加拿大皇后大學科學家研究出一種追踪北極熊的方式，預期將有助於進一步了解瀕危的北極熊，和刺激加拿大北部的經濟。
生物學家德格魯特（Peter V.C. de Groot）和博格（Peter Boag）指出，「他們利用結合傳統因紐特（Inuit）獵人的知識，與最先進的基因組DNA分析法所產生的方式，比目前追踪北極熊的做法費用低，對熊而言也輕鬆得多。因爲工作人員從直升飛機上偵測到北極熊後，不需對其注射鎮靜劑再做上標記。」
他表示，「透過目前空中監測方法得到的數據，因爲全球變暖導致與日俱增海面冰山的變化，精確度減低。所以我們需要利用敏感度更高的工具來監測加拿大北極熊的數量。」研究人員目前使用一種「分段式的方式」勾勒出一個更清楚記錄北極熊足跡的分佈圖。
首先，在跨越600公里長的地區，每15公里處架設一個内有誘餌與肉類的「毛髮捕捉器」。當北極熊試圖伸入捕捉器内拿取肉時，移留下來的毛髮將被送往博格博士的實驗室。在那裡，北極熊的號碼和性別就可以透過DNA標記加以辨識。
「聯邦印第安人和北方事務部」已撥款50萬美元給研究團隊，整修和加強位于麥克林托克海峽（McClintock Channel），巴芬島（Baffin Island）西部，重要北極熊棲息地内的研究小木屋。
屆時將聘用當地勞動者，用雪地摩托車（skidoo）把建築材料運到數百公里外搭設小木屋。加上正在進行中北極熊的調研工作，當地居民還可藉此機會架設取樣站、分析熊出沒軌跡等。預期將可推動參與社區的經濟發展。
當裝修過的小屋内配有風力渦輪機、發電機、電暖爐、15張臥床等設備，沒有研究人員使用而閒置時，紐特人仍可以用雪地摩托車把生態遊客帶進北極熊的自然棲息地裏，實地觀察它們的生態。
專家指出，「整個北極的北極熊遭受過度捕殺和氣候變化的危害，2000年在麥克林托克海峽只發現了284隻北極熊。」
目前在北極地區，包括加拿大、美國阿拉斯加、俄羅斯、挪威和格陵蘭島的北極熊，共有19個種群。其中13種一生或部分居住在加拿大，分佈于安大略省海岸的哈德遜灣北部，到埃爾斯米爾島、努納武特地區，和從北育空西部地區到東部的拉布拉多。
由於在北極進行數量統計的行動所費不貲，某些北極熊種群的數量普查數據取得不易。目前總體估計有20,000到25,000隻野生北極熊，其中大約有15,000居住在加拿大。
A way of tracking polar bears developed by Queen's University researchers is expected to shed more light on the threatened Arctic animal and help boost the economy of Canada's north.
Biologists Peter V.C. de Groot and Peter Boag say their method of integrating the traditional knowledge of Inuit hunters with state-of-the-art genetic DNA analysis is cheaper and much easier on the bears than the current tracking practice, in which they are spotted from helicopters, tranquilized and marked.
"The data from current aerial monitoring methods may be becoming less accurate with increased sea ice changes caused by global warming, and we need a more sensitive tool to monitor Canada's bear populations," says Dr. de Groot. The Queen's researchers are using a multi-phased approach to create a clearer picture of the polar bear population.
First, a number of "hair traps," fenced enclosures baited with meat, will be set up about 15 kilometers (nine miles) apart across a 600 kilometer (370 mile) area.
Bits of hair left behind by the bears as they attempt to reach the meat are sent to Dr. Boag's lab, where the number and sex of the animals are determined using DNA markers.
The Queen's team has received up to $500,000 from the federal Ministry of Indian and Northern Affairs to refurbish and upgrade research cabins in the McClintock Channel, west of Baffin Island, in prime polar bear habitat.
Local laborers will be employed to haul building materials hundreds of kilometers by skidoo, and set up the cabins. Coupled with ongoing polar bear surveys in which local residents set up the sampling stations and analyze tracks, this work is expected to provide an economic boost for the communities involved.
When the refurbished huts ?each equipped with wind turbines, generators, heaters and 15 beds ?are not being used for research, Inuit hunters may be able to bring in eco-tourists by skidoo to observe the bears in their natural habitat.
Polar bears across the Arctic are imperiled due to overharvesting and climate change, experts report. In McClintock Channel, 284 bears were counted in 2000.
There are currently 19 populations of polar bears in the Arctic - in Canada, Alaska, Russia, Norway and Greenland. Thirteen of these populations live wholly or partially in Canada, from the Ontario coast of Hudson Bay north to Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, and from the northern Yukon in the west to Labrador in the east.
Because population estimates are costly to obtain in the Arctic, census data is scarce for some polar bear populations. The current overall estimate is of 20,000 to 25,000 wild polar bears, with about 15,000 living in Canada.
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