Scientists have tracked a tagged polar bear swimming at least 74 km in just one day -- and maybe up to 100 km -- providing the first conclusive proof the bears can cover such giant distances in the water, Reuters reported. Bears often roam thousands of kilometres in a year in search of prey such as seals and there has often been anecdotal evidence of prodigious ursine swims, with bears turning up on remote islands or across wide bays. However, previously there had been doubts about whether the bears had walked over ice part of the way or hitched a ride on an iceberg. "What's new this time is that we have data showing how long the bear was in the water," Jon Aars, a researcher at the Norwegian Polar Institute, said on Friday. "This is the first time that such a long swim has been documented by satellite telemetry for polar bears," the institute added. The female bear, equipped with a satellite tracking device, entered the water on the east of the Norwegian Arctic island of Spitsbergen early on July 20, swam northeast and re-emerged on the island of Edgeoya a day later. A sensor on the bear's collar sent different signals when it was in salty sea water compared to on land or on ice. --more 2328 Local Time 2028 GMT
