The bears and the bees: How honey is helping to save the spectacled bear

By Nell Lewis, CNN

Updated 1003 GMT (1803 HKT) January 21, 2022

Direct photos of the bears are rare and extremely difficult to acquire, with researchers usually relying on discreet camera traps instead. But through more than a decade of intensive field work, the SBC is helping to showcase the species up close. <em>Credit: SBC</em>
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Bolivian conservationist Ximena Velez-Liendo (pictured) is also devoted to protecting the species in the inter-Andean dry forests of Bolivia.
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Her project not only monitors the bear population in the region, but it trains local people as beekeepers. This offers them an economic alternative to cattle ranching, therefore reducing habitat loss and human-bear conflict.
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The key message from both the SBC and Velez-Liendo is that protecting the bear protects the whole ecosystem. Spectacled bears are considered both a keystone and an umbrella species, meaning that they play a vital role in the survival of the whole ecosystem. <em>Credit: SBC</em>
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Velez-Liendo says that thanks to the research into bears, scientists now have access to more information on the wider ecosystem. In the project site in Bolivia, photos have been captured of species that had never before been seen in the area, such as a wildcat known as Geoffroy's leopard (pictured).
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Pumas (pictured), also called mountain lions or cougars, have also been spotted, as has the critically endangered chinchilla rat. "Because of all our efforts to protect just one species, we're protecting 31 species of mammals, about 50 species of birds, and 20 species of other amphibians," says Velez-Liendo.
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The spectacled bear, the species on which the character Paddington Bear is based, gets its name from the yellowish-white marks around its eyes that can look like a pair of glasses.
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It's South America's only bear species and lives in the mountainous regions and dry forests stretching from Venezuela as far south as Bolivia.
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But the bears face an uncertain future as populations are in decline. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which lists the species as vulnerable, estimates that fewer than 10,000 individuals remain across the entire continent. The main threats are habitat loss, climate change and human-bear conflict. <em>Credit: SBC</em>
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Spectacled bears usually feed on shoots and fruit, but some -- like this one photographed by a camera trap in Peru -- are starving. This can lead to them killing livestock, which leads to farmers killing bears in retaliation. <em>Credit: SBC</em>
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The dry forests where some bear populations are found, such as in Peru (pictured) and other regions, are critically endangered. The open and arid landscape is becoming increasingly fragmented and is vulnerable to extreme weather events such as drought or flooding. <em>Credit: Michell Leon</em>
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Typically timid and elusive mammals, little is known about the species. But there are efforts to discover more about the creatures and protect them. The Spectacled Bear Conservation Society (SBC) based in Peru is working to create and maintain protected areas of pristine habitat through the bears' range.<strong> </strong><em>Credit: SBC</em>
Photos:
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Direct photos of the bears are rare and extremely difficult to acquire, with researchers usually relying on discreet camera traps instead. But through more than a decade of intensive field work, the SBC is helping to showcase the species up close. <em>Credit: SBC</em>
Photos:
Show Caption
7 of 12
Bolivian conservationist Ximena Velez-Liendo (pictured) is also devoted to protecting the species in the inter-Andean dry forests of Bolivia.
Photos:
Show Caption
8 of 12
Her project not only monitors the bear population in the region, but it trains local people as beekeepers. This offers them an economic alternative to cattle ranching, therefore reducing habitat loss and human-bear conflict.
Photos:
Show Caption
9 of 12
The key message from both the SBC and Velez-Liendo is that protecting the bear protects the whole ecosystem. Spectacled bears are considered both a keystone and an umbrella species, meaning that they play a vital role in the survival of the whole ecosystem. <em>Credit: SBC</em>
Photos:
Show Caption
10 of 12
Velez-Liendo says that thanks to the research into bears, scientists now have access to more information on the wider ecosystem. In the project site in Bolivia, photos have been captured of species that had never before been seen in the area, such as a wildcat known as Geoffroy's leopard (pictured).
Photos:
Show Caption
11 of 12
Pumas (pictured), also called mountain lions or cougars, have also been spotted, as has the critically endangered chinchilla rat. "Because of all our efforts to protect just one species, we're protecting 31 species of mammals, about 50 species of birds, and 20 species of other amphibians," says Velez-Liendo.
Photos:
Show Caption
12 of 12
The spectacled bear, the species on which the character Paddington Bear is based, gets its name from the yellowish-white marks around its eyes that can look like a pair of glasses.
Photos:
Show Caption
1 of 12
It's South America's only bear species and lives in the mountainous regions and dry forests stretching from Venezuela as far south as Bolivia.
Photos:
Show Caption
2 of 12
But the bears face an uncertain future as populations are in decline. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which lists the species as vulnerable, estimates that fewer than 10,000 individuals remain across the entire continent. The main threats are habitat loss, climate change and human-bear conflict. <em>Credit: SBC</em>
Photos:
Show Caption
3 of 12
Spectacled bears usually feed on shoots and fruit, but some -- like this one photographed by a camera trap in Peru -- are starving. This can lead to them killing livestock, which leads to farmers killing bears in retaliation. <em>Credit: SBC</em>
Photos:
Show Caption
4 of 12
The dry forests where some bear populations are found, such as in Peru (pictured) and other regions, are critically endangered. The open and arid landscape is becoming increasingly fragmented and is vulnerable to extreme weather events such as drought or flooding. <em>Credit: Michell Leon</em>
Photos:
Show Caption
5 of 12
Typically timid and elusive mammals, little is known about the species. But there are efforts to discover more about the creatures and protect them. The Spectacled Bear Conservation Society (SBC) based in Peru is working to create and maintain protected areas of pristine habitat through the bears' range.<strong> </strong><em>Credit: SBC</em>
Photos:
Show Caption
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This story was identified by Call to Earth guest editor Erika Cuéllar. She is a biologist and conservationist, and a Rolex Award Laureate.

(CNN)A bear cub with distinctive yellow circling about the eyes is caught on camera, deep in the dry forests of the Andes mountain range in Bolivia. Beside it, a glimpse of the shaggy black fur of its mother.

For six months, researchers had laid camera traps across a 600-square-kilometer area, trying to catch sight of the rare spectacled bear. But besides the occasional photo of an indistinguishable hairy figure with its head out of shot, the elusive species had avoided the lens.
The photo was a breakthrough for Bolivian conservationist Ximena Velez-Liendo and her team. "We were over the moon, because it wasn't just a bear, it was a breeding population," she says. "That was one of the happiest moments in my life."
    This candid photo of a bear cub, taken by camera trap on 9 February 2017, marked significant progress for Velez-Liendo and her team.
    This candid photo of a bear cub, taken by camera trap on 9 February 2017, marked significant progress for Velez-Liendo and her team.
    Five years later, Velez-Liendo has gathered essential details on the enigmatic creatures and devised a strategy for protecting them.
      As South America's only bear species, the spectacled or Andean bear is renowned worldwide thanks largely to Paddington Bear, the fictional character who hails from "deepest, darkest Peru." But in reality, populations across the continent are dwindling.
      Fewer than 10,000 spectacled bears remain, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which lists the species as vulnerable. In Bolivia, the southernmost country in the world where spectacled bears are found and where Velez-Liendo's work is focused, there are believed to be around 3,000 individuals.
      Severe drought, as a result of climate change, has led local farmers to replace agricultural production with cattle ranches, says Velez-Liendo. The bears, struggling to find food in their own shrinking habitat, encroach on this land and sometimes kill livestock, which leads to farmers killing the bears in retaliation. Deforestation and exploiting the land for oil and mining contributes to habitat loss, while drought unbalances the ecosystem, pushing the species closer to extinction.
      Velez-Liendo wants to conserve the "majestic" and "charismatic" creatures to which she has devoted the last 20 years of her life. But her recipe for conservation involves an unusual ingredient: honey.
      A spectacled bear is caught on camera bathing in a watering hole in northern Peru. Credit: SBC

      Bears and beekeepers

      Based in the inter-Andean dry forest of southern Bolivia and funded by Chester Zoo and Oxford University's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), the project not only monitors the region's bear population, but trains local people as beekeepers. The idea is that by generating a healthy income from honey, it offers an economic alternative to cattle ranching.
      "The main threat (to bears) is definitely people," says Velez-Liendo, and "cattle are the main reason for people killing bears." But cattle ranching is not well suited to high elevations and produces small returns at significant environmental cost, requiring 20 times more land, water and resources than it does in the lowlands, she adds.
      So the team set up community apiaries, where local people could learn and practise beekeeping. After the first honey harvest, people started building their own private hives. The honey -- branded "Valle de Osos," meaning "Valley of the Bears" -- went on sale, and money started to trickle in.
      The honey's label references the bears, as they are at the root of the project, says Velez-Liendo.
      The honey's label references the bears, as they are at the root of the project, says Velez-Liendo.
      There have been three harvests since the beekeeping project began in 2018, producing 2,750 kilograms of honey and almost $20,000 in revenue, says Velez-Liendo -- more than double that generated by cattle.

      Circle of life

      At the same time, the process is teaching locals about the ecosystem and the bear's crucial role in maintaining it: by spreading seeds, the bears help to restore forests, which in turn helps to secure water supplies. "People need to see the benefit of protecting the bears," says Velez-Liendo, and through beekeeping, "we show them that by protecting the bear, they are protecting the forest, and by protecting the forest, they are protecting the bees."
      Velez-Liendo (left) works closely with local communities on the project.
      Velez-Liendo (left) works closely with local communities on the project.
      The project has been widely recognized as crucial in preserving the species, winning the 2017 Whitley Award for grassroots wildlife conservationists. Last month, the Whitley Fund for Nature announced it would fund Velez-Liendo for the next two years, as she works to create a "productive protected landscape" -- a management framework that respects traditional land-use while combining restoration and nature-positive economic activity.