Polar Bear
All tagged polar bears carry a small plastic tag in the ear.
More than a thousand polar bears have been tagged in Canada since the 1970’s. Since 1979 polar bears in West Greenland have been tagged, with conventional ear tags with an individual code.
In 1973-75 and again since 1993 more than 100 polar bears have been tagged in East Greenland. A lot of the polar bears have been caught in West Greenland since then. Bears from Canada have a code that begins with “X”, and the Greenlandic begins with “D”.
Polar bears get a tattoo in the mouth.
Some female polar bears are tagged with satellite transmitters. They can send for two years. Male polar bears are tagged with small 30 grams heavy transmitters in the ear. They last a few months.
In recent years small transmitters have been used for male polar bears
The purpose with tagging is to track movements to get information on how changes in ice coverage impact the polar bears.
Adult female polar bears get a transmitter around the neck.
