Polar bear dens on the Seal and Caribou Rivers, Manitoba

Abstract

During aerial surveys we opportunistically located clusters of polar bear (Ursus maritimus Phipps, 1774) earth dens on and near the Seal and Caribou Rivers in Northern Manitoba in 2011, 2022, and 2023. Polar bear denning has not been documented in the published literature there before, but there is local knowledge of denning in this area. These dens are of two different types (shallow dens and pits), with similar characteristics to those in the western Hudson Bay polar bear population’s main denning area, 120 km farther south. It is not possible to determine whether these findings represent a northward extension of denning by this population, but changes in den distribution, particularly in such previously-overlooked areas, need to be monitored and understood to effectively conserve polar bears in a warming climate.