Abstract 132 - What can we learn about bear ecology using animal-borne video systems? A case study of Asiatic black bears in Japan
Shinsuke Koike, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology ProfessionalSalon 8/9
Prof. Shinsuke Koike, Tomoko Naganuma, Seung-Yun Baek, Kahoko Tochigi, Naoki
Takekoshi, Akino Inagaki, Koji Yamazaki
In recent years, animal-borne video cameras have been used to clarify the ecology of many
animal species. Over the past six years, we have fitted camera collars to several Asiatic black
bears. Here, we introduce two cases that were revealed using camera collars for four bears
(two males and two females) in early summer.
The first case is to compare the video analysis of foraging behavior with fecal analysis. We
found that using video analyses was advantageous for recognizing foods, such as leaves or
mammals, that were physically crushed or destroyed while bears chewed and digested foods,
which are difficult to identify to species using fecal analyses. In contrast, we found that camera
collars are less likely to record food items that are infrequently or quickly ingested. In addition,
food items with a low frequency of occurrence and short foraging time per feeding were less
likely to be detected when we increased the time between recorded clips.
The second case is to record the activities of wild bears during the mating season. All bears
were found to interact with other uniquely identifiable bears for some time (range 9–22 days)
during the deployment period (range 36–45 days), and multiple mating in males was
documented. Males and females exhibited different behaviors on social days (i.e., days when
the bear interacted with conspecifics) compared with solitary days (i.e., days with no observed
interactions with conspecifics). Compared with solitary days, the bears spent a lower
proportion of time on foraging activities and a higher proportion of time on resting activities on
social days.
Asiatic black bear inhabit in forests, so direct observation is not possible in almost situations.
Furthermore, the fields in Japan are steep and rainy, making field research difficult. Camera
collars are an effective tool for uncovering the unknown ecology of bears that inhabit such
environments.
