As the Arctic Ocean warms and ice melts due to climate shifts, interactions between polar bears and people are becoming increasingly common. Polar bears have nowhere else to go but onto land — often land inhabited by humans.
However, as BBC reported, new tracking devices that monitor polar bears' behaviors could help keep wildlife and tourists safe.
Scientists tested the tracking devices by sedating bears and temporarily attaching them to their coarse fur. They have proven more effective than other tracking mechanisms, which are prone to falling off or causing injury.
The new tags fall off naturally within an average of 58 days and are equipped with built-in GPS systems to follow polar bears' locations. This is plenty of time to assess seasonal behaviors without permanently impacting the bears' lives.
Lead researcher Tyler Ross said, "Getting a better sense of polar bears' movements is really crucial, particularly given the state of their environment at this point."
The decline of polar bear populations is directly linked to changing temperatures. Due to habitat loss and struggles to find food, the bears are at a heightened risk of starvation.
Plastic pollution also affects polar bears' health, potentially making them more aggressive. In recent years, there have been over 20 direct polar bear attacks on humans, and these interactions are also devastating to wildlife populations.
Therefore, these new trackers provide substantial hope for understanding the changing behaviors of polar bears and keeping them and people in the vicinity healthy and safe.
The researchers published their findings about the new polar bear tracking devices in Animal Biotelemetry and reported their potential for reducing polar bear-human interactions.
"We gotta protect people and polar bears," one X user commented on the BBC news post. "Keeping them apart seems like a good way to do that!"
Another X user wrote, "The development of new technologies to keep polar bears and people apart is a positive step towards coexisting peacefully and protecting these iconic animals for future generations."
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