JoAnne is in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, to study polar bears. Read her previous post from the field, Polar Bears: Who Was Your First?

I will open by telling you that this story will break your heart. Please know this will not be easy to read, but it is a story that needs to be told.
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I’m waiting for a ride to the Guwahati Airport in Assam, India, for my flight back to Delhi. In front of me is the mighty Brahmaputra River. One of the largest rivers in the world at over 1,800 miles (2,880 kilometers) long, it is home to the greatest freshwater turtle and tortoise diversity in the world and hosts some of the most endangered and enigmatic turtle species. It has been a great venue for “3rd School of Herpetology,” sponsored by India’s Science and Engineering Council. This short, two-week course is offered to graduate students from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. Each class is comprised of approximately 25 students who are studying a variety of different aspects of herpetology; including molecular, cellular, physiological, ecological, and evolutionary biology.
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JoAnne is in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, to study polar bears.

I am sitting out in the middle of the Churchill tundra. I am rocking back and forth in a Tundra Buggy as 44 mile-per-hour (70 kilometer-per-hour) winds blow the snow all around. I think back to my first wild polar bear sighting.
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Last month, we conducted an expedition to install a series of meteorological stations on the remote and inaccessible eastern escarpment of the Sierra Mountains of Baja California, Mexico. This rugged region of spectacular natural beauty is the release site for the San Diego Zoo’s California condor reintroduction program. This site was chosen because of its status as a pristine, protected area of the condor’s former range. Condors existed in the mountains of Baja until they disappeared in the 1940s, only to reappear in 2002 when the San Diego Zoo released captive-bred birds back into their former habitat.
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The Desert Tortoise Conservation Center (DTCC) is located in southwest Las Vegas on a lovely patch of bajada (a broad sloping area of the desert surrounded by mountains). Here in the heart of the Mojave Desert, we are home to many desert tortoises, which are considered a flagship species in this ecosystem. That means the tortoise is an important representative of the Mojave Desert, and conservation and education efforts that relate to this species will benefit the entire ecosystem. The desert tortoise is the only chelonian (turtle/tortoise) in our area of the Southwest, but the Mojave is also home to a great many plant and animal species, including approximately 40 lizard and snake species, many of which use desert tortoise burrows as protection from predators and harsh environmental conditions. As a result of this relationship, many of these animals are found naturally right here at the DTCC.
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The view from our eagle observation point in the Sierra Juarez, Baja California, Mexico. A nest that was occupied last spring is located on the other side of the ridge in the left side of the picture.

I recently traveled with a few colleagues to north-central Baja California, Mexico, to conduct field research for the San Diego Zoo’s Golden Eagle Project (see previous post, Golden Eagle Helicopter Survey). A wind farm is being designed for future development in the Sierra Juarez, and the San Diego Zoo is involved with pre-construction research of habitat use and demographics of golden eagles. The objective of the project is to examine what parts of the mountain range are used by eagles and how and when they use each part. Our findings may help to minimize future interactions between eagles and turbines.
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Ron is in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, working with Polar Bears International. Read his previous post, Reaching Out for Polar Bears.

What I want to talk about to today is hope—hope for conservation, and hope for our planet even though it is facing unprecedented environmental challenges. I’m in Churchill in Manitoba, Canada, working with friends and collaborators at Polar Bears International. It’s a surreal experience going out on the Tundra Buggies and seeing wild polar bears. But underneath this joyful experience there is also sadness, because I know that this “polar bear capital” may one day have no polar bears. By now, most of us know that the polar bears are losing their sea-ice habitat and here, at the southern end of their range, they will disappear first. We’ve already lost almost a quarter of them in the past 15 years. In another 15, there may be no polar bears left in Churchill.
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Ron is in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, working with Polar Bears International. Read his previous post, The Polar Bears of Churchill.

This really is shaping up to be an amazing experience. Each day I go out on the Tundra Buggy, run by Frontiers North Adventures. Oh, and by the way, they are giving us a free pass on the Tundra Buggy and a room in the Tundra Lodge. They like what we are doing, trying to bring more attention to the plight of the polar bear. And it’s hard to imagine a species more deserving of attention than polar bears. They are the world’s largest terrestrial carnivores, and they are impressive.
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Russ Van Horn is currently in Peru to study Andean (spectacled) bears. Read his previous post, Bear Care in Conservation Terms.

In my last post, I rambled on about why conservation of Andean (or spectacled) bears, and conservation in general, matters, from a scientific viewpoint. This time around I’ll wade into some of the other reasons we work for conservation.

The e-mail that started me on these two posts highlighted a Web site showing some hunters with big game “trophies.” In this case, the trophies were taxidermy mounts of large mammals, mostly carnivores. In the background was a stuffed Andean bear, and the presence of this stuffed bear disturbed the e-mail’s writer and at least some of its readers.
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I saw a bear. Okay, I saw six. And it only took a couple of hours. I’ve been working with bears for many years now, and this is not what I’m used to. I’ve worked most extensively with giant pandas, and it took me years to see a panda in the wild. Recently, I started working with Andean (or spectacled) bears and, with a lot of sweat and hard work (and the help of an experienced collaborator), managed to see ONE in Peru (see post The Bear Goes Over the Mountain). But here, polar bears are everywhere! For now.

I’m in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, known as the polar bear capital of the world. I’m here as a guest of my friends and collaborators (and supporters!) at Polar Bears International. This is a terrific organization, and they have given me a terrific opportunity. More on that later. The bears are beautiful! I can’t wait to share more about the bears in my next posts.
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