Twice as Many Grizzlies As Thought!

Photo via Alan Vernon.

The high tech way of monitoring Montana's grizzly bear populations is proving to be old fashioned. Instead of expensive radio collars and difficult-to-maintain traps, researchers are turning to simpler, cheaper methods - picking grizzly hairs off trees. Turns out, the hair that grizzlies leave behind when they rub up against tree trunks and branches works as a genetic name tag, allowing researchers to count bears and track trends in the populations. It also turns out, that the new method is showing there are about 2.5 times more grizzlies than thought, which brings into question its status as endangered.

Article continues: Twice as Many Grizzlies As Thought! Cheap Hair Collection Technique for Counting Grizzlies Yields Larger Population Estimates