![]() This bear trail runs along the edge of a wetland. The track sequence from the bottom is left front, left rear, right front.īear tracks are visible mostly as flat areas in these muddy tire prints.īears walk in the same tracks of the bears that went before them, leaving a pattern of depressions that last for years, specially near marking trees. Notice the rear track is in front of and slightly overlapping the front track.Ī bear walked in the fine mud of a dirt road. These tracks along a woods road were left by a black bear in a slight over-step walk. The imprint of the claws and the smaller inner toe may not register. The broadest part of the palm pad is on the outside and the shortest toe, which may not register, is on the inside.īears toe-in and walk with most of their weight on the outside of their foot. Stomp-walking is a form of scent-marking in which bears stomp, twist, and slide each footstep.īears frequently move in an overstep walk, with the rear foot falling in front of where the front foot registered. These trails are often especially distinctive because bears frequently stomp-walk as they approach such trees. These consist of a series of depressions created by multiple bears placing their feet in the same footsteps year after year.īear trails can be seen where bears approach favorite marking trees. In deep snow, bears direct-register by placing their rear foot in the same hole created by the front foot.īears often follow deer trails and forest roads, but some trails are used mainly by bears. Where the back foot falls only slightly in front of the front foot, there is a double track, which has led to outlandish reports of track sizes. Often bears travel in an over-step walk, with their rear foot falling in front of where the front foot fell. They tend to toe-in, especially with their front feet. The rear track is longer because the whole foot, including the heel, registers. The small round heel pad of the front foot seldom registers. Their large toe is on the outside of the foot and the small inner toe does not always register.įootpads are bigger at the outer edges. "To our knowledge, this is the first time that polar bears, or any other species, have been individually identified and sexed using environmental DNA collected from snow," Adams said.Bears have 5 toes on each foot. ![]() The technique is still at an experimental stage but, so far, has proven a non-invasive and cost-effective way to learn about bears in the wild.īecause polar bears occupy remote and environmentally extreme habitats, population monitoring for conservation and management is challenging, costly and becoming more difficult with rapidly changing environmental conditions. ![]() Of 15 samples collected, two were negative control samples, two contained no bear DNA, and 11 were positive for bear DNA. The cells provide a DNA fingerprint of individual bears. Then, in her Moscow, Idaho, genetics lab, Adams and her colleagues collected cells from the melted snow that made up the sampled polar bear tracks. In Alaska, the researchers used trowels to scrape a thin layer of snow from fresh bear footprints. The "stuff" is polar bear DNA from epidermal cells bears leave behind in their tracks. In a recent article, "Determination of polar bear (Ursus maritimus) individual genotype and sex based on DNA extracted from paw-prints in snow" published in Frontiers in Conservation Science, U of I researcher Jennifer Adams and Professor Lisette Waits and three co-authors from North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife and Alaska Department of Fish and Game show how scientists can identify individual polar bears by the stuff left in their tracks. In the face of diminishing Arctic sea ice-where polar bears spend most of their time-scientists have been looking for ways to monitor the bears without buzzing them with helicopters, darting and handling them to gather data including DNA.
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