What Life Looks Like on Alaska’s North Slope — Through a Bear

Scientists studying grizzly bears on Alaska’s remote North Slope are gaining an unprecedented look at the animals’ daily lives by fitting them with video camera collars.

The footage, recorded during the first year of the research program, provides rare, first-person views of the Arctic environment from the bears themselves.

The videos show grizzlies roaming the treeless, frigid terrain between the Brooks Range and the Arctic Ocean during the brief months when they are not hibernating. Many clips focus on feeding behavior, including bears gnawing on caribou or musk ox carcasses that died during the winter, as well as foraging for berries once vegetation emerges.

Other footage captures moments of play, brief confrontations, and even bears resting on beaches along the Arctic coast.

Researchers say Arctic grizzlies face a particularly short window to build enough fat to survive hibernation, which can last up to eight months. Unlike bears that feed on salmon-rich streams farther south, these grizzlies rely on seasonal food availability and typically reach smaller body sizes.

As spring progresses, their diet shifts from scavenging carcasses to preying on caribou calves, before moving toward vegetation and berries as the tundra greens.

So far, 12 bears have been outfitted with collars that record short video clips at regular intervals. The study will continue for two more years, with plans to expand the project to 36 bears.

Researchers aim to better understand how Arctic grizzlies move, feed, and interact with other wildlife, including caribou and musk ox populations.