Andean Bear: Tourism Boom Meets New Threat

In the cloud forests draping the mountains above Machu Picchu, researchers have for the first time strapped GPS collars onto Peru's spectacled bears — the only bear species native to South America — in an effort to understand exactly where they breed, feed, and move before tourism development closes in around them.

The project, led by conservation teams working with the Wildlife Conservation Network, has already identified at least 43 individual bears through camera-trap surveys in the forests surrounding the Inca citadel. That is a striking number for a species so rarely seen that many Peruvians go their whole lives without glimpsing one in the wild. The same camera traps also picked up a previously unrecorded predator in the area: the northern tiger cat, a small, elusive wild feline that had not been formally documented in this particular stretch of montane forest before.

Why This Matters for a Vulnerable Species

The Andean bear, also known as the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), is classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Its population is difficult to pin down precisely — the species lives in dense, steep, often roadless terrain across the Andes — but researchers agree the numbers are declining as forest habitat is converted, fragmented, and increasingly squeezed by human infrastructure. That uncertainty is exactly why the new tracking data matters: without knowing where bears actually den, forage, and raise cubs, it is nearly impossible to draw meaningful boundaries around the land that needs protecting.

Machu Picchu draws well over a million visitors a year, and demand keeps climbing. New trails, lodges, transit corridors, and expanded access routes are already reshaping the landscape around the ruins. Conservationists working on the ground worry that this growth, unless carefully managed, could sever the forest corridors bears rely on to move between feeding grounds and breeding sites — the same corridors this collaring project is racing to map.


What the GPS Data Is Revealing

According to the Wildlife Conservation Network's account of the project, the collars are the first ever fitted on bears in this specific landscape, giving researchers a real-time picture of ranging behavior that camera traps alone cannot provide. Camera traps confirm presence; collars reveal movement — which slopes bears cross to reach fruiting trees, which ravines they use to avoid people, and how far individuals travel during breeding season. That movement data is now being used to argue for protected corridors that keep pace with, rather than lose out to, tourism infrastructure.

The same forests also shelter woolly monkeys, another flagship species of this ecosystem, whose fate is closely tied to the same tracts of intact canopy the bears depend on. Protecting one, researchers note, effectively protects both.

The Broader Andean Bear Picture

The spectacled bear's range stretches through the highland forests of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, but it is nowhere abundant. It is a shy, largely solitary animal, most active in fog-bound forest that offers cover and food but also happens to be some of the most desirable real estate for hydropower, agriculture, and now tourism development. You can read more about the species' range and status on its Andean bear species profile.

Threats compounding across its range include:

• Habitat fragmentation from road-building, agricultural expansion, and tourism infrastructure that severs the forest corridors bears need to move between seasonal food sources
• Human-bear conflict, particularly where bears raid crops or livestock near expanding settlements, sometimes resulting in retaliatory killing
• Illegal hunting and trade, including demand for bear parts used in traditional medicine in some areas
• Climate-driven shifts in cloud forest vegetation, which can alter the fruiting patterns bears rely on for seasonal nutrition
• Low reproductive rates, since females typically produce small litters at long intervals, making populations slow to recover from losses

Each of these pressures is easier to manage in isolation than in combination — but around Machu Picchu, all of them are converging at once, which is precisely why researchers pushed to get collars on bears now rather than later.


What Happens Next

Conservation groups involved in the project say the tracking data will feed directly into planning discussions with Peruvian park authorities and tourism operators, with the goal of designing infrastructure that avoids the corridors bears use most heavily. That is a delicate balancing act in a region where tourism revenue is also the economic engine that funds much of the area's conservation work in the first place.

Researchers plan to continue expanding the camera-trap network and add more collared individuals to build a fuller seasonal picture — including whether the newly documented northern tiger cat population is resident or simply passing through. The hope is that better data now prevents the kind of piecemeal habitat loss that has hollowed out spectacled bear populations elsewhere in the Andes, without requiring a choice between welcoming visitors and protecting the wildlife that makes the region worth visiting.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many spectacled bears live near Machu Picchu?

Camera-trap surveys have so far identified at least 43 individual bears in the forests surrounding the site, though researchers expect the true local population picture to sharpen as GPS tracking continues.

What is the IUCN status of the Andean bear?

The Andean bear, or spectacled bear, is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, reflecting ongoing habitat loss and fragmentation across its Andean range.

Why are GPS collars being used now for the first time?

Previous monitoring relied mainly on camera traps, which confirm presence but not movement. Collars let researchers map breeding and feeding grounds precisely, which is critical as tourism infrastructure expands nearby.

What was the northern tiger cat discovery?

Camera traps set up for the bear study also recorded a northern tiger cat, a small wild feline not previously documented in that particular forest area, suggesting the region's biodiversity value extends beyond its flagship bear population.