Motherhood in the wild: New secrets from the lives of brown bears unveiled
Recent reports from one of the most important habitats of brown bears in the Balkans inspire joy and admiration. Last winter, the brown bear mum, Paraskeva, gave birth to her two cute cubs which are now wandering freely through the woods of Mt Tara, exploring the world and curiously observing the environment that surrounds them. These two young natural wonders, which are currently enjoying their carefree infancy, remind us of the beauty and fragility of living in the wild.
Embedded video footage
Owing to cutting-edge technology and tireless efforts invested by experts from the Faculty of Biology, particularly prof. Duško Ćirović, PhD, and the staff of the Tara National Park, supported by Telekom Srbija, we are presented with a fresh opportunity to delve into the secrets of forest life. In the summer of 2021, a state-of-the-art approach to researching and safeguarding the brown bear population applied in Serbia for the first time. It was then that the male called Aleksandar of the Tara Mountain was tagged by a GPS/GSM collar with a camera. This strong bear, weighing 250kg, wore the collar for almost a year providing invaluable images of his hidden world. The footage, presented to the public as part of the project entitled “The secret life of bears“, made it possible for us to gain better insight into the habits and behaviour of this magnificent species in the wild.
Two years later, for the first time in this country, a satellite transmitter with a camera was deployed on a brown bear female. After her ten-month tracking, we gained a unique insight into her daily life, discovering her movement and habits, as well as intimate and tender moments with her young.
This scientific enterprise and a plethora of data of not only her movement but of her visual experience of the environment, expanded our knowledge about the life of the brown bear. These insights enabled experts to better understand the life of this valuable forest variety and work on its protection and solutions for a safer coexistence with humans.
Brown bears are not only strictly protected inhabitants of our woods–they are also the key guardians of the ecosystem whose existence contribute to the preservation of wildlife and natural balance.
We are looking forward to receiving fresh footage, following this incredible journey through the hidden world of bears. In every scene, in every frame, we recognize the importance of our joint task – to protect these wonderful animals and preserve marvellous nature that surrounds us.
Let us protect the most important of all networks. The network of life. No species dies alone.
