LAKE COUNTY, Fla — A University of Central Florida researcher has been working for months to figure out why bears are increasingly moving into neighborhoods.
Thanks to cameras on collars attached to wild bears’ necks, researchers are getting a unique perspective on the problem.
Researcher Daniel Smith put his first GPS collar on a bear in Rock Springs State Park. He has collared 18 bears so far.
Some of the collars are also equipped with a camera.
Watch: Life in the Wekiva River Basin through the eyes of the Fla. black bear
The GPS mapping of bears’ movements has been very helpful in understanding where they are going.
The video, Smith said, has given researchers a glimpse of the bears’ daily lives.
In one, you can see how affectionate bears are with their young, and in another you see how the animals have adapted to their surroundings – the bear in the second video looks both ways before crossing the road.
Smith’s research has shown that while things like garbage do attract bears, it is also naturally occurring things like berries.
The hope is that between tracking the bears’ movements via GPS and reviewing video of their daily lives, researchers will be able to reduce conflicts between the animals and humans, Smith said.