Tracking Polar Bears with Google Maps

The Bear Tracker from Polar Bear International is tracking the movements of polar bears in Hudson Bay.

The Google Map shows current and past sea ice levels on Hudson Bay, and also the rough locations of polar bears. Users can click on the individual polar bear markers to view the bear's track and also use a time slider control to see the locations of the bears over time.


The Nova Southeastern University Oceangraphic Research Center are using Google Maps to track a Mako Shark named Carol.

The Shortfin Mako Shark Tracks map allows the user to view Carol's movements over the last seven months, as she has explored the Tasman Sea and South Pacific Ocean off the coast of New Zealand. The map also includes the option to view an animated track of Carol's journey over the last seven months.


Ocearch are tracking the position of a number of sharks off the coast of South Africa. The Global Shark Tracker allows anyone to observe the navigational pattern of the tracked sharks.The sharks have been tagged with satellite tracking technology for the purpose of shark conservation and their movements can be followed on this Google Maps based tracker.

Currently 34 sharks are being tracked in total and you can follow them all with the tracker. The tracker includes a number of useful filters which allows the user to search for individual sharks by name or to view the trails of just male or female sharks or of mature or immature sharks.