Curious swimming polar bears make Canadian scientists anxious (Video)

Three polar bears nearly ruined an Arctic research expedition when one of them gnawed on a very, very expensive cable earlier this month.

Jay T. Cullen has been working with fellow colleague Kathryn Purdon, a student at the University of Victoria, aboard the icebreaker CCGS Amundsen. The team has been working with other scientists in the middle of the Arctic Ocean taking water samples through a cable system.

Things appeared to be going well on the expedition until three polar bears became very interested in the research work. The three bears decided to do some investigating themselves and tried to eat the cable that was lowered from the boat into the water.

In a video taken by Purdon you can hear researchers yelling at the bears to get away from the very expensive equipment. The bears eventually moved along and the equipment was recovered, luckily undamaged. According to the team, the bears were not harmed during the incident. Just very interested.

Agencies/Canadajournal