Polar Bears’ Surprising Irish Roots

New research has revealed a surprising ancestor of the North’s most well-known species…
All living polar bears can trace their genetic lineage back to a single Irish brown bear!
The fascinating study appeared earlier this month in the journal Current Biology. It cites mitochondrial DNA research pointing to the interbreeding of polar bears and Irish brown bears around the time of the last ice age. Polar bears were originally thought to have hailed from Alaska, but researchers think that they instead roamed from the north into what is now Ireland since the glacial ice sheet would have extended southward into this region during this colder time. The result? An interbreeding event that caused Irish brown bear DNA to creep into the DNA of polar bears.