Follow scientists as they scan the Alaskan wilderness for these
magnificent creatures.It is springtime on the North Slope of Alaska, and
the U.S. Geological Survey team--the polar bear biologists Kristin Simac
and Mike Lockhart--is gearing up for polar bear capturing. During a
capture, all information is collected on the sea ice. The scientists
locate bears from a helicopter, tranquilize them, give them tattoo ID
numbers and tags, and collect data such as height, weight, and body fat
measurements and samples such as blood, hair, feces, and even teeth. All
this information goes into a
large database studied by scientists such as Drs. Steven Amstrup and
George Durner, the former and current leaders of the Polar Bear Research
Project. For more than forty-five years, scientists have been capturing
bears in order to get information. What has this information been
telling scientists about polar bears and global warming?