First footage captured from 'bear-dar' tech

A new AI radar system that alerts authorities when animals are getting too close to people has caught a family of polar bears on camera for the first time.

The 'bear-dar' uses radars and cameras to detect anything moving in the icy Arctic, the northernmost part of our planet.

It was developed by conservation group Polar Bears International and US security firm Spotter Global and installed at the Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) weather station in Eureka, Canada, in August 2025.

It's being used to keep the few people that live in this remote part of the world safe from wildlife nearby, such as polar bears, wolf, caribou, or musk oxen.

This is because scientists believe interactions between these communities and dangerous animals will become more frequent as our climate changes.

And the aim is to use it to protect polar bears too, as climate change continues to impact the areas they live in.

As temperatures around the world rise in what's known as the greenhouse effect, this then has been melting lots of ice in the Arctic where polar bears live.

This is driving many bears to spend more time on land, where they're more likely to run into people.

The footage shows a family of a mum and two cubs trotting towards the camera and rolling around happily in the snow.

It was captured in May 2027, which is the first time the system has done what researchers waned it to since it finished trials.

Staff monitoring it then used the camera to keep an eye on the bear's whereabouts over the following few days, and steered them gently away from the weather station.

Elbert Bakker, research support specialist at Polar Bears International, told the Press Association: "This is the first detection of polar bears at Eureka.

"They were very healthy and active, but we want to make sure that they stay out there hunting seals and not coming into human camps."

He went on to say to BBC Newsround: "The weather station in Eureka has been operating for decades and the staff have training and know how to deter a polar bear from staying around the station buildings.

"But, in order to respond, they need to know that the bear is there in the first place. So, that is where the Bear-dar system is helping them."