SEX IDENTIICATION OF POLAR BEARS FROM BLOOD AND TISSUE SAMPLES

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) can be adversely affected by hunting and other human perturbations because of low population densities and low reproduction rates. The sustainable take of adult females may be as l ow as 1.5% of the population. Females and accompanying young are most vulnerable to hunting, and hunters have not consistently reported the sex composition of the harvest, therefore a method to confirm the sexe s of polar bears harvested in Alaska is needed. Evidence of the sex of harvested animals is often not available, but blood or other tissue s amples often are. We extracted DNA from tissue and blood samples, and amplified segments of zinc finger (ZFX and ZFY) genes from both X and Y chromosomes with the polymerase chain reaction. Digestion of amplifi ed portions of the X chromosome with the restriction enzyme HaeIII res ulted in subdivision of the original amplified segment into four small er fragments. Digestion with HaeIII did not subdivide the original seg ment amplified from the Y chromosome. The differing fragment sizes pro duced patterns in gel electrophoresis that distinguished samples from male and female bears 100% of the time. This technique is applicable t o the investigation of many wildlife management and research questions .