All polar bears are Irish!
Scientists have discovered that all polar bears can trace their genetic lineage to a single brown bear who lived in Ireland about 20,000 to 50,000 years ago. Back then, climate change in the North Atlantic ice sheets meant that ancient polar bears and Irish brown bears overlapped in their territory.
It appears that ancient polar bears and Irish brown bears interbred in Ireland, which led to a single lineage of polar bears from this hybridization. Irish brown bears died over 9,000 years ago, but their polar offspring remained.
