For the first time, they record the mating of Spectacled Bears in their natural habitat in Huila

In the department of Huila, in southern Colombia, a monitoring group achieved the first world record for mating a pair of spectacle bears in their natural habitat, a historical fact of great significance in terms of conservation of this species.

This important report was obtained thanks to camera traps placed by the Serankwa community monitoring group in the Regional Natural Park of the Biological Corridor of Guácharos – Puracé, in the municipality of San Agustín, in the south of the department.

“We are very happy because the Serankwa monitoring group from San Agustín reports for the first time the recording of two individuals of adult Spectacled Bears who develop a mating process that were captured in the wild using the technique of community photo-trapping.», Said the biologist of the Autonomous Regional Corporation of Alto Magdalena, Katherine Arenas.

This fact, according to experts, shows the active recovery of Andean bear populations that have been documented in this important biodiversity corridor in the south of the country and that contributes to the conservation of this species considered vulnerable.

In turn, this unprecedented record was made possible thanks to the installation of cameras in the natural park that captured the two mating events of this same pair of avid bears, residents of this region and monitored since 2018 and 2019. .

“This results demonstrate the importance of a process of awareness-raising and joint work whose fundamental subject is the engagement and participation of local communities and environmental organizations, work which surrounds itself with the institutional framework which contributes to this logic of protection of wild species ”, explained the director of the CAM, Camilo Agudelo.

CAM has consolidated 18 community monitoring groups which are made up of more than 270 farmers from rural areas of Huila, who carry out continuous monitoring of the biodiversity that is found and transited in this region of the country, in which the Andes and the Amazon are connected.

Thanks to photo trapping, more than 12,000 photographic and film recordings of species of wildlife were obtained between 2012 and 2021, which were captured thanks to traditional knowledge and the support of environmental authorities, such as Andean bears, the mountain tapirs, the ocelots. , cougar, puma, coati, among other species.

“Thanks to the camera traps, we have obtained many records of species such as the Andean bear. One of the records was the mating process of two bears in the wild. Of the more than two thousand records we have achieved, this is the most remarkable. We recorded six cubs in total which reflect that the spectacle bear population is increasing in southern Huila.», Assured the member of the monitoring group of Serankua, Ramiro Velazco.

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