The maternity den's been brought up a lot, and I've seen the bears be rotated between the yards. (Which can be kind of surprising if unexpected.) I think that bit's an improvement over the old grottos. I thought I swore I'd heard there was a larger off-exhibit holding area or something to that extent but my memory's hazy on the build-up. The only part of GBW I was enthused for as a regular Brookfield Zoo resident was the glass windows
Upon my last visit to Brookfield, which was a year or so ago I believe, they were talking about what to do with the polar bears after Anana goes back to her old zoo, and there was serious discussion of getting at least one additional female polar bear.
(Do LPZ and Brookfield both have a polar bear named Anana?)
The maternity den's been brought up a lot, and I've seen the bears be rotated between the yards. (Which can be kind of surprising if unexpected.) I think that bit's an improvement over the old grottos. I thought I swore I'd heard there was a larger off-exhibit holding area or something to that extent but my memory's hazy on the build-up. The only part of GBW I was enthused for as a regular Brookfield Zoo resident was the glass windows
Upon my last visit to Brookfield, which was a year or so ago I believe, they were talking about what to do with the polar bears after Anana goes back to her old zoo, and there was serious discussion of getting at least one additional female polar bear.
(Do LPZ and Brookfield both have a polar bear named Anana?)
The off-exhibit bear yards are not nearly as big as the three public yards, although the quarantine yard (the private enclosure behind yard 3 with the waterfall) is a decent size. There is also a small outdoor exhibit referred to keepers as the "Dig Yard" which is an area full of grass. Last I heard when I saw the bear area behind the scenes in October 2012, they were not planning on actually letting the bears into that enclosure. Anana had not experienced grass before arriving at Brookfield Zoo, and from one of the keepers, it sounds like she did not touch grass for the first time until making her public debut into one of the public yards.
Yes, Brookfield Zoo and Lincoln Park Zoo both have female polar bears named Anana. I am curious as to which female polar bear may end up moving to Brookfield in the future. Lincoln Park's Anana is about the same age as Brookfield's Anana and is not related to Hudson, but the plan right now is to return Lincoln Park's Anana to Lincoln Park Zoo once they are done constructing the new polar bear exhibit.
