Detection Dogs May Help Grizzly Bears by Mapping Their Habitat

Detection dogs may help researchers map bear habitat. Scientists have used a new method using "detection dogs," genetic analysis and scientific models in order to assess habitat suitability for bears in an area linking the Great Yellowstone Ecosystem to the norther U.S. Rockies.

The new method may be huge when it comes to offering an effective, non-invasive approach to the collection of data that may help with the recovery of grizzly bears.

"The use of detection dogs allowed us to quantify and map key areas of habitat for black bears in the Centennial Mountains located along the Idaho-Montana border west of Yellowstone National Park," said John Beckmann, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Black bears are a proxy species useful for predicting likely grizzly bear habitat. With recovery, a larger grizzly bear population needs room to roam and to reconnect with other populations."

In this latest study, two Labrador retrievers and two German shepherds located 616 scat samples of black bears and 24 of grizzly bears in the 965 square mile study area. The researchers plugged the scat sample location data into their scientific model, and then examined the landscape with respect to habitat parameters, private lands, public land management and human activity in the area.

So what did they find? It turns out that bears use habitat that is farther from roads. Bears also used a habitat less if it's high elevation or privately owned. This, in particular, may tell researchers a bit more about how best to manage bear habitat.

The findings are published in the journal Western North American Naturalist.

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