When this exhibit first opened, it had grass covering the ground and looked quite nice. The bears demolished all of it in a very short time and ever since it has looked rather ugly.
Yes I am sure and I thought it was strange too that once it was gone it was solid concrete. I guess they built a concrete foundation and covered it with a layer of dirt and grass.
I've heard that all-cement grottoes are tough on the joints of bears, especially when they reach old age and sometimes get arthritis. Other than causing problems with water filtration in pools I have no idea why zoos with bear grottoes don't dump a layer of dirt in the exhibits, or pile it in a corner and bury treats for the bruins.
They had problems with the male sun bear they got from Woodland Park zoo in getting accustomed to the exhibit. Haven't heard anything from that in awhile, but they haven't had cubs in awhile.
Yes I am sure and I thought it was strange too that once it was gone it was solid concrete. I guess they built a concrete foundation and covered it with a layer of dirt and grass.
Originally it had large areas of soil as "planting pockets" in the concrete work. As is often the case, the pressure to open the exhibit meant that plantings were not given sufficient time to become established. In fact, they only had time to try to establish grass by placing layers of sod on the soil areas, just prior to giving the bears access. On day one the bears simply rolled up the sod and deposited it into the moats and pools. Concrete was added to "seal" the soil areas (why I don't know--bare soil would have been better than 100% "grotto rock.")
While on my last "Sunrise Stroll" the educator told us that the sloth bear, Ken, was moving to another zoo to breed. The plan is to move the sun bears into his old exhibit. I don't know when this is going to happen.
