M ost people would be surprised to learn how black bears react to drones. The interactions between drones and black bears are much worse that it appears at first. Many scientific studies show how a black bear’s heart rate soars when they encounter a drone. Though the black bears show no outward sign of recognition that the drone is even there, their pulse can increase by up to 400%. This has even occurred with a female black bear that had just that had just gone into her den to hibernate. The heart rate increases most significantly when a black bear is startled by the drone. In one extreme case, a bear’s pulse went up from 39 beats up to 162 beats per minute (roughly a 400% increase). This is actually a much larger increase in heart rate than that of a person riding a double corkscrew roller coaster!!

If you have a drone, please pay attention to where you fly to make sure you are not bothering or harming any animals.

Written by Sophia