Ulaanbaatar
Gobi Bear Tagged with Satellite Tracking Collar
Environment
Ulaanbaatar, September 15, 2025 /MONTSAME/. Under the initiative of the President of Mongolia, Mazaalai (gobi bear), weighing 70 kilograms, and its 25-kilogram cub were captured and fitted with satellite-tracking collars at Suuj Bulag oasis in the ‘A’ zone of the Great Gobi Strictly Protected Area on September 12, 2025.
The collars not only transmit location data but also record video, enabling scientists to study the bears’ migration, diet, and habitat preferences. The project, financed by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change of Mongolia, is being carried out jointly by the Mazaalai Society, the Commonwealth of Australia-based Mongolia Aid International Inc., and the administration of the ‘A’ zone of the Great Gobi Strictly Protected Area.
The Gobi bear (Ursus arctos gobiensis), known in Mongolian as the Mazaalai, is the world’s only bear adapted to desert life and is found solely in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert. First recorded in the early 1920s in Aj Bogd Mountain of the Altai Mountain Range, the subspecies was later recognized by Russian scientists as distinct within bear taxonomy. In 1953, a resolution of the Presidium of the People’s Great Khural placed the Gobi bear under strict protection, banning hunting. Listed in the Mongolian Red Book, the population was estimated at 15–20 in the 1960s, around 20 in the 1970s, 25–30 in the early 1980s, and 50–60 by the late 1980s. By the early 1990s, the number had declined to just over 30. As of 2024, the population was reported at around 50. Recent monitoring uses advanced techniques such as DNA profiling from hair samples, conducted at the University of Idaho, United States of America.
Resembling the brown bear, the Gobi bear reproduces only once every 2–3 years, typically giving birth to one or two cubs. Cubs remain with their mother until the age of two, becoming independent by their third year as they establish territories. Satellite tracking has shown the bears’ movements across the Atas, Shar Khuls Mountain Range, and Tsagaan Bogd Mountain. Between 2005 and 2019, 26 Gobi bears were collared.
Globally and regionally assessed as ‘Critically Endangered,’ the Gobi bear is smaller than the brown bear. For instance, an adult Gobi male bear from Tsagaan Bogd Mountain measured 168 cm in body length, 92 cm at the shoulder, and weighed 90 kg. Its summer coat is uniformly brown, while in winter and spring it becomes darker with a lighter undercoat. Coloration varies by age and sex.
