Bear family repeatedly destroys research camera

America A mother bear trains her cubs to attack camera traps, leaving researchers racking their brains for a way to deal with it.

A group of wildlife in Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota has repeatedly destroyed researchers' camera traps. The culprits are believed to be a black bear and its three cubs. The bear family was caught red-handed destroying cameras at a remote beaver pond a total of five times in the past year, Business Insider reported on September 16.

A mother bear has trained three cubs to destroy a series of cameras. They will threaten any camera traps in the forest for years to come, according to the Voyageurs Wolf Project at the University of Minnesota. In video recorded by authorities, the mother bear leads her family in calmly walking toward the camera before smashing or toppling the equipment. Thomas Gable, head of the Voyageurs Wolf Project, said the bears topple and eventually destroy their cameras. "Most of the time, they just tip the camera over and then leave. However, we have had many camera traps that have been completely destroyed by bears chewing on them," Gable said.

The team set up more than 200 camera traps to monitor wolves. Gable said black bears were a bit of a hassle to operate the network. Scientists were frustrated when cameras kept getting knocked over. One bear cub even took out his frustration on a camera trap after failing to get his mother’s attention. Gable said he could keep bears from interfering with the cameras by placing the devices in protective metal boxes, but the process would require a lot of setup.

Black bears (scientific name Ursus americanus ) are omnivores, adults can weigh 90 - 270 kg. Their main food includes grass, roots, berries and insects. Excellent climbing, swimming and fishing skills help black bears adapt very well to their natural habitat in North America.

In addition to black bears, the team has also had to deal with cameras being attacked by the animals they were tracking. They recently shared a four-minute video of wolves teaming up to take aim at a roadside camera.

An Khang (According to Business Insider )

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