The Arctic

By tracking the movements of polar bears, we learn more about how they use their habitat. This enables us to understand how they will be affected by changes to this habitat. Scientists learn about polar bears by observing them in their natural habitat. Radio collars are used to track their movements.

Only female polar bears can be tracked using radio collars. Male polar bears have necks that are wider than their head so the collars simply fall off. Learn more.

WWF is currently tracking polar bears in three regions:

Area 1: Beaufort Sea, northern Alaska, USA

Visit the WWF Polar Bear Tracker to see polar bears in the US and Norway.
© Jon Aars.Norwegian Polar Institute/WWF-Canon

The US Geological Survey's (USGS) Alaska Science Center received funding from WWF, the USGS Global Climate Change Program, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), and Polar Bears International (PBI) for studies to fill key information gaps on how polar bears utilize the sea ice during different times of year. Female polar bears are captured, fitted with satellite telemetry collars, and followed throughout their annual range.

USGS researchers expect to learn more about polar bear temporal and spatial use of sea ice, selection of ice type, and examine habitat needs both on ice and along the shore. Research will focus particularly on understanding habitat relationships and developing predictive models of seasonal polar bear distribution relative to sea ice extent and composition. This information will provide science for conservation efforts and help scientists and managers better understand the effects of global-scale events including habitat loss and climate change.

Meet the bears!

Area 2: The Barents Sea: Svalbard and Franz Josef Land
Research around Svalbard has shown that polar bears within the same population can have very different survival strategies. Some bears wander over large areas across the Barents Sea hunting from the sea ice year round, whereas other bears might spend their whole life in just one of the fjords around Spitsbergen.
We are funding research at the Norwegian Polar Institute to understand how polar bears use their habitat. The first two bears that we tracked on this site, Gro and Louise, appear to use the first strategy. They move freely throughout the Barents Sea and stop only occasionally on land. The two bears that were tagged in April 2005, Skadi and Borealis, were more likely to use the other strategy and never stray far from their denning areas. The four bears we are currently tracking in 2007 use a mixture of strategies with one bear travelling great distances over the sea ice and the other bears staying very close to the one area.

Meet the bears!

Track polar bears in Canada
© Kean Moynihan/WWF Canada

Area 3: Canada's Hudson Bay region
For one year, we are tracking three female polar bears with cubs in Canada's Hudson Bay region. Collars on the bears' necks record their positions and beam the information back to scientists via satellite. This research allows us to get regular updates about how the bears behave in their Arctic environment and to determine how they may be affected by climate change.