Great ecosystem engineers: Andean bears are helping in the natural regeneration process of the forest

“When you look into their eyes it feels like something different, it hasn’t happened to me with other animals,” the specialist tells El Comercio.

In Andean culture there is the figure of the Ukus or Ukukos, mythological beings deeply connected with nature and the spirits of the mountains who are half man and half bear. They are guardians of the glaciers and protectors of the natural balance.

“For me, who has lived in the mountains, the bear is the connection with nature and with the spirits of the mountains. It’s like when you fall in love, you don’t know why, but there is the connection.”he expresses.

Technology at the service of conservation

But it is not the only link that unites it to these mammals. Pillco has spent time studying them in their habitat with a team of researchers. Their findings have been published in the journal ‘Ecology and Evolution’.

The Andean bear, also known as spectacled bearit is not easy to spot, it is shy. Furthermore, due to the complicated geography in which it lives, it is difficult to track and study it. Other investigations have used camera traps – which are fixed – to observe their behavior, with the spatial limitation. They have been seen feeding and even mating.

To overcome the limitations, the National Geographic expedition implemented a technological collar system which allowed us to collect abundant data on the life of this species, including its diet, group behavior, routes and exact location, among other aspects. Some of these devices even incorporated cameras to capture video of bear activities in their natural habitat.

The necklaces collect GPS informationtemperature and data from the accelerometer, which measures movements. With such data, it is possible to build models to identify behaviors such as feeding, resting or mating based on movement patterns.

the camera It allows you to directly observe specific activities, such as feeding and social behavior, and helps validate models based on GPS collar data.

The challenge of tracking the Andean bear

The work was not easy. The researcher had to wait four months to capture the first specimen.

The capture was carried out with traps, which are large metal boxes with bait (meat). When the bear enters and pulls the meat, it activates a mechanism that closes the door and sends a satellite alert to the team. However, sometimes external factors, such as branches, trigger the trap.

“We were very desperate. We had the expert with us and every day we were anxious to see that the alert would arrive, and it did not arrive”. “Other times the alert came, but they were false alarms, branches that had fallen”.

Until, finally, the expected moment arrived. “It was late, it was raining. We had about two hours to walk up the hill and when we arrived, we saw it. It was a bear! You could hear the roars from outside. “Finally I could see him in the eyes.”remember.

Once the bear is captured, a protocol is followed that includes anesthetize the animal, take blood samples, measure it, weigh it and place the collar on it. All of this should be done in approximately 30 minutes.

Satellite collars include devices that are programmable to release after a set time or by remote command, depending on the bear’s location. In such a way that, if the specimen moves too far away, a signal can be sent so that the collar is released from its body.

Nothing is perfect, no matter how advanced the technology is. These necklaces are limited by battery lifewhich in the best of cases can last a year. For camera collars, wear time is reduced to approximately four months, depending on how often video is captured. The Pillco team opted to record 15-second clips every hour, maximizing battery efficiency.

Unpublished behaviors: mating in trees and cannibalism

The information obtained from the observation of the Andean bear is extensive and revealing. The members of the expedition consider that this monitoring technique completely transforms the way of studying this species.

But among all the results obtained, some impacted the ecologist and her team the most. One of them was the mating in trees. The images showed unprecedented behaviors, such as mating in the treetops. This discovery reaffirms the arboreal nature of the animal and why it is not so easy to see.

Another behavior that caught the attention of Pillco and his team was the cannibalism. For the first time, an Andean bear was recorded consuming a baby of its species, which could be a case of infanticide, similar to the behavior of other bear species, where males kill babies so that females go into heat. Although it cannot be confirmed if the bear cub was killed by an adult specimen or had already died before.

On the other hand, there was also a first record of consumption of a primate. An Andean bear was observed consuming a woolly monkey, although it is not known whether it hunted it or found it dead.

Great ecosystem engineers

The Andean bear has received the nickname forest ecosystem engineer. A name that is no small thing, but one that is well earned.

In the Andes, there are few large mammals that they travel long distancesand this species is one of them.

“They move long distances, going from forest to grassland, going up and down in different directions and moving seeds with them”.

Indeed, although they are omnivores, their main food source is plants. They consume more than 21 different species, a key indicator of their dietary and altitudinal variety throughout the cloud forest. However, when ingested they tend, in most cases, to swallow the seeds, they do not bite them. “These seeds pass intact and, upon reaching the digestive tract, the acidity helps to break their physiological processes, so, when defecated, the germination process in some cases is accelerated”.

By traveling long distances, this Andean species spreads seeds along its path. Some cover areas of 100 or 300 km2, helping the forest regeneration process.

“Regeneration, in biological terms, is the key to diversity, so that helps the forest continue to remain diverse.””, Ruthmery points out to this Diario.

“In the context of climate change, Andean bears play a crucial role in helping plants adapt to new conditions. They facilitate their migration to higher altitudes, a necessary process due to global warming, which forces both flora and fauna to move to higher areas. “In some ways, bears are already contributing to this movement of plants towards more suitable land,” he adds.

During the season in which she observed them, the specialist discovered a resemblance between the Andean bear and humans. “When I looked at the trap cameras, I saw the grumpy bear, the funny bear, the bear that is always sad, and when I saw their expressions, they had a lot of us,” he recalls.

As spiritual guardians of nature, these Ukus protect the mountains and forests of our ancestors, indirectly contributing to the conservation of numerous species of flora and fauna.