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Close-up footage of a Formosan black bear eating its lunch by a river
Now, for fans of Taiwan’s wild landscapes: employees of the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency in Chiayi are celebrating. They caught close-up footage of a Formosan black bear eating its lunch by a river. The footage is the best of its kind for the Chiayi Branch office. It’s the result of a new project placing infrared cameras across Chiayi and Tainan. Other cameras have caught exciting glimpses of many wild animals, like bears, deer, and martens.
A Formosan black bear stands on some boulders by the side of this river, guzzling on a fresh catch. When it’s full, it bounds nimbly away across the water.
The footage was taken at Nanzihsian River by an employee of the Chiayi Branch of the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency. Colleagues are still cooing over it.
Hsu Yu-ching
Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, Chiayi Branch
We’ve never had such close-up footage before. Normally, we just see traces of the bears, or excrement, nothing so close-up, or eating food like this. Black bears are extremely wary of humans.
The branch has installed automatic infrared cameras in the mountains of Chiayi and Tainan, to monitor the movements of wild animal populations and collect footage. They’ve captured: wild boar hunting for food, two small bears, yellow-throated martens gathering to drink from a pond, a sambar deer wallowing in mud, and a curious Reeve’s muntjac staring into the lens.
Lee Ting-chung
Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, Chiayi Branch
We’ve recorded some very diverse footage of animals, and even very cute images. This allows us to understand trends in the dispersal of animal populations, and draw up our conservation strategies.
These precious images also reveal the successes of past conservation projects. But experts are keen to stress that if you visit the mountains and happen to come upon a similar scene, never give a bear cause for alarm.
Hsu Yu-ching
Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, Chiayi Branch
If you meet a black bear in the wild, you must stay calm. Don’t raise your voice. Keep facing the bear, and slowly back away, out of its line of sight. And then escape from the area.
The agency also notes that if you come across a wild animal, don’t touch it, don’t disturb it, and don’t feed it: “three don’ts.” But do make sure you take away any food you take into the wild, to avoid causing any damage to the mountain ecosystems.
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2024-02-23
