The climate is changing, there’s no doubt about it. While we know a fair bit about what’s causing the change, and what the effects could be, there’s always more that we can find out about the phenomenon. That’s why scientists have created a high tech, and highly fashionable, collar for polar bears. Not only are these the latest in polar bear fashion, but they also secretly collect extremely useful data about climate change.
So far the device has only been tested with one polar bear. His name is Tasul and he lives at the Oregon Zoo. He’s kindly offered to cooperate with researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey in order to try out their new device – a device which will soon be used on animals in the wild.
The collar contains a number of gadgets including a GPS and an accelerometer. The collar also is equipped with a GoPro camera. This enables the device to collect a lot of information about the polar bears movements. What good is this data? Well, researchers will be able to apply the data about the animals movements and determine things like how the animals react to changes in the climate and how they react to the ice retreating.
This device makes it a lot easier for scientists to study polar bears, which are normally rather difficult to study in the wild due to their size and the fact that they’re a little dangerous when you get up too close. That’s why collecting data about them remotely is the best way to go about this task.
The researchers behind the device have also ensured that it will cause no discomfort to the animal. Tasul, from the Oregon Zoo, has been happily wearing the device since researchers first put it on him. Not only that, but it will collect information which is vital to our understanding of climate change and how it will affect our furry friends the polar bears.
