From Traditional Knowledge to Vanilla Sticks

From September 15-20, the International Bear Association (IBA) held its 28th annual conference in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Geoff York, our senior director of science and policy, and Alysa McCall, our staff scientist and director of conservation outreach, were in attendance, and they spoke to us about what they took away from the meeting.

What is the IBA conference?

Geoff: This is where the world's bear scientists and managers get together and share updates on what they've been up to. Historically, it’s been pretty science heavy, but over the years, it has expanded to include social science and Traditional Knowledge, and it's grown a little bit to include activities from very small nonprofits that are involved in bear safety and bear-related activities in communities.

Were there any particular topics, presentations, or areas of study that you were particularly looking forward to?

Geoff: I think for probably both Alysa and me, the conference as a whole is a huge opportunity just for continuing professional development on bear science and management across the board. It’s fun to come across tidbits from other species that you’re not expecting, which might have an application for polar bear research or that are just really interesting.

Alysa: I was really looking forward to hearing about what people are doing in different areas of the world on human-bear coexistence, both with polar bears and other bear species.

Did any presentations particularly leap out at you?

Geoff: To follow up on Alysa’s comment about coexistence, this meeting was a first for IBA in that it opened with a session on Indigenous Knowledge and cultural traditions regarding bears around the world. Bears were often, if not always, traditionally seen as the most closely related species to people. While we know that is not the case genetically, the notion is very strongly represented in mythology, religion, and cultural traditions across species and across regions globally, which is neat in and of itself. One of the presentations was an Indigenous Knowledge study that Polar Bears International (PBI) helped fund.

Alysa: I’d also like to plug our own Dr. Louise Archer, PBI’s postdoctoral research fellow. She’s using past data to model a future for polar bears; she's doing a phenomenal job and gave a wonderful talk.

I think one thing that stuck out to me is that there was one morning where there were several polar bear talks in a row. All were great. And then, listening to the questions and comments from the audience, from people that study terrestrial bears, and being reminded that polar bears really are so unique in the bear world. They’re the marine bear, they’re the ocean bear, and it really does make a difference in how we look at their conservation and their habitat challenges. Most of the week, we’re looking at forests and forest corridors and trees and mountains, and then along come polar bears and sea ice. And they’re not hibernating and they’re not eating the same prey. So that was kind of neat, to see that even other bear biologists were saying, Oh yeah, this is very different.

What are some of the big differences in terms of the issues being addressed by polar bear researchers and people working on other bear species?

Geoff:  When you look at many of the other bear species, many have been reduced to extremely low numbers in disconnected patches of habitat. They’ve been wiped out of many historic habitats altogether, especially when you look at brown bears in Europe and North America as an example. So in many cases, folks working on those species are  focusing on aspects of population recovery and almost always- coexistence with neighboring people. Black bears in the U.S., for example, are slowly expanding, even though they were greatly reduced from their original home ranges. And obviously that’s something we’re not dealing with on polar bears. At the opposite end of the scale, in India, you have a major habitat issue. There are so many people that there are a lot of patches or habitat “islands.” So there, the issue is a lot about isolated populations and a lack of connectivity in populations and that’s also something we don’t have to deal with in the polar bear world just yet. And I think we have this unique opportunity to avoid some of these issues, or to manage how we get there as populations shrink in abundance and retract in range.

What does Polar Bears International bring to the table that’s of interest to people working on other bear species?

Alysa: That's a really good question. I think for us, climate change is always the number one topic. Climate change is affecting all bear species, but for polar bears, it's very much on the forefront. And so I think we’re ahead of the game in terms of messaging around that and thinking about how that's impacting polar bears and their future. And if you look at innovations with tracking technology, like with the “burr on fur” tags, we were the first to do that.

Geoff: I would agree, climate’s the big issue that we bring to the discussion in the larger bear world as the impacts are more direct and severe for polar bears, though there are likely climate threads across bear species. I think we're also now on the leading edge with genetic studies, and as Alysa said PBI specifically has played a key role in introducing some new technology. And I would say one thing we definitely bring is highly competent staff and partners who are excellent science communicators.

Is it a fun meeting?

Alysa: It’s very cool. People are just there to support bears and each other. And half the audience is wearing plaid, so it’s pretty laid back. [Laughs]

It’s also very enjoyable to hear about other bears, because bears are just so neat. There were quite a lot of talks about spectacled, or Andean, bears that I found really fun. Researchers in South America are doing some interesting work with camera traps and facial recognition of individual bears, and one thing I learned is that Andean bears really love artificial vanilla. So researchers set up camera traps, and to attract bears they dip a stick in vanilla from the grocery store. And these bears come in from all over and rub their face all over the vanilla stick and their faces are captured on camera. Do polar bears like vanilla, I wonder? Little moments like that were a reminder that bears are just really cool.

Kieran Mulvaney is the author of The Great White Bear: A Natural and Unnatural History of the Polar Bear. He is a frequent contributor to the Polar Bears International website and also writes for publications including National Geographic, Smithsonian, and The Guardian.