As the polar bear walks across the snow, it deposits microscopic epidermal material, transferred from paw to the ground. The team used trowels to scrape a thin layer of snow off these prints, then ...

MOSCOW, Idaho (KIFI) — University of Idaho researchers have found a unique, non-invasive way to identify polar bears in the Arctic by scraping DNA from a bear’s paw print.

Collecting samples from wild polar bear pawprints and testing them in the lab. Image Credit: Von Duyke et al., Frontiers in Conservation Science, 2023 (CC BY 4.0).

Researchers at the University of Idaho have found a unique, non-invasive way to identify polar bears in the Arctic by scraping DNA from a bear’s paw print.

But unlike brown and black bears, which leave their odors on trees or other vertical surfaces, polar bears have to rely on paw prints left on the horizontal surface of snow-covered ice.

Researchers can now extract environmental DNA from paw prints left in the snow by threatened species, such as polar bears and lynxes, and use it to monitor their populations. Polar bears and lynxes, ...

What the team discovered was that all bears (except sun bears) have papillae on their paw pads, but that the papillae on polar bears were taller -- up to 1.5 times. And, that the taller papillae ...

News Higher education U of I research team identifies polar bears using DNA found in paw prints Aug. 27, 2023 Updated Sun., Aug. 27, 2023 at 9:38 p.m. 1 of 3 ...