Spectacled bear films unusual behaviour
You probably get the best insights into animal behaviour when humans are not around. Spectacled bear "Chris" was therefore sent out with a camera around his neck.
In the cloud forests of the Andes, spectacled bears (Tremarctos ornatus) lead a very hidden life. Their behaviour has therefore only been partially researched. A team led by Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya from the Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco in Peru therefore fitted one of the bears with a camera around its neck, which the animal then carried through its habitat - taking some unique pictures, as Pillco Huarcaya and Co report.
The camera was combined with a GPS transmitter so that the researchers could also create a movement profile of the animal and follow it to get back to the camera. The recordings sometimes show behaviours that have never or only extremely rarely been documented before. For example, the bear called "Chris" mated with an unknown female in the treetops - quite a tightrope act above ground and the first documented behaviour.
Source: © Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya / National Geographic
Also a first are images showing the animal ingesting soil. This feeding on minerals, known as geophagy, is known from many other species, which probably bind toxins ingested via plants in this way and thus render them harmless. Cannibalism had also not previously been observed in spectacled bears, but "Chris" actually ate a cub that he had killed. This behaviour is known from other bear species, which use it to trigger a female's willingness to mate again. On another occasion, the bear ate a monkey, which could be proven for the second time.
In total, the camera recorded several thousand hours of film footage, which provided in-depth insights into the animals' plant-based diet: the researchers were able to assign numerous fruits and other plants to the bear's diet - including greenery with stinging nettles. For mating, "Chris" had built a kind of nest in the crown of a tree, which he and the female used for about a week, and not just for sex. The animals are solitary outside of this phase.
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