Advertisement

Exeter researchers film rare 'Paddington' bear in Peru

Researchers film rare spectacled bear Credit: Exploration Sira

Researchers at the University of Exeter have confirmed a rare species of bear in Peru.

The children's character Paddington Bear is based on the vulnerable spectacled bear. Biologists placed secret cameras in the Sira Communal Reserve in Peru to capture the footage.

The team deployed 22 crowd funded camera traps in March 2015. The cameras stayed in place until last week when the team returned to the area to retrieve the results.

Researchers also filmed a critically endangered bird - the Sira Currasow. And documented 145 species of bird, 41 species of amphibian, 10 species of lizard and 7 species of snake, of which it is thought that two lizards and three frogs are new species, previously unknown to science.

Our new records of the Spectacled Bear highlight the Sira Communal Reserve as a stronghold for the species and demonstrates its importance at the national level.

We have fantastic videos of these charismatic bears – they were very playful with the camera traps, the footage shows them sniffing, licking and nosing the cameras.

This is much needed good news story for this threatened species; something we need to hear more of in conservation.

– Andrew Whitworth, researcher