Mrki medved – Nacionalni park Tara, Srbija / Brown bear – Tara National Park, Serbia – Video document

The goal of the program “Protected areas for nature and people” is to contribute to the involvement of local communities in the management of protected areas, as well as to better cooperation between protected areas in the region.

WWF’s program “Protected areas for nature and people” also includes the field project “Bear observation in the Tara National Park”, within the framework of which research is being carried out on the size of the population of the brown bear (Ursus arctos) on the territory of the Tara National Park.

Knowledge of the size and dynamics of the brown bear population is important for the manager of the protected area in order to ensure adequate protection of this species, but also for all those who include brown bear observation, education about the brown bear or just activities in the habitat of this very important species in their tourist offers. Ecological research on the brown bear is important for the protection of the brown bear population and its habitat, but also for long-term tourism programs based on the presence of this wild species, which has been exterminated in most of Europe and is therefore increasingly interesting for lovers of the wild, rural environment and sustainable management of natural resources. Better knowledge of the present population of brown bears will enable the creation of better quality tourist offers that are in line with the needs of the local population, as well as the bears that live in the Tara National Park.

In general, wildlife data collection methods can be invasive or non-invasive.
Invasive methods involve capturing and manipulating animals, and they can only be carried out by experts and with the permission of the competent ministry. The most significant invasive method is GPS-GSM telemetry. This method is based on the use of a GPS-GSM collar, which is used to track a marked individual via satellite. The method is invasive because it is necessary for the bear to be caught in a special trap and temporarily put to sleep, in order to place a collar around its neck, take measurements and tissue samples, after which it is released back into nature. Telemetry monitoring enables continuous collection of data on activities, movement, habitat selection, interaction of a certain individual with other animals, but also finding the animal in case of death.
Non-invasive methods exclude direct contact with animals, and do not require the presence or observation of them. The most commonly used non-invasive methods for data collection are photo-traps, feces collection, hair traps, following tracks in the snow, direct observation and counting. However, even these methods can disturb the animals, due to their frequent presence in the habitat, the use of flash on photo traps or the removal of traces to mark the territory. The presence of different tracks characteristic of a brown bear indicates its presence in a certain territory. The following tracks are the most characteristic for a bear: footprints, excrement characteristic of the seasons; recognizable also by food from the feeding ground, hairs on the bark of the tree, which remain after scratching, scratches on the bark of the tree – marking the territory with claws, excavated anthills and wasps.
Today, the presence of brown bears in the wild is most easily confirmed with the help of photo traps, but such data are not sufficient for proper population management. For sustainable management of the population, accurate data on the number of individuals, but also on other characteristics of the population, such as age and sex structure, growth, mortality, etc. are needed. For such data, it is necessary to carry out multi-year monitoring of the state of the population, i.e. monitoring, with combined use invasive and non-invasive methods.