Wondering why polar bears sniff the tracks left by others of their kind, researchers set out to get to the bottom of the behavior.

Polar bears tend to be loner types, often opting to communicate with others of their kind through scent markings left on rocks and trees.

They’ve also been observed smelling the snowy footprints of other bears.

Wondering what hidden information the tracks could possibly hold, researchers set out to get to the bottom of the behavior.

Team members from the Alaska Science Center, the San Diego Zoo, and Montana’s Polar Bears International collected scent samples from just over 200 wild bears.

Those were obtained by swabbing between the animals’ toes, and all were taken during the spring mating season.

While doing so the scientists kept track of pertinent information related to gender and fertility.

Next, they transferred the samples to cardboard and closed them up in boxes.

Those boxes were hung in the cages of 26 bears living at 10 separate zoos