POLAR BEARS WERE IRISH, according to articles in BBC News 7 July 2011 and ScienceDaily 8 July 2011. Scientists in the UK, Ireland and USA have studied mitochondrial DNA extracted from the teeth and skeletons of 17 brown bears that were found at eight cave sites across Ireland. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is genetic material carried in cellular powerhouses, separate from the main genome, and is passed from one generation to the next by mothers. Researchers correlated their results with the estimated ages of the bones. They found bears in Ireland with older dates, i.e. between 43,000 and 38,000 years ago, had the same genetic signature as brown bears living today in Eastern Europe, but DNA from bears that dated as 38,000 to 10,000 years ago, have sequences that are the closest match found to modern polar bears. The research team concluded the maternal ancestors of modern polar bears were from Ireland. Polar Bears (Ursus maritimus) and Brown Bears (Ursus arctos) are considered different species, but the scientists concluded “interspecific hybridization not only may be more common than previously considered but may be a mechanism by which species deal with marginal habitats during periods of environmental deterioration.”