When you purchase through link on our land site , we may garner an affiliate mission . Here ’s how it works .
gelid bears nuzzle potential mates and play soccer with a frozen seal carcase in an amazing new television captured by apprehension cameras attached to the iconic beast .
This rarified peep at Arctic life story is part of an ongoing research project led by the U.S. Geological Survey that aims to track the health of Alaskan polar bear . The USGS said this is thefirst point in time - of - view video ever recordedfrom loose - ranging polar bears .
An adult female polar bear and her two cubs travel across the sea ice of the Arctic Ocean north of the Alaska coast.
" None of us have ever seen anything like this before , " said Todd Atwood , leader of the diametrical bear research computer programme at the USGS ' Alaska Science Center in Anchorage . " It ’s a ' gee - superstar ' feeling , seeing through the eyes of a polar bear . "
Thecollar camsalso serve up as fittingness tracker for the glacial bears : Each collar is equipped with an accelerometer , a twist similar to the gadget in a fitness tracker that record a person ’s movement .
When immix with video , scientist can decipher the pinch ’s motility data — whether the bear are eating , hunting , swimming or walking . The information will aid researchers gauge how much energy the bears expend during their daily activities . [ Gallery : arresting Photos of Polar Bears in the Arctic ]
But the videos revealed more than the bears ' calorie numeration . Some of the behaviors recorded on tv camera had never been see to it before — for instance , one icy bear plop its rooted stamp carcass into the sea .
" These animals are hard to observe in a natural setting , " Atwood told Live Science . " This give way us a very alone insight into what they do on a day-after-day base . "
Researchers speculated that the sealskin - dipping bear might have been warm the icy seal to make it more palatable , or perhaps the bear was play with its nutrient as part of a conjugation rite with a nearby male .
Watching a changing world
USGS scientists are studying Alaskanpolar bearsto see how the animals respond to changing ocean trash condition . The growing distance between the Alaska coast and summer Arctic sea crank mean glacial bears have to locomote farther , and burn more energy , to reach their traditional search areas .
Studies from the inquiry undertaking have found that polar bears are swimming longer length , fast for longer stop andspending more time onshorebecause of the decline in summer sea glass , Atwood state .
The Arctic is warm chop-chop due to mood change , and the climbing temperatures are make a complex force on Arctic ocean ice . In some realm of the Arctic , there is less winter sea trash , but in other spots — such as the Bering Sea — there is more winter ice . Overall , though , there is significantlyless summertime Arctic sea icenow liken to in preceding decades .
Polar bears were listed as threaten in 2008 on the imperil species list due to the ongoing red of their sea ice habitat .
This April was the first time the USGS successfully immortalize video from glacial bears . A trial play in 2013 failed because the collar camera , from a commercial-grade company , froze under Arctic conditions . The batteries failed , and the lens iced over , Atwood said .
When scientists returned this spring , Anthony Pagano , a University of California , Santa Cruz , wildlife biologist who is leading the subject field , used custom - built shoe collar cameras design by private contractor Exeye . Pagano sequester four collar to female polar bear who hold up near the southern Beaufort Sea .
The tv camera can store 38 hours of video , and are program to turn on when temperatures are above freeze , so the lens is n’t iced over during take . The taking into custody leave out off after eight to 10 days .
" They worked fantastically , " Atwood enjoin . The USGS plan to repeat the collar - cam research in 2015 , he say .
