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Field Diary: Spectacled Bear Conservation Reaches New Heights
Welcome to our latest Field Diary.
There is a story behind every field trip: the unexpected moments, the close calls, the new discoveries and everything in between.
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The truck inched along the winding dirt road higher into the Andes, the engine sputtering as the air grew thinner. A typical field day for Spectacled Bear Conservation’s (SBC) researchers in Peru involves hiking through dense forests and steep terrain, but this destination was not easily reached on foot.
That is, unless you’re a spectacled bear named Leroy.
Leroy is a dominant male with an estimated home range of 123,500 acres (500 km2) in and around the Machu Picchu Historic Sanctuary (Machu Picchu) and Choquequirao National Conservation Area. He has traveled vast distances through cloud forests and across grasslands. Now he is venturing into mountains that are sometimes blanketed in snow.
Watch the video to meet Leroy is his more typical habitat.
The Adventure Begins
Isai Sanchez, SBC’s Field and Operations Manager, couldn’t believe his eyes when he analyzed Leroy’s GPS collar data.
Leroy was at an altitude of 16,240 feet above sea level. This is one of the highest documented detections of a spectacled bear in the wild. It is 1,640 feet (500 m) higher than our detection of Pachito, another male bear in our study, at 14,600 feet (4,450 m) in 2025!
In addition, Leroy was outside of Machu Picchu’s boundaries in unprotected community lands. In these areas, bears are more at risk of encountering conflict with people.
With fresh data and the possibility of sighting Leroy in an unexpected location, the team quickly departed.
Click to watch our team’s high-altitude mission.
Even as our knowledge of bears grows through continued monitoring, their behaviors still surprise us. Why are bears like Leroy and Pachito traversing rocky high alpine ecosystems? How vital are these habitats to their survival?
Our field team investigated how Leroy moved across this ecosystem. They also observed the extent of human land use. Local people graze their cattle in this area, which may be a potential risk for human-wildlife conflict. 
What We Learned
Leroy’s habitat use underscores both how widely bears range and the extensive variety of ecosystems they depend on over a large elevation gradient.
“The environments vary from northern Peru’s equatorial dry forests at 350 feet, where temperatures can reach 45°C, to freezing conditions found at 16,000 feet near Machu Picchu. This is all amidst dense forests and steep, rugged terrain,” says Isai. “We’re also witnessing a wide range of behaviors, from mating and the process of gaining independence to the various stages of adult life. This knowledge helps support the conservation of the species.”
Leroy was elusive that day. But following his path through the Andes still gave our team new data about how bears use this ecosystem. It also showed us how bear movements overlap with human activity and the potential risk of human-wildlife conflict. People use the area to graze their cattle and may need support with coexistence initiatives.
Every day in the field yields new knowledge that advances conservation action in Peru.
This is how your support helps identify and protect the habitats spectacled bears like Leroy need to survive in the wild.
Support field research for spectacled bears in Peru.
