U of I research team identifies polar bears using DNA found in paw prints
SPOKANE — When Andrew Von Duyke, a wildlife biologist stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska, reached out to Jennifer Adams, a research scientist at the Un...
SPOKANE — When Andrew Von Duyke, a wildlife biologist stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska, reached out to Jennifer Adams, a research scientist at the University of Idaho, for help with a research project involving polar bears, her answer was yes. Von Duyke was working to come up with a methodology to identify polar bears using the DNA left in snowy bear tracks. That was in November 2020. By the same time the next year, the research team, which also included Justin Crawford and Lori Quakenbush of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Fairbanks, was ultimately successful.