Conducting a Bear Scat Survey

Greater Glacier Area Bear Project Bear Scat Survey

map graphic showing a sign survey data forml
Repeatable survey routes are designated for sample collection. These are usually human used trails.
field crew installing the barbed wire for a bear hair trap
Bear scat (droppings) can be found throughout bear occupied habitat. This scat was found on a human used trail in Glacier National Park.
bear scat on a trail
Bear scats vary in color, texture, and smell depending on what the bear has eaten. Vegetation scats are usually dark green and smell earthy, meat scats smell bad and usually contain hair, berry scats vary in color depending on the berry (huckleberry scats are purple, mountain ash scats are orange-red) and sometimes contain seeds.
bear project crewmember collecting bear scat
Data is collected on the scat, including where the scat was collected from. A small portion of the scat (3 ml) is added to a sample tube containing 90% ethanol (12 ml) to contain and preserve the sample.
bear scat samples and related data forms
All scat samples are given to the field lab/data coordinator who enters the data in a database and sends them to the genetics lab for processing and analysis.

 

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