Wildlife & Habitat
Nevada Wildlife - Black Bear Research
Wildlife Fact Sheets | Animal Tracks | Winter Wildlife
Nevada's Black Bears PDF
Ecology & Conservation of a Charismatic Omnivore
 This female bear was trapped in a residential area bordering bear habitat. She had previously been collared and tagged.
An NDOW employee uses a receiving devise to locate a collared bear, as part of a radio-telemetry study.
Some biological tools used during bear research.
An NDOW biologist gives a trapped black bear a lip "tattoo" (a permanent identification number) before re-releasing it into the wild.
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Black bear research is ongoing in Nevada and throughout North America. Research allows wildlife managers an intimate look into the life of bears while providing critical information on bear populations, movements, behavior, and bear/human conflicts. The issue of bear/human conflicts is one of the most significant challenges facing bear managers today.
In past years, the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) has placed radio telemetry collars on over 60 individual bears. These collars, which each have its own unique signal, allow biologists to track a bear from either the air or ground, and record it’s movements and denning locations. Once a bear den is located, biologists determine if it is necessary to enter the den to make adjustments to the collar, and record data on the health of the bear and the number of cubs produced. All this vital information helps wildlife managers determine bear population size, status and densities, along with birth and mortality rates.
For example, NDOW, along with the U.S. National Science Foundation, the University of Nevada, Reno and the Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station, recently completed a five-year study on human-conditioned black bears in the Lake Tahoe Basin and surrounding areas. The information gathered has already allowed NDOW to make
management decisions regarding both individual bears and the overall bear population, based on sound biological and scientific principals.
This research is being continued through a joint effort by NDOW biologist Carl Lackey and Dr. Jon Beckmann of the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Much more research needs to be completed, but it is very cost-prohibitive, especially flight time for the gathering of telemetry data. For this reason the Nevada Department of Wildlife is constantly pursuing outside sources of funding. NDOW also strives to form working relationships with other groups and agencies interested in research, and who share our commitment to wildlife.
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