Response Behaviors of Svalbard Reindeer TOwards Humans and Humans Disguised as Polar Bears on Edgeøya

• Published in: Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research
• Main Authors: Reimers, Eigil, Eftestøl, Sindre
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: Arctic; Edgeøya; Svalbard; Sea ice; svalbard reindeer; Ursus maritimus
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/1034507; https://doi.org/10.1657/1938-4246-44.4.483

Due to observed interactions between Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandusplatyrliynchus) and polar bears (Ursus maritimus) during field work on Edge0ya, Svalbard, we measured response distances for reindeer from a stalking polar bear and improvised five approaches from a person disguised as a polar bear for comparison with human encounters. The alert, flight initiation and escape distances were 1.6, 2.5 and 2.3 times longer, respectively, when Svalbard reindeer were encountered by a person disguised as a polar bear compared to a person in dark hiking gear. Population increase of polar bears on Svalbard and decrease in sea-ice cover in the Arctic region during summer probably results in more frequent interactions with reindeer on the archipelago. Similar reindeer response behavior from encounters with a polar bear and persons disguised as polar bears indicate a predator-prey relationship between the two species on Edge0ya