Oregon Zoo polar bear Tasul is offering researchers a chance to study these threatened predators in a way they never could before. As part of a research project with the USGS, Tasul will be videotaped wearing a high-tech collar that creates a sort of digital fingerprint for polar bear behavior. Once the signals are calibrated, similar collars will be placed on free-roaming bears in the Arctic, allowing researchers to monitor the bears’ behavior without having to observe them directly. The collar study also allowed the Oregon Zoo to place a camera on Tasul for a bear’s-eye view.
