Sun bear exhibit

This is not the sun bear "exhibit"at the Berlin Animal park, its at the Oakland Zoo,California, and not the whole exhibit is shown on that picture.

Which one is better, this or the cage at the Berlin animal park ? The Berlin Animal Park has a good collection, no question,but not only one exhibit, which is really good, not one ! A few nice ones, yes, but that\'s it.

I've been saying all along that the Berlin Tierpark lacks many high quality exhibits, but some people just love seeing the extraordinary collection and don't really care about the animals as long as the basic necessities are met. The Oakland Zoo's sun bear exhibit is probably the largest and most naturalistic of its kind, and it is a proven fact that zoo visitors have a higher appreciation of animals in spacious, lush surroundings in comparison to cement cages.

@snowleoaprd. That's exactly the point. Its more important for many zoo freinds to see an extraordinary collection than to animals in very good conditions. But this means to keep less animals, but both Berlin zoos are under the care of an animal collector.

Oakland is a small zoo with a small collection, and of course they have, as like as every other zoo, exhibits which could be better, but he has some excellent exhibits, so for elephants, sun bears, siamangs, merkats....

This zoo is much better than the Zoo in San Francisco.

If I'm not mistaking, this exhibit was featured in "The Ultimate Zoo" in animal planet.

A big enclosure yes, but the sun bear is a largely arboreal species of bear, whose habitat is the dense rainforest, and this enclosure by the looks of it is very open and provides one climbing structure.
Size is one thing, but how you use it is another!

kiang said:

A big enclosure yes, but the sun bear is a largely arboreal species of bear, whose habitat is the dense rainforest, and this enclosure by the looks of it is very open and provides one climbing structure.
Size is one thing, but how you use it is another!

Click to expand...

The exhibit actually has about 3-4 large climbing structures (like the one shown in the photo) and a big enrichment tree that provides snacks (bugs, bear chow, fruit chunks, and honey) for the bears throughout the day. There is also a lot more trees/shade to the left of the photo.

Another great Sun Bear exhibit is at the Honolulu Zoo, which allows their bears to climb huge live trees (Sun Bear Enrichment). The exhibit is also huge compared to many across the world, but I'm not sure if it's bigger than the one in Oakland. The only problem is that the viewing area is horrible.

mstickmanp said:

The only problem is that the viewing area is horrible.

Click to expand...

Very true. I do belive though that the reward of actually seeing a animal in such an enclosure is far greater.