ULUKHAKTOK, N.W.T. — Researchers in the Northwest Territories say they may have found the first recorded offspring of a hybrid female polar-grizzly bear in the wild.

Government officials say an Inuvialuit hunter, David Kuptana, shot an unusual-looking bear during a hunting trip April 8 near Banks Island, in the Inuvik region.

He provided federal scientists with samples to see what type of bear it was.

Officials with the territorial government say those test showed that the dead bear was the offspring of another hybrid bear — a female polar-grizzly mix who had mated with a male grizzly.

Scientists confirmed this by comparing the dead bear’s DNA with that of local polar bear and grizzly populations, and that of a male polar-grizzly hybrid, which was shot on Banks Island in 2006.

Officials say it confirms that a female hybrid bear in the region is reproducing with other bears.