Can polar bears be tracked?
Yes. Some bears are marked with paint right on their coats, to make a very obvious indication to some researchers. Practically all of the bears I have seen have ear tags. They used to be big and obnoxious, but they have now made them so that they blend with the bear. They are white button ear tags with coded information. Radio collars can only be used on males. The female head of the polar bear is actually smaller that her neck, so the collar would slide off. The use of radio collars is not very common. The new global positioning system (GPS) chips are currently being studied to see if this would be the wave of tagging in the future.
