On the finish of the Canadian Arctic summer time, polar bears head inland to attend for the ice to type.
And whereas hundreds of tourists flock to catch a glimpse of those majestic predators, researchers are creating new methods to soundly separate folks and bears.
New monitoring gadgets that persist with polar bears’ fur might be the important thing to defending each folks and bears — by intently monitoring the animals’ areas.
Polar bears now spend extra of the 12 months on land, because the Arctic sea ice melts, so conservationists are involved concerning the bears and other people coming into contact.
Monitoring tags, examined on bears within the Canadian Arctic, may also help forestall these encounters by “preserving a distant eye” on the bears.
Tyler RossLead researcher Tyler Ross, a PhD candidate at York College in Toronto, stated fur tags had been “significantly promising” for stopping these “human-bear interactions.”
In communities within the southern Canadian Arctic, the place scientists have examined these tags, polar bears that wander too near a neighborhood are typically captured, transported and launched in chosen areas removed from cities and villages. goes
“These tags could be fitted to these bears to watch the place they’re after they’re launched,” defined Mr Ross.
“In the event that they’re coming again to the neighborhood, conservation staff will know the place they’re, they usually can launch them. I feel that is the place they provide numerous promise. “
The researcher, who research polar bear ecology, additionally says the tags can fill necessary gaps in information about bears. And because the Arctic local weather quickly warms, the necessity to monitor bears turns into more and more necessary.
Tyler Ross“There’s a lack of knowledge on the actions of male polar bears, as they can’t be fitted with conventional monitoring collars,” Mr Ross stated.
Sea ice (which polar bears use as a platform from which to hunt) is disappearing quicker than previously,” defined Mr Ross. “So the winter searching season is getting shorter. We need to know the place they’re going in response. “
Polar bears are arduous to tag. Male bears have smaller heads than their necks, so monitoring collars can merely slide off.
Another choice is ear tags – hooked up to a bear’s ear piercing. They require recapturing an animal to take away the tag and, in uncommon circumstances, can injure the ear.
The three new tags examined by the researchers had been produced by the corporate 3M in collaboration with the charity Polar Bears Worldwide. All these are coated with thick bear fur.
To suit the tags, the scientists needed to discover and tranquilize the bears. They then assessed the standard of the info obtained from every machine and famous when the tags stopped.
Tyler Ross The machine that carried out greatest was referred to as the SeaTrkr tag, which is “stitched” into the bear’s fur.. It stayed linked for a median of 58 days and – with an in-built GPS system – allowed scientists to trace the bears’ areas to inside just some meters.
“It is supreme to have one thing that falls naturally – one thing that is not completely hooked up to the bear,” defined Mr Ross. “However something that lasts on the order of some months (for our analysis) can be nice, as a result of then you definitely’re getting this necessary season that bears undergo all year long.”
Local weather change is bringing bears and people into nearer proximity, making it dangerous for each polar bears and other people to congregate.
A 2022 U.S. Geological Survey examine that used knowledge from satellite tv for pc monitoring collars on greater than 400 polar bears in Alaska confirmed that the time they spent on the seashore elevated considerably in latest a long time. is
“Getting a greater understanding of the actions of polar bears is basically necessary,” commented Mr Ross. “Particularly given the state of their atmosphere proper now.”
The examine of bear tags is revealed within the journal Animal Biotelemetry.
BJ Kirschhofer/PBI
