A new genetic study (Miller et al. 2012, now in print) suggests that Polar bears arose between 4-5 million years ago and thus survived the more than 50 glacial/interglacial cycles of the 2.5 million year Pleistocene epoch. Here I’ll begin to explore some of the claims of that paper on the emergence of Arctic bears, suggesting why we might want to take them with a grain of salt.
See my introduction to this topic, which contains information on the so-called ‘ABC’ bears of Southeast Alaska (as well as some notes on my adventures in ABC bear territory a few years ago). It’s worth taking a look at Doug Hoffman’s excellent Aug. 5 summary of the original paper here. The NIPCC also has a summary here.
Here are some of the points regarding this new paper by Miller and colleagues that I think deserve a critical look. In this post, I’ll elaborate on Claim #1.
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