Noortje2 (N23980)

© Magnus Andersen / NPI
© Magnus Andersen / NPI

Sex
Female
Age
11
Weight
172 kg
Cubs
2
Most recent location
2018-05-06

During the Norwegian Polar Institute's long term polar bear program, the researchers see polar bears being born, grow up and give birth to their own cubs. They first tagged N23980 when she was 2 years old, and as she grew older they have been able to follow her with a satellite collar to map her movements in detail.

When she was captured in spring 2017, she was accompanied by two 2-year old cubs, a male and a female. The family likely split up shortly after. The mother will mate again and produce a new litter next winter, and the cubs have to learn to hunt themselves to get food and to survive.

N23980 truly is an interesting bear, because it seems that she has never left the west coast of Spitsbergen, but has stayed there both winter and summer - quite unusual in Svalbard. The researchers have followed her up to the Prins Karls Forland, where they suspect that she was hunting harbor seals, and they have seen her visit several goose colonies where she has been observed feeding on large quantities of eggs.

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