Elvis the “Polar Bear Pregnancy Test”

Currently, there is no method for diagnosing pregnancy in polar bears. Scientists at the Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW) at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden have been studying polar bear reproduction since 2008 and an important objective of CREW’s polar bear project is to develop a non-invasive method of detecting pregnancy. Knowing which females are pregnant would greatly aid in the management of the captive polar bear population. An accurate pregnancy test also might help determine the source of low reproductive success in captive polar bears by pinpointing the time of reproductive failure, as well as provide data on when and how often pregnancy loss occurs in wild bears.

Although pregnancy-specific proteins have been discovered in the urine of other mammals, collecting urine from a polar bear, especially one that spends a lot of time in the water can be challenging. Fortunately, the collection of feces is feasible, non-stressful to the individual, and usually provides a generous sample volume. Fecal steroid metabolites such as progesterone are used to monitor ovarian activity and pregnancy in many species, but many non-pregnant female polar bears experience a phenomenon called pseudopregnancy in which their progesterone levels are indistinguishable from those of pregnant individuals. Because scientists at CREW have exhausted all known tests of fecal products that are used to diagnose pregnancy in other wildlife species, it is evident that a new avenue, such as the use of detection dogs, must be pursued.

The Ironheart Training Center agreed to take on this project and determine whether it was possible, and if so, train a dog to a high level of proficiency. Over the course of many months and thousands of repetitions, it appears that a Beagle by the name of Elvis has honed his skills to level well over ninety percent.  Bio-samples were collected from bears from zoo’s all across North America. The initial imprinting was done using various samples taken from different bears having different diets. These samples were eventually placed among other non-pregnant bears, including males, non-pregnant females, young females, old females, and females in estrus. Through the use of specially designed scent tubes, meticulous controls to mitigate any sort of contamination or ability to mark the sample, Elvis has passed just about every test administered. These tests have included single and double blind testing using fresh new samples.