Cha­sing polar bears with heli­co­p­ter in the name of sci­ence

An obser­va­ti­on of a fema­le polar bear tog­e­ther with a cub at Nor­denskjöld­breen, oppo­si­te Pyra­mi­den north of Lon­gye­ar­by­en, did not go as expec­ted. The ani­mals had been obser­ved many times during the sum­mer, always beha­ving neu­tral­ly or curious­ly towards smal­ler ships. In late Sep­tem­ber, howe­ver, they were quick­ly sca­red and ran away.

Not much later in Lon­gye­ar­by­en, the secret behind the chan­ged beha­viour could be reve­a­led. Sci­en­tists who put their inte­rest in taking sam­ples hig­her than the well-being of the ani­mals had cha­sed them over kilo­me­tres with a heli­co­p­ter to tran­qui­li­ze them. The cha­se was obser­ved by Czech sci­en­tists.

Source: Own obser­va­ti­on, local con­ta­cts.

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