A team of French scientists, in collaboration with WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), has succeeded in isolating polar bear DNA from a footprint in the snow for the first time. The scientists analyzed two water samples taken from the plantigrade’s footprints, collected earlier this year during the expedition of WWF-Canon and the Norwegian Polar Institute to the Svalbard archipelago. According to Eva Bellemain, leader of the research team, “we not only found the DNA of the bear, but also that of a seal and a seagull . The WWF team that collected the samples could see the bear hunting the seal, and then how several seagulls appeared in the place to try to participate in the feast, so a single footprint attests to the whole story . “
In an environment as remote, isolated and immense as the Arctic Ocean, which is also changing at great speed, it is a great challenge to maintain up-to-date and accurate information on polar bear populations. In April this year, a WWF-Canon team embarked with the Norwegian Polar Institute on a scientific expedition through the Svalbard Archipelago (Norway), to investigate how climate change is affecting this region of the world.
” This method would be a very useful tool for conservation biology, ” says WWF’s Arnaud Lyet. “Currently, scientists use very expensive and invasive techniques to study the status of wild populations of species such as the polar bear. By taking DNA from fingerprints, we could significantly reduce the budget required for research, which would make it more accessible to study wildlife populations ”. The team hopes to refine the analysis of polar bear DNA, to learn more about the animal. It is also about discovering if the method can be applied to other species as elusive and difficult to reach as polar bears.
