According to researchers of the LOEWE Biodiversity and
Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Goethe University Frankfurt and the U.S.
Wildlife Service several bear species that today only occur in America or in
Asia have hybridized in their evolutionary history. The Beringia land bridge,
which in former times connected the habitats of these species, might have
enabled their encounter. The large-scale study is based on the comparison and
analysis of genetic material of all bear species that still exist. The results
have been published recently in the journal Evolution and Molecular Biology.