In 2006, the occurrence of this hybrid in nature was confirmed by testing the DNA of a unique-looking bear who had been shot near Sachs Harbour, Northwest Territories, on Banks Island in the Canadian Arctic.

One theory suggests that as the grizzly population increases, male bears leave their dens sooner while females stay with their cubs.

With the lack of berries, salmon, and natural vegetation in the Arctic, grizzlies have been seen hunting seals, which are a common prey for polar bears.

[8] Jim Martell, a hunter from Idaho, reportedly shot a grizzly–polar bear hybrid near Sachs Harbour on Banks Island, Northwest Territories on April 16, 2006.

[11] On May 8, 2006, the discovery of the grizzly–polar bear hybrid received increased attention when, soon after the story was announced, the comedy television show The Colbert Report light-heartedly named the new species as the number one threat to American Security.

[12][13] On April 8, 2010, David Kuptana, an Inuvialuk hunter from the community of Ulukhaktok on Victoria Island shot what he thought was a polar bear.

It was widely reported that a bear shot in 2016, near Arviat on the western shore of Hudson Bay, was a hybrid, with news agencies stating that this was an outcome of climate change.

[19] Although a grizzly bear was killed on Banks Island in 1951, it has, until recently, been rare for this species to stray far north of the coast of mainland Canada.

[20] In 2003 and 2004, a geological team working on Melville Island obtained photographic and DNA evidence of a grizzly bear in the area.

Grizzly bears have apparently also been extending their range east across the Barren Grounds towards Hudson Bay, and south towards northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

[22] Between 2003 and 2008, seven individuals were spotted in Wapusk National Park south of Churchill, Manitoba, an area used by polar bears for maternity dens and as a refuge during the ice-free season on Hudson Bay.

[23][24] The genetic methods used to confirm the family relationships and ancestry of the hybrid bears from northern Canada date back to the early 1990s, and are not powerful enough to reveal ancient history.

[30] Similarly, the hair of the hybrids exhibits a pattern of hollowness, which blends the traits of polar bears and grizzlies.