What do the scientific names of the grizzly and polar bears tell about their similarity to each other?

1 Answer
Feb 4, 2018

Their scientific names tell us that they belong to the same genus.

Explanation:

the polar bear scientific name is Ursus maritimus
Grizzly bear scientific name is Ursus arctos

As per the taxonomy classification, which can be read here, species which are closely related to each other are grouped together. In bears case, they all are categorized into the genus Ursus.

Both Polar bear and Grizzly bear share many characteristics with each other and are thus grouped together in the same genus. This also means that we can safely assume that both the animals shared a common ancestor also.