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This was my intuition as well. The several-hundred year old populations haven’t become brown bears yet (not sure if they’re present in that eco system), but it
by steve_adams_86 3y ago
This was my intuition as well. The several-hundred year old populations haven’t become brown bears yet (not sure if they’re present in that eco system), but it seems likely that this would be inevitable on a long enough time scale. Having said that, I should also point out that I don’t know anything about any of this.
- swalling 3y agoThe barrier to this is dietary diversity. Brown bears are among the most omnivorous large mammals, whereas polar bears only eat plant matter in limited amounts / specific locales. A brown bear will get fat on food a polar bear starves on. You can’t reproduce if you’re not well fed.