The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has been capturing polar bears in late winter in northern Alaska for decades, and their research provides much of the current science regarding polar bears. The USGS crew that performs captures often stages out of different towns in the Arctic, including Kaktovik, to access different regions.

The city of Kaktovik, Alaska, from the air. The airstrip is in the foreground. There are no roads to Kaktovik – you must fly in, travel by ocean, or make a long journey by land through the Arctic Wildlife Refuge.

On Friday, a USGS scientist picked me up at the airstrip when I landed in Kaktovik. We returned to the bunkhouse where the crew was staying and I jumped in to help to prepare platters of cheese and sausage, a pot of chili, and lots of coffee. We brought the food down to the community center and participated in a community meeting. A scientist from USGS and me had the opportunity to meet residents and discuss research activities based in their town, activities which involve an animal many folks there know intimately – the polar bear.

The USGS crew had already been capturing polar bears for several weeks. The next morning the temperature was -20 degrees (Fahrenheit) with light wind, and I went out with them. We had 4 people – a pilot and 3 researchers – in the helicopter. We departed Kaktovik and flew north over the ocean. We saw a lot of tracks but no polar bears until the afternoon. The USGS scientist used a dart gun to inject the polar bear with a drug that immobilizes the animal and puts them under anesthesia. Once the animal was down, we landed, unloaded our gear, and gathered samples from the bear – we weighed it, measured its length, girth, and skull size, and took samples such as fur and blood for later analyses.

One of the polar bears that we captured for sampling on Saturday, on sea ice several dozen miles north of Kaktovik. This is an adult male bear which weighed about 750 lbs.

A front paw of the same adult male. The size of polar bears always amazes me. This bear had paws that were as wide as my hand is long, and it was not even a large male. The largest males can weigh over 1500 lbs, twice as much as this bear. Their claws are shorter and much sharper than a brown bear (also called grizzly bear) – polar bear claws are better for walking on slippery ice and grabbing seals. The long claws of a grizzly are better for different tasks, such as digging up roots for eating.