It is interesting how taking a break form something that has consumed your life for the better part of three years gives you new insight and vigor. I took a year away from the academic world to help out with a family member who had fallen ill and although the decision was difficult, it was by far the best I have ever made. It is easy to loose perspective of the tings that are truly important when you are so engrossed in the work you do, but when it comes down to it, family comes first.
I returned to school in January, and right off the bat was back into the swing of things, reading, analyzing and trying to get a hold of the illusive supervisor. At the end of February it was time to head out into the field yet again to check up on our GPS collared females, but this time we would not be replacing them with new units. After nine years of trapping, following, poking, proding, measuring and observing had finally come to an end, so obviously had many eager volunteers that wanted to experience bear research first hand. Among the groups that came out with our two crews was the Discovery Channel's Daily Planet. The day the camera crew joined us, we were handling a female that was on cycle to have cubs, which is always an exciting experience. The day started with our typical morning powwow in the parking lot, where we run through safety protocols and equipment and talk about the expectations of volunteers and how safety comes first and then the well being of the bear(s) comes first. The camera crew arrived later then discussed and was slow moving. The novelty of working with a camera crew wore off quickly after having to deal with camera directions and "re-doing" shots in -36 degree weather. The female bear was in a particularly awkward den for us to easily tranquilize and get at her, so Marty decided the best thing to do was to just remove the collar. She did not end up having any cubs with her, which wasn't surprising after the poor food year in 2014. Despite the trials and frustrations of working with a camera crew, it was a pretty surreal experience at first, having grown up watching the Discovery Channel and thinking how amazing it would be to do some of the research featured...then realizing maybe a kid will be inspired by the segment on my research. The rest of the week went fairly smooth with a few snow machine mishaps from the extremely cold temperatures. Many of the females were in fairly elaborate dens, so it was difficult to get at them in order to get them out of the den to measure them. In many cases we just removed the collars in the dens (don't worry the bears were tranquilized) and did a few measurements to get an estimate on body condition. The finally day of field work was a pilgrimage of sorts. The two core crews combined with a few Parks Canada staff and started with a long snow machine ride into the area where the project first started. The final bear to have its collar removed was fittingly, the first bear to be collared with the project, bear 414 (also known 636). The bear 636 is one recognized by many researchers who pass through the study area of the park, as she is always seen close to the logging roads. To the bear crew, she is always known to be the "trap hussy" as if there is a trap set in her home range, she will most likely be in it. One summer, while trying to catch a harder to trap female who's home ranged overlapped with 636, we caught 636 21 times in a summer. As wildlife biologist we are taught not to get attached to study animals, as they are subjects and wild animals and should not be romanticized. My supervisor Dr. Martyn Obbard is true to this, however he even got a bit emotional when taking off 636's collar. I have been invested in this project for the last four years, and over that time my appreciation and respect for black bears has only grown. Through my summers in the park observing and following each individual bear I have learned so much about their behaviour, the way they utilize their home ranges, their adaptability and memory capacity and their personalities. I am truly grateful for the opportunity I have had with this project and I hope that the analysis and eventually paper that I publish will do justice to these incredible animals. Although the field component of my research is now over and I am now chained to my desk analyzing and writing and re-analyzing and re-writing, each day I come to the data set with new excitement in learning even more about bear behaviour and their space use.
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Blog by:
Sarah K. Poole
An enthusiastic, passionate scientist with a love for art and adventure Updates
September 2020
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