We were fortunate enough to get two days on a tundra buggy taking photos of polar bears for our research and they were both very successful! Spotting six bears on our first day, we were able to get good whiskerprint, body size and body condition photos. We even saw two bears sparring!! We loaded up the tundra buggy around 8:20 am to make the trip deeper into the tundra to find some bears. The theme for our bear names this year is rocks and minerals, therefore the first bear we spotted was named Agate. The fun didn't stop there as we quickly spotted another bear nestled among some bushes, who we named Bisalt. Two bears Coal and Diamond were spotted sparring which gave us great opportunity to take ID and body condition photos, note any scars, and some nice pictures for our photo book! It was incredible to watch these two polar bears interacting with each other in their natural habitat.
After our lunch break we spent an hour and a half on one singular bear (it went by so fast!). "Emerald" was providing us with some AMAZING photos, coming right up to the buggies. He/She was a very curious bear, and it was surreal to be as close as we were to this beautiful animal, it was something not very many of us had experienced. We ended the day off with a bear named Feldspar. Upon our return to the CNSC, we ate another delicious dinner and then listened to a gripping presentation by astrophysicist Roger Dube. He spoke to us about space storms and the future for the world if we continue to use technology in the way we do. It was intriguing, informative, and quite honestly very shocking!
On our second (and unfortunately last) day on the tundra buggy, we saw four more bears, however we suspect some of them may be bears we saw on the first day. It was a very interesting ay regarding the behaviour of the bears, they each showed such different traits. The first polar bear we stopped for was named Garnet. He lounged around and then proceeded to walk around one of the tundra buggies which allowed us to take fabulous body size photos. Meeting three other bears, we were again lucky enough to see two of them sparring and interacting with each other. The end of the day brought a very curious and playful bear who we named Magma, the perfect end to two great days doing research on the tundra buggy! We can't wait to take all of our data back to Winnipeg to prepare for ArcticNet!
After our lunch break we spent an hour and a half on one singular bear (it went by so fast!). "Emerald" was providing us with some AMAZING photos, coming right up to the buggies. He/She was a very curious bear, and it was surreal to be as close as we were to this beautiful animal, it was something not very many of us had experienced. We ended the day off with a bear named Feldspar. Upon our return to the CNSC, we ate another delicious dinner and then listened to a gripping presentation by astrophysicist Roger Dube. He spoke to us about space storms and the future for the world if we continue to use technology in the way we do. It was intriguing, informative, and quite honestly very shocking!
On our second (and unfortunately last) day on the tundra buggy, we saw four more bears, however we suspect some of them may be bears we saw on the first day. It was a very interesting ay regarding the behaviour of the bears, they each showed such different traits. The first polar bear we stopped for was named Garnet. He lounged around and then proceeded to walk around one of the tundra buggies which allowed us to take fabulous body size photos. Meeting three other bears, we were again lucky enough to see two of them sparring and interacting with each other. The end of the day brought a very curious and playful bear who we named Magma, the perfect end to two great days doing research on the tundra buggy! We can't wait to take all of our data back to Winnipeg to prepare for ArcticNet!