Determining Presence/Absence of Offspring from Movement Data of Adult Female Polar Bears

Often, we know whether a denning polar bear reproduced successfully only if it was later sighted with cubs, which occurs infrequently in some areas and years. Because we expect females with cubs to move differently than those without cubs, we’re evaluating the possibility of identifying the presence of cubs from the movement patterns of collared adult females. Ideally, this could improve our ability to evaluate the influence of environmental and anthropogenic factors on cub survival.