatuk, on the mainland coast. It was the most northerly grizzly ever seen in North America, report Doupé and colleagues in the journal Arctic.
Warming is expected to push more grizzlies into polar bear country, notes Polar Bears International. The Pongracz team offered one reason why hybrids appear at this edge. A male grizzly far from home may find few female grizzlies to mate with. That is an idea, not a proven cause. Read more in where polar bears live and where grizzly bears live.
Are pizzlies a threat to polar bears?
No, according to the latest DNA work. In 2024, a team led by Joshua Miller checked 371 polar bears and 440 grizzlies from Canada, Alaska and Greenland, sampled between 1975 and 2015. They found no hybrids beyond the known eight. They concluded that hybrids today are not a conservation concern, reports Polar Bears International.
Hybrids are also unlikely to save polar bears from melting ice. Polar Bears International calls them poor brown bears and poor polar bears. Their mix of coat, teeth, body and behaviour does not suit life on the sea ice or on land. A polar bear needs to hunt fat seals from the ice, as our page on what polar bears eat explains. The real threat is the loss of sea ice; see why polar bears are endangered.
Frequently asked questions
Can polar bears and grizzly bears mate?
Yes. The two species are close relatives and can produce cubs together. It has happened in zoos, such as Germany's Osnabrück Zoo in 2004, and in the wild in Canada's western Arctic, where DNA confirmed the first wild hybrid in 2006. In the wild it is very rare, because the two bears usually live and breed in different places.
Were all the wild pizzlies born to a polar bear mother?
The first generation was. DNA showed that all four first-generation wild hybrids had the same polar bear mother and one of two grizzly fathers. The four second-generation bears had hybrid mothers and grizzly fathers. In the Osnabrück Zoo twins, the cross went the other way: a polar bear father and a brown bear mother.
Where do grizzly polar bear hybrids live?
The known wild hybrids all come from Canada's western Arctic, in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, including Banks Island and Victoria Island. This is where the ranges of the two species meet, as grizzlies wander north onto the Arctic islands. No wild hybrids have been confirmed in Alaska or Greenland.
How big is a pizzly bear?
Nobody has published a reliable average, because so few wild hybrids exist. Both parents are big. Adult male polar bears usually weigh 350 to 600 kg (775 to 1,300 lb), and grizzlies are generally smaller. A hybrid's size seems to vary with its mix of genes, just like its coat colour.
Could pizzly bears become more common?
Possibly, if grizzlies keep moving north into polar bear country as the Arctic warms. So far there is no sign of it. A 2024 DNA survey of more than 800 bears found no new hybrids beyond the one known family, and the team concluded that hybrids are not a conservation concern today.
Sources
- Polar Bears International (2024). Hybridization extremely rare between grizzly and polar bears, study finds (on Miller et al. 2024, Conservation Genetics Resources, doi:10.1007/s12686-024-01359-1).
- Arctic Institute of North America, University of Calgary (2017). Recent hybridization between a polar bear and grizzly bears in the Canadian Arctic (Pongracz et al., Arctic 70(2), doi:10.14430/arctic4643).
- Polar Bears International (2021). Pizzlies? Grolars? Why hybrids aren't an answer for polar bears.
- Polar Bears International. Polar bear-grizzly hybrids: pizzly or grolar bear.
- University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute (2006). Hybrid grizzly-polar bear a curiosity (Alaska Science Forum).
- Arctic Institute of North America, University of Calgary (2007). Most northerly observation of a grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) in Canada: photographic and DNA evidence from Melville Island (Doupé et al., Arctic 60(3), doi:10.14430/arctic219).
- State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart. Werkstattbericht: Tips, die Cappuccinobärin aus Osnabrück.
Sources checked 15 September 2026.
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