Currently housing one single male. The first complete enclosure was brilliant, the other two next to it are nearing completion. In total, four enclosures will be in place when completed.
Out of curiosity I spent some time analyzing polar bear exhibits in American zoos and came up with a grand total of 32 zoos with bears. I included a couple of places that have new polar bear exhibits opening very soon and 94% of the exhibits have underwater viewing.
Did I miss any?
U.S. zoos with polar bear underwater viewing = 30
San Diego
Saint Louis
Omaha
Columbus
North Carolina
Denver
Point Defiance
Detroit
Brookfield
Buffalo
Alaska
Henry Vilas
Seneca Park
Indianapolis
Kansas City
Oregon
Memphis
Cincinnati
Toledo
Philadelphia
Maryland
Louisville
Hogle
Lincoln Park
Pittsburgh
Rio Grande
Milwaukee County
Como Park
San Diego SeaWorld
Orlando SeaWorld
U.S. zoos without underwater viewing = 2
Bronx (arguably the zoo's most outdated exhibit)
San Francisco (another outdated exhibit; elderly bears that are 32 and 34 years of age)
In several parts of their range, polar bears can regularly be seen in areas with grass, making exhibits like this far more natural than the concret galore of some exhibits. The location of fences and alike is obviously a different discussion.
I guess Yorkshire took notes from Scandinavian Wildlife Park, which in some ways appears similar. As far as I can understand, Yorkshire's polar bear complex is even larger than Scandinavian (10 acres vs. 6.5 acres), so it must be huge. From the bears perspective, these may well be the two top exhibits in the world, just behind the 7.5 acre complex at Orsa Björnpark. Orsa's cold location obviously gives it an advantage that is hard to match elsewhere.
I've visited quite a lot of polar bear exhibits, including pretty much all American and European that frequently are mentioned when talking about top exhibits for the species (the new in Yorkshire is the main exception). My single most remarkable polar bear experience has been walking along the long walkway at Scandinavian while looking down on swimming polar bears that appeared to enjoy themselves tremendously. It looks like this and this photo were taken under similar circumstances at the park. I guess it may be hard to imagine without actually having seen it in person, but it surpassed any underwater polar bear viewing experience I've had. So as nice as underwater viewing may be, this type of large-scale exhibits combined with a bit of ingenuity can give a top visitor experience.
For reasons mentioned by Maguari, I can't imagine any of these places ever getting underwater viewing.
I would say they most definately did. Its a pity Yorkshire did not include the walkway over the water, as from your photos I can see its a great way to view the bears swimming. Probably far preferable to underwater viewing too, as the swimming area here is much larger for the Bears than any u/v pool would be. Scandinavia's enclosure does look enormous, despite you say Yorkshire's are bigger.
I would say they most definately did. Its a pity Yorkshire did not include the walkway over the water, as from your photos I can see its a great way to view the bears swimming. Probably far preferable to underwater viewing too, as the swimming area here is much larger for the Bears than any u/v pool would be. Scandinavia's enclosure does look enormous, despite you say Yorkshire's are bigger.
I overheard the owner/manager of YWP the other day as he was taking some guests round. He said that his view is that apex predators hate being looked down on directly,thats why the majority of his enclosures are set back from the walkways so they don't feel threatened. So I doubt he would put an elevated walkway over their biggest predator. I would hate to think of some brainless person dangling a small child over the handrails to get a better view. And don't think they don't do it, I have seen first hand at the Lion,Amur Leapord and Tiger enclosures where people have lifted there children up and either sat them on the handrail or physically held them with outstretched arms over the top.
With regard to the size of enclosure,i think YWP's 4 enclosures in total will measure 10 acres. The Scandinavian ones look huge but in just 1 exhibit. The one covered with snow looks awesome.
If polar bears dislike being looked down on, they're doing an excellent job hiding it at Scandinavian. They easily could avoid swimming under with the amount of water placed in sections away from the walkway. Parts of the walkways at Yorkshire are also placed above the polar bears based on this photo.
Placing a person on the handrail or climbing it results in exclusion from Scandinavian and there are always keepers at the exhibit. There are warnings about it too. I spoke to a keeper about this issue in 2013 and she said it hadn't been a problem. I don't know if this is a cultural thing or something else. Perhaps the pointed top (would be a very unconfortable seat) or side fencing (easy to see through) are parts of the explanation? It reminds me of comments to a walk-through snake exhibit at the nearby Randers Regnskov. Someone said that if it had been in his country, a person would rapidly get bitten (all non-venomous, but a 1.5 m python can still bite if someone foolishly touches it) or the snakes stolen. The legal culture may also be part of the difference. In USA, there would be people standing in line to sue when they had managed to get themself hurt. If you tried the "I grapped the snake, it bit me and now I want money" in a Scandinavian court the only thing you would get was a laugh. In terms of lawsuits, British courts are more or less in between the U.S. standard and the mainland European standard.
I can't say Yorkshire WP was high on the list of places I wanted to visit (I've passed it on trips to The Deep Aquarium), but looking through the gallery and reading some of the threads on this forum I may have to change that.
If polar bears dislike being looked down on, they're doing an excellent job hiding it at Scandinavian, as they easily could avoid swimming under if they wanted with the amount of water placed in sections away from the walkway. Parts the walkways at Yorkshire are also placed above the polar bears based on this photo.
Placing a person on the handrail (the top is pointed and it would therefore be a highly uncomfortable seat) or climbing it results in exclusion from Scandinavian and there are always keepers at the exhibit. There are warnings about it too. I spoke to a keeper about this issue in 2013 and she said it hadn't been a problem. I don't know if this is a cultural thing or something else. Perhaps the side fencing, which is easy to see through, is part of the explanation? It reminds me of comments to a walk-through snake exhibit at the nearby Randers Regnskov. Someone said that if it had been in his country, someone would rapidly get bitten (all non-venomous, but a 1.5 m python can still bite if someone foolishly touches it) or the snakes stolen. The legal culture may also be part of the difference. In USA, there would be people standing in line to sue when they had managed to get themself hurt. If you tried the "I grapped the snake, it bit me and now I want money" in a Scandinavian court the only thing you would get was a laugh. In terms of lawsuits, British courts are more or less in between the U.S. standard and the mainland European standard.
I can't say Yorkshire WP was high on the list of placed I wanted to visit (I've passed it on trips to The Deep Aquarium), but looking through the gallery and reading some of the threads on this forum I may have to change that.
YWP is an excellent collection and will be one of the top collections in the UK when the full master plan is in place. Enclosure wise, it has to be one of the best collections that give their animals so much space. The Leopard enclosure is rather large (Yet a little bare) and that is just the main enclosure, there are two smaller enclosures adjacent to that though.
When YWP first got their Lions, I chose to visit Chester over it, however the place has expanded nicely and quickly. On my last visit before my most recent one, Giant Anteaters, Polar Bears and Guinea Baboons weren't there. The collection itself is very nice indeed.
Placing a person on the handrail or climbing it results in exclusion from Scandinavian and there are always keepers at the exhibit. There are warnings about it too. I spoke to a keeper about this issue in 2013 and she said it hadn't been a problem. I don't know if this is a cultural thing or something else.
I suspect Sandinavian zoo visitors are better behaved than here in the UK(I have certainly noticed that in Holland & Germany). I think if this design (walkway over water) had been incorporated at Yorkshire, then they would have had to have the visitors enclosed in a mesh tunnel or something. I very much doubt the Polar Bears are bothered by overhead viewing when they are swimming. But for whatever reasons they don't have such bridges so its all rather hypothetical. Its still a very good enclosure.
In some ways, the YWP reminds me a little of what Marwell was like in its first couple of decades. Their error - or one of them - was to try to build faux naturalistic enclosures in a zoo hitherto filled with the functional. Hence the catastrophe of, for example, the gibbon enclosure. I hope YWP won't make the same mistake, and will instead carry on doing what it currently does, pretty well.
Yes, the plethora of fencing is somewhat reminiscent of early Marwell days. Yorkshire seems a pretty flat site too, with not a lot of Woodland, so fencing is always going to be prominent, at least unless a lot of tree planting is done. In respect to the excellent series of Polar Bear enclosures in particular, birch trees are already evident in the enclosure here and young pines surround parts of this whole exhibit too I believe, so in future it might look less open/stark(though of course Tundra is stark).
I think one difference between Marwell and YWP is the former developed almost exclusively for Ungulates and large Felines early on- YWP, in its short life, is already perhaps a rather more generalised collection. At Marwell, recognizing the need for some diversity, they then also started to 'fill in' with some smaller exhibits- some of which, such as the original Siamang 'prison' enclosure in particular, reflected the drastic lack of knowledge- or interest- there at the time, about the requirements for smaller species like Primates. And judging by the current 'modern' Siamang enclosure there, they still have a way to go....
