Brown bears have communication hubs! Male brown bears mark trees with a secretion from glands located on their backs. The recent discovery of pedal glands and pedal marking at the site used for tree-rubbing, lead researchers to the hypothesis that both, rubbing trees and the trails leading to those trees are part of a more complex communication system. Using videos from the wildlife camera traps, scientists recorded and analysed a total of 285 bear visits and 419 behavioural events related to chemical communication.
Read more in the publication in PeerJ by Eloy Revilla and co-authored by Agnieszka Sergiel and Nuria Selva from our Team and watch the video recorded by Damian Ramos, co-author of the study.
Link to the article: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10447
Link to the video: https://dfzljdn9uc3pi.cloudfront.net/2021/10447/1/video_bear_marking.mp4?fbclid=IwAR0pgUsbHLztvjvOdjhQrzrh0TZRJt9gvRJJf8u0Uj072OeyhfkofTRJfNQ