Today is November 2nd in Churchill, Manitoba. It was a nice day at about 30 degrees Fahrenheit. We went to Polar Bear International. I heard about the research they were doing and about how they track and record Polar Bear data.
Currently they have 2 different ways of tracking the polar bears. One way they can do this is by putting a tracker in the polar bears ear (see photo of bear above.) The tracker is small. Typically scientists put these trackers in polar bears' ear by locating them with a helicopter and using a tranquilizer gun. When the polar bear stops to take a break from moving, the researcher tranquilizes them. After the bear is asleep, they will cut a small hole in the polar bears ear and put the tracker in the ear. Another way scientists can track polar bears is by collars. The collar is placed on a bear the same way as the ear tracker. The collar is very heavy and is less common to use. The reason for scientist not using the collar is when bears eat and get fatter the collar does not adapt or change its size. This means this can make a bear very uncomfortable. Another reason these collars are very uncommon is because they only can be put on female polar bears. The reason for this is because male polar bears necks are straight and not curved. This means if the male polar bear’s collar is on its neck and the male polar bear looks down the collar will simply just slip right off.
Polar Bear International has teamed up with 3M to create a new tracker that will stick to the Polar Bear’s fur for 2 years and then fall off. This has been tested in Churchill. It appears to stay on the fur and connect like Velcro. It does not hurt the bear and will provide data to researchers on both male and female bear.
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