This may seam avery ignorant question but do bears in a captive environment with a ready food supply still hibernate as they would in the wild? Not I suppose in a temperate climate such as here in the UK but in the colder regions?
This may seam avery ignorant question but do bears in a captive environment with a ready food supply still hibernate as they would in the wild? Not I suppose in a temperate climate such as here in the UK but in the colder regions?
In Sweden Skansen's bears hibernate as do the bears at Korkeasaari in Finland. I'm sure Eurasian brown bears do in other Nordic zoos as well but they are two I have direct experience of.
In Sweden Skansen's bears hibernate as do the bears at Korkeasaari in Finland. I'm sure Eurasian brown bears do in other Nordic zoos as well but they are two I have direct experience of.
Do these zoos let their animals stay out all night? As I think about it the zoos I know whose bears don't hibernate are all AZA and the private zoos I know of do have their bears hibernate. I think this has to do with the fact that AZA bears naturally have to wake up everyday when they are allowed the chance to shift outside or between dens.
Thanks for that lads, I have often wondered what happens. I hadn't thought about how they are housed JBZv I thought it may be seasonal cooling and shorter days that started it.
Are the ons you know of encouraged to hibernate Shirokuma? or did they do it regardless of any outside stimulus, of course the shorter days and usually cooler weather may help them in those climates.
I belive there is still a lot about hibernation in animals that we don't yet understand.
