Our Conservation and Research team is passionate about learning everything we can about the polar bears in our care and using that knowledge to support conservation efforts in the wild.

We’ve been involved in exciting studies that help us understand and protect these important animals. In honour of Polar Bear Week 2025 (November 2–8), we wanted to share an update on some of the interesting and impactful work being done.

Non-Invasive Techniques to Identify and Track Bears (Whiskerprints and Burr on Fur)

Did you know every polar bear has a unique pattern of whiskers, almost like a human fingerprint? Our bears have been helping researchers test non-invasive ways to identify and track polar bears in the wild.

In collaboration with students in Manitoba, we explored how polar bear “whiskerprints” (i.e., unique patterns of whiskers on each bear’s face) change over a bear's lifetime. These findings could help researchers identify wild polar bears without the need to capture and handle.

We also collaborated with Polar Bears International on testing minimally invasive tracking devices that attach to the bears, called Burr on Fur. Testing this on the bears here at the Zoo, by placing trackers on their backs, helps develop future ones that will work best in the wild. (Dive more into this research on our website.)

Photos: Close-up of Burr on Fur device, Conservation staff attach a tag prototype to a polar bear under anesthesia

After testing multiple designs across different Zoos, the final models were deployed on wild bears in Churchill, and the findings were published. Assiniboine Park Zoo was noted in the Acknowledgements section for their early testing.

Want to go deeper and learn about the results? Check out the study on Animal Biotelemetry.

Polar Bear Denning Study

Our Conservation team previously compiled existing knowledge of polar bear denning areas into an accessible, comprehensive map covering all of Canada. This was supported by funding from the Canadian Polar Bear Habitat Fund. (Learn more about it on our website!)

Now, we’ve developed a tool that layers polar bear denning habitat suitability (e.g., habitats most likely to support bear dens or where dens are already found) with satellite images of current landscape conditions to understand fire risk. This will help better anticipate areas of risk for polar bear dens during the fire season and deploy resources more efficiently to protect these critical areas.

Bear-dar: A High-Tech Helper

Last summer, we worked with Polar Bear International and SpotterGlobal to help train a bear radar system (nicknamed 'Bear-dar') to detect polar bears and protect northern communities. By having it scan a space that guarantees the presence of polar bears, we could train the system to recognize what a polar bear looks like and how they move.

Photos: Bear-dar installed in the Journey to Churchill area of the Zoo. The bears were quite curious when it arrived! (Photo credit: Kasey Ryan, Conservation Research Associate.)

Since it left Assiniboine Park Zoo, it has been relocated for further testing in northern communities. This will help protect people and bears by establishing an early warning system that safely redirects bears away from humans.

Interested to learn more about Bear-dar? Check out this recent article, featuring an interview with the senior director of research and policy at Polar Bears International, one of our partners.

Learn more about our ongoing efforts to support Arctic species, such as polar bears, in our Understanding the Changing Arctic Conservation strategy.