To celebrate International Polar Bear Day, Google has released its first Street View maps of locations across Canada's tundra that will allow people to virtually view polar bears, according to LiveScience.
Polar bears will be seen in and around the towns of Manitoba and Churchill thanks to Google Maps, who will capture 360-degree panoramas of polar bears out and about for the annual celebration.
"The Street View project lets viewers explore the tundra and see the polar bear migration, no matter where they live," said Krista Wright, executive director of the conservation nonprofit Polar Bears International (PBI), according to LiveScience.
In the past, Google has worked with nonprofits to bring Street View to some of the most remote and exciting locations around the world, including coral reefs, Alaska's Denali National Park, and the Amazon.
In 2013, PBI asked the Street View team to come to Churchill, Canada for 10 days to photograph polar bears.
The team attached their trekker camera on a "tundra buggy" vehicle donated by Frontiers North Adventures, before heading out to Manitoba's Wildlife Management Areas and Wapusk National Park, where they were able to take hundreds of shots of the bears.
The camera was able to capture images of bears resting on the snow and sea ice in the Hudson Bay, and sparring with each other, along with dozens of other poses, according to LiveScience.
Karin Tuxen-Bettman, Google's project leader in the Arctic, called the experience amazing.
"When you're outside looking at a polar bear, for me, personally, I felt so much excitement, but I also felt a little scared," Tuxen-Bettman said to Live Science. "They're huge, but also very fragile. I kind of wanted to hug them."
PBI wants to use the Google images for "educational outreach," in an attempt to teach kids about polar bears and to allow them a opportunity to virtually explore the animals in their natural environment instead of a zoo, for example.
PBI is creating a map scavenger hunt using just Street View maps to make the experience fun for people of all ages.
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