This online event is coming to you from Churchill, Manitoba, “The Polar Bear Capital of the World” and broadcast live via Polar Bear Cam from on board a Tundra Buggy vehicle.  With views of the tundra and polar bears just outside the Buggy, top polar bears scientists will be answering our Polar Bear Cam community member and audience viewer questions. http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/polarbearcam/

Joining us this year are:

Dr. Steven C. Amstrup, Polar Bear Project leader for the USGS; 
Dr. Andrew Derocher, chair of the IUCN’s Polar Bear Specialist Group; and 
Dr. Don Moore, chair of Animal Welfare for the American Zoological and Aquarium Association

Biographies of Scientists

Steven C. Amstrup, Ph.D.

Photograph by B.J. Kirschhoffer
 

Research Wildlife Biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey at the Alaska Science Center in Anchorage, Alaska; also an adjunct professor at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, and an associate professor at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks.

Dr. Amstrup has been conducting research on all aspects of polar bear ecology in the Beaufort Sea for over 25 years.  His interests include wildlife distribution and movement patterns as well as the population dynamics of wildlife and how information on those topics can be used to assure wise stewardship.  Dr. Amstrup has authored or coauthored over 50 peer-reviewed articles on the movements, distribution, and population dynamics of large mammals, including polar bears, and is the senior editor of a recent text on population estimation methods. 

On their honeymoon in New Zealand, Dr. Amstrup and his wife, Virginia, helped in a tagging study of little blue penguins.  That experience gave the scientist the honor of being one of the very few people ever to have been bitten by both polar bears, which occur only in the northern hemisphere, and penguins, which occur only in the southern hemisphere. 

Andrew Derocher, Ph.D.

Photograph by B.J. Kirschhoffer

Chair of the IUCN/SSC Polar Bear Specialist Group; also a biology professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.

Dr. Derocher has studied polar bears since 1982.  His field research focuses on polar bears in the Canadian Arctic, Hudson Bay, and Svalbard, Norway.  He worked as a biologist for the Canadian Wildlife Service for eight years and spent seven years as a polar bear research scientist with the Norwegian Polar Institute in Tromsø, Norway. Dr. Derocher’s research has focused on the limiting and regulating factors of polar bear populations including habitat use, harvest effects, and predator-prey relationships. His current work includes assessment of the effects of climate change and toxic chemicals on polar bears.   He has authored or coauthored over 80 peer-reviewed articles related to polar bears.  He has served as a council member of the International Association for Bear Research and Management since 2001. 

Don Moore, Ph.D.

Photograph by B.J. Kirschhoffer
 

Chair of Animal Welfare for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and Associate Director for the Animal Care at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Moore is a zoo and animal-behavior professional, wildlife biologist, and educator. He has worked closely with polar bears in zoos during the course of his career, including his present position with the Smithsonian's National Zoo and his previous work with the Wildlife Conservation Society's Prospect Park and Central Park zoos in New York.  He helped spearhead a nationwide effort to reduce stereotypic behavior (stress) in polar bears in zoos. 

Dr. Moore has published over four dozen papers or manuals on animal husbandry and behavior; serves as a peer-reviewer for several scientific journals; and has received national and local awards for excellence in the interpretation of natural history and behavior of wildlife. He recently wrote the children’s natural history book, “Disney’s Wonderful World of Animals” (2006), based on questions about animals that kids ask him most frequently.

Special thanks to our partners, RealNetworks,Inc. Polar Bears International (PBI), Frontier North's Tundra Buggy® Adventures, and SeeMore Wildlife Systems, who are facilitating these Expert Q&As during this rare gathering of polar bear scientists.