Polar bears evolutionarily five times older and genetically more distinct: Ancestry traced back 600,000 years

Polar bears evolved as early as some 600,000 years ago, according to a new study. Scientists show the largest arctic carnivore to be five times older than previously thought. The new findings on the evolutionary history of polar bears are the result of an analysis of information from the nuclear genome of polar and brown bears, and shed new light on conservation issues regarding this endangered arctic specialist.

Read the whole article on Science Daily

More from Science Daily