At the end of summer in the Canadian Arctic, polar bears head inland to wait for ice to form.
While thousands of tourists flock to the area hoping to catch a glimpse of the magnificent predators, researchers are developing new ways to keep humans and bears safely apart.
New tracking devices embedded in polar bear fur could be key to protecting both humans and bears by closely monitoring the animals’ locations.
As Arctic sea ice melts, polar bears spend most of the year on land, raising concerns about contact between the bears and humans.
Tracking tags being tested on bears in the Canadian Arctic could help prevent such encounters by “remotely monitoring” the bears.
Lead researcher Tyler Ross, a doctoral student at York University in Toronto, said fur tags “hold particular promise” in preventing such “human-bear contact.”
In communities in the southern Canadian Arctic where scientists have tested the tags, polar bears that get too close to the community can be captured, transported and released in carefully selected locations away from towns and villages.
“These tags will allow us to monitor the bears’ whereabouts after they are released,” Ross explained.
“If they do come back into the community, conservation staff will know where they are and be able to intercept them. I think that’s where they can be pretty hopeful.”
The polar bear researcher says the tags could fill important knowledge gaps about polar bears, and the need to monitor them becomes more urgent as the Arctic climate warms rapidly.
“We can’t fit traditional tracking collars on male polar bears, so there’s a lack of information about their behavior,” Ross said.
Sea ice [that the polar bears use as a platform from which to hunt] “Deer are disappearing at a faster rate than they have in the past,” Ross explains, “so our winter hunting seasons are getting shorter, and we want to know where the deer are moving in response.”
Tagging polar bears is difficult because male bears’ heads are smaller than their necks, making it easy for tracking collars to slip off.
Another option is ear tags, which are pierced in the bear’s ears and require the bear to be recaptured to remove them, and in rare cases can cause ear damage.
The three new tags the researchers tested were designed by 3M in collaboration with the charity Polar Bears International, and are attached to the bears’ rough fur.
To install the tags, the scientists had to find and sedate the bears, then they assessed the quality of the data they received from each device and recorded when the tags were released.
The device that performed best was a device called a SeaTrkr tag, which is “crimped” onto the bear’s fur.. The robot remained attached to the bear for an average of 58 days, and its built-in GPS system allowed scientists to pinpoint the bear’s location to within just a few metres.
“Ideally you want something that won’t stick permanently to the bear and will fall off,” Ross explains, “but anything that will last for a few months is good.” [for our research]”Because that’s the most important season the bears experience all year.”
Climate change is bringing bears and humans closer together, making places where polar bears and humans coexist more dangerous for both.
One study, using data from satellite tracking collars placed by the U.S. Geological Survey on more than 400 polar bears in Alaska in 2022, showed that polar bears have been spending a lot more time on land in recent decades.
“Getting a better grasp on polar bear movements is really important,” Ross said, “especially given the state of their environment at the moment.”
The bear tag study is published in the journal Animal Biotelemetry.
Image source, BJ Kirschhofer/PBI
