ARCUS | Arctic Research Consortium of the United States

6th Annual ARCUS Award for Arctic Research Excellence


Submitted by   Markus G. Dyck
Authors   Markus G. Dyck and R.K. Baydack
Category   Life Science
Title   Vigilance behaviour of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in the context of polar bear viewing activities at Churchill, Manitoba.
Affiliation   Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Abstract

Polar bear (Ursus maritimus) viewing tours using tundra vehicles have been offered at Churchill, Manitoba since the 1980's. This form of wildlife-viewing has been providing a very unique way to learn about polar bears, their natural habitat and ecosystem. However, these activities have been carried out without examining the possible effects on polar bear behaviour. Vigilance behaviour (a scanning of the immediate vicinity and beyond) of resting polar bears in this context was used to examine whether it was affected by tundra vehicle activity during wildlife viewing. Focal animal sampling was used to examine whether a difference in vigilance behaviour existed between presence and absence of tundra vehicles. In general, male bears showed increased vigilance response in the presence of tundra vehicles (i.e., increased frequency of head-ups and decreased between bout intervals). Females/family groups behaved opposite to males, probably because vehicles provided a safety-buffer and decreased risks of infanticide. The vigilance bout lengths did not differ significantly between males and females. Vehicle-threshold for males where an increased response was observed is one vehicle. No magnification in response was observed with increasing number of vehicles. Females showed a response to the number of vehicles where more vehicles resulted in greater vigilance response. Total time spent vigilant was 2.5X greater with tundra vehicles than without. More research is needed to determine which factors (e.g., noise of vehicles and people, distances from vehicles to bears, odours) are responsible for increased vigilance.