Sitka Brown Bear

[brobear]

www.nwf.org/News-and-Magazines/National-Wildlife/News-and-Views/Archives/2013/News-of-the-Wild-Bears-2013.aspx
A GENETIC STUDY OF ALASKAN BEARS published last March in PLOS Genetics reveals that the huge brown bears of Alaska's Admiralty, Baranof and Chichagof Islands, known as the ABC Islands, originated as a population of polar bears. DNA studies by James Cahill, a graduate student in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California-Santa Cruz, and his colleagues revealed that ABC-island brown bears show clear evidence of polar bear ancestry and share more DNA with female polar bears than with males. This evidence suggests that at the end of the last ice age a polar bear population became isolated on the ABC Islands and that male brown bears, which when young tend to leave the area where they were born, swam to the islands and “gradually transformed the population from polar bears into brown bears,” Cahill says.The new work indicates that episodes of gene flow between the two species occurred only in isolated populations and did not affect the larger polar bear population, which remains free of brown bear genes. However, the findings suggest that continued climate warming and loss of Arctic sea ice may allow the same genetic swamping to occur more broadly.
( mature males range from 400 to 860 pounds ).

[King Kodiak]

Yeah and probably the least known brown bear subspecies is the Sitka brown bear (URSUS ARCTOS SITKENSIS)

The ABC Islands bear (Ursus arctos sitkensis) or Sitka brown bear is a subspecies of brown bear that resides in Southeast Alaska and is found on Admiralty Island, Baranof Island, and Chichagof Island of Alaska. These islands have the colloquial name of the ABC Islands and are a part of the Alexander Archipelago. This brown bear population has a unique genetic structure, which relates them not only to brown bears but to polar bears as well. Ursus arctos sitkensis habitat exists within the Tongass National Forest, which is part of the perhumid rainforest zone.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABC_Islands_bear

[brobear]

Jan 13, 2019 7:01:12 GMT -5 King Kodiak said:

Yeah and probably the least known brown bear subspecies is the Sitka brown bear (URSUS ARCTOS SITKENSIS)

The ABC Islands bear (Ursus arctos sitkensis) or Sitka brown bear is a subspecies of brown bear that resides in Southeast Alaska and is found on Admiralty Island, Baranof Island, and Chichagof Island of Alaska. These islands have the colloquial name of the ABC Islands and are a part of the Alexander Archipelago. This brown bear population has a unique genetic structure, which relates them not only to brown bears but to polar bears as well.[1] Ursus arctos sitkensis habitat exists within the Tongass National Forest, which is part of the perhumid rainforest zone.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABC_Islands_bear

Also from Wiki: This subspecies of brown bear retains all of the physical attributes and behavior associated with the brown bear, however, they do carry mitochondrial DNA that shows a match closer to polar bears than brown bears. 
 
Note: These bears are great examples of how closely related the grizzly is to the polar bear. ( but, we can't say that the polar bear is the black sheep of the family ). 

[King Kodiak]

Yeah brobear, thats interesting.

The ABC Islands bears have the appearance of the typical Alaskan grizzly bear, which includes milk chocolate colored fur, a humped back, with a large size and reputation to match. Although the bear is commonly a milk-chocolate color, it can range from blonde to black fur. Along with the humped back, the bears also have a slightly dished profile to the face. The bears have long front claws. Adult males on average will weigh 195–390 kg (430–860 lb), with adult females weighing on average 95–205 kg (210–450 lb). Adult height will range on average from 90 to 110 cm (35 to 43 in) at the shoulder

Sitka brown bear here.

[brobear]

Sitka Brown Bear - Ursus arctos sitkensis.     

[King Kodiak]

ABC ISLANDS BEAR, SITKA BEAR (URSUS ARCTOS SITKENSIS)

[Deleted]

Mar 20, 2017 6:22:11 GMT -5 brobear said:

www.nwf.org/News-and-Magazines/National-Wildlife/News-and-Views/Archives/2013/News-of-the-Wild-Bears-2013.aspx
A GENETIC STUDY OF ALASKAN BEARS published last March in PLOS Genetics reveals that the huge brown bears of Alaska's Admiralty, Baranof and Chichagof Islands, known as the ABC Islands, originated as a population of polar bears. DNA studies by James Cahill, a graduate student in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California-Santa Cruz, and his colleagues revealed that ABC-island brown bears show clear evidence of polar bear ancestry and share more DNA with female polar bears than with males. This evidence suggests that at the end of the last ice age a polar bear population became isolated on the ABC Islands and that male brown bears, which when young tend to leave the area where they were born, swam to the islands and “gradually transformed the population from polar bears into brown bears,” Cahill says.The new work indicates that episodes of gene flow between the two species occurred only in isolated populations and did not affect the larger polar bear population, which remains free of brown bear genes. However, the findings suggest that continued climate warming and loss of Arctic sea ice may allow the same genetic swamping to occur more broadly.
( mature males range from 400 to 860 pounds ).

Brown bears to polar bears and back to brown bears  .

[OldGreenGrolar]

The polar bear will live on in the ABC bears just as they will in grolar and prizzly bears. brobear. Thanks for reminding me about this thread.

[King Kodiak]

i know this is a little confusing, but the bear previously posted in reply #1 was not the ABC islands bear. The problem is the scientific name is basically identical. (Now reply #1 has the correct bear).

The ABC islands bear is located in the ABC islands, Southeast Alaska, its scientific name is (Ursus arctos sitkensis)

The bear previously posted at reply #1 was The Stickeen brown bear, which is located in the Northwestern mainland of Canada, its scientific name is (Ursus arctos stikeenensis). This here is the correct thread for this bear:

domainofthebears.proboards.com/thread/831/stickeen-brown-bear 

So as we can see, these are two different bears that even live in different countries, one lives in Alaska (USA), and the other in Canada.

[brobear]

Thank you for catching this. Yes; very confusing.