Lets hope he uses the enclosure fully and doesn't just pace exactly the same route and distance he almost certainly did in his last home( they all do it to some extent I think). But if he does show any stereotyped behaviour I'm sure they can help him somewhat with training/enrichment.
I think what's going to be missing here is that although he has all this space he has no real purpose to using it. In the wild he would travel long distances with a purpose to find good a mate or avoiding other males. Here he has none of that so it will be very interesting to see what happens.
In this case I wonder if he was to start showing stereotype behaviours if the solution would be to make finding food allot harder, I don't think a hungry polar bear would waste time with stereotype behaviours! He would be looking for food!
I am curious if TLD is correct on fish in the lake?
I think what's going to be missing here is that although he has all this space he has no real purpose to using it. In the wild he would travel long distances with a purpose to find good a mate or avoiding other males. Here he has none of that so it will be very interesting to see what happens.
I think that's where environmental enrichment comes in. Growing berries like they said, scatter feeds, varying the environment, adding items for sensory stimulation and so on.
To me seeing a Polar Bear in a grassy enclosure is very odd. It looks all wrong to someone raised on traditional exhibits. I'm sure it's better for the animal though.
Was reading a National Geographic at the Dentist's today. There was a remote camera shot close-up of a wild Polar Bear on a grassy/flowery tundra-type setting in the far North Islands above Russia, it was eating the grass. Not a million miles from what this looks like.
Well if the "scientists" telling us about the demise of the polar ice caps are to be believed then polar bears are going to have to adapt their diet in the coming decades/centuries, because they are going to have to wait longer each year before the sea freezes over enough for them to go hunting seals.
I was talking to a keeper at yesterdays safari night and asked about putiing fish in the lake as enrichment for Victor,and she informed me that there are some small fish already in there( I assume roach or rudd ) to assist with keeping the water clean. I also asked if there were any plans on incorporating waterfalls into any of the 3 other enclosures when they are finished,to help with aeration,but she didn't know but was going to ask. I would hate for any of the pools to become stagnant and green. She says there have been lots of reeds planted round the edges to help stop that.
From memory of all the other Polar Bears I've seen in zoos in the past, they do use the water to swim in very freely at times, but there are other long periods when they don't seem to. Overall I only remember seeing them swimming relatively few times in the old traditional-type enclosure pools. It will be interesting to see how much of the time the YWP Bears use their pools for swimming.
Actually, Rhenen Zoo paved the way for modern, naturalistic spaces for Polar Bears (in the year 2000 they opened a large, grassed enclosure with trees, a lake and varying topography). Although Vicktor was mostly kept separated in the old enclosure (compatibility issues presumably), he was provided with regular access to the new area so will not be completely unfamiliar with such conditions.
Another great photo.
On the issue of "making pathways" - I think it is inevitable to a certain extent, unfortunately most zoo-bears from traditional bear enclosures have developed a degree of stereotypical/pacing behaviour.
He probably will turn a grubby shade of white but that is the one drawback of having a variety of soft substrates to dig in of course.
I agree. I think it is inevitable that the bears with not be completely ridden of any stereotypies and that they will not remain white. I have seen bears stereotyping to some degree in many of the new polar bear enclosures in Europe (Eindhoven, Rhenen, Blijdorp, Munich, Amneville, La Fleche, Dublin, Peugres...). It is all very well blaming it on their formative years so it will be interesting to see if cubs reared in such an enriched environment will develop these behaviours. Almost certainly the spin zoos will use (if such cubs do indeed develop stereotypies) is "its a habit they picked it up from their mother" - so passing the buck.
I am sure there is a complex enrichment programme planned but from the photograph the enclosure does look like a field with a lake in the middle. There doesn't look to be a variety of substrates and there is little variety to the topography except the raised area right at the back. The space is certainly more noticeable than the complexity of the enclosure. The methods deployed to deliver food will be critical to the bears behavioural development here.
I took some more photos of the 2nd enclosure on Thursday evening,whilst Victor wasn't playing ball and really just wanted to go into his indoor sleep area. It looks slightly smaller than the 1st but looks like its going to have 2 lakes,with one just being quite shallow,but has 2 mounds of earth still in situ. Maybe they just haven't removed the soil that has been excavated to make the lakes,but I'm hoping that they will be landscaped and left in place to give more features than the first. Watch this space!
I also overheard one of the keepers saying that when the 2,3 or 4 enclosures are finished then the respective occupiers (either single in Victors case or 2 bears as sounds like the case from Germany) will be rotated so they get a change of scene and increase the variety of stimulation and enrichment the bears get.
I took some more photos of the 2nd enclosure on Thursday evening,whilst Victor wasn't playing ball and really just wanted to go into his indoor sleep area. It looks slightly smaller than the 1st but looks like its going to have 2 lakes,with one just being quite shallow,but has 2 mounds of earth still in situ. Maybe they just haven't removed the soil that has been excavated to make the lakes,but I'm hoping that they will be landscaped and left in place to give more features than the first. Watch this space!
I also overheard one of the keepers saying that when the 2,3 or 4 enclosures are finished then the respective occupiers (either single in Victors case or 2 bears as sounds like the case from Germany) will be rotated so they get a change of scene and increase the variety of stimulation and enrichment the bears get.
