Bears in the UK or Ireland

S

section4

New Member
Hi, I am a first time poster here and have just joined the site.
I am based in dublin and am going to the UK soon for a few weeks.
I am intersted in all wildlife and nature but especially Bears, especaily North American bears, black bears, grizzly or kodiak and would appreciate it if anyone could tell me the best places to see bears in the
UK while I am there.

thanks
 
Hi, the only American bears in the UK are (I think) a pair of North American Black bears (Ursus americanus) at Woburn Safari Park. All Brown Bears in the UK are European (Ursus arctos arctos), so no grizzlies or kodiaks unfortunately (I think somewhere has a Russian Brown Bear, but not sure).

Other bears in the UK include:

Spectacled (Tremarctos ornatus) at Chester, Jersey and South Lakes.

Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus) at Whipsnade Zoo.

Sun Bear (Helarctos malayanus) at Edinburgh, Belfast and Rare Species Conservation Centre (though these are moving to Colchester quite soon, so don't know if they are on-show still).

Asiatic Black Bear (Ursus thibetanus) at (I think) Dudley zoo but not sure. There is one UK zoo that keeps them though.

Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) at the Highlands Wildlife Park in the Scottish Highlands. There is also a polar bear (as well as another bear species which escapes me) in a private collection [Heythrop], but don't know how you'd go about seeing that one (I think they have the occasional open day, but not sure).

Hope this helps :)
 
Whipsnade, I believe, is the only UK zoo with more than one bear species.
 
Heythrop is having an open day in September. So it depends when you are actually over here. The full list according to Zootierliste is:

American Black Bear - Woburn Safari Park

European Brown Bear - Whipsnade Wild Animal Park, Dartmoor Zoological Park, Blair Drummond Safari Park, Camperdown Wildlife Centre, Welsh Mountain Zoo

Polar Bear - Highland Wildlife Park, Heythrop Zoo

Spectacled Bear - Chester Zoo, Belfast Zoo, South Lakes Wild Animal Park, Durrel (Jersey) Zoo

Sri Lankan Sloth Bear - Whipsnade Wild Animal Park

Sun Bear - Belfast Zoo, Edinburgh Zoo, RSCC/Colchester Zoo

Syrian Brown Bear - Dartmoor Zoo ?:confused:?
 
The easiest holiday, would be to do Woburn Safari Park, Colchester Zoo and Whipsnade Wild Animal Park. These are all top quality UK zoos, and are all (sort of) in the same area. This way, you would see American Black Bear, European Brown Bear, Sri Lankan Sloth Bear and possibly Sun Bears.

If you were willing then to travel, you could also do Heythrop ((depend on when you are in the UK) to see Polar Bear, rather than travelling to Inverness) and maybe even Chester. Chester being the UK's top Zoo, and also having Spectacled Bear.!
 
Paix said:
Chester being the UK's top Zoo, and also having Spectacled Bear.!
Click to expand...

Possible a few zoo chatters may disagree there!!!!:p More to the point when are the sun bears coming to Colchester from the RSCC? I do know that they will be kept in 2 tempory enclosure near the entrance before a permanent exhibit is built for them.:)
 
Chester being the UK's top Zoo, and also having Spectacled Bear.![/QUOTE]

Thats a big statement :eek: ;)
 
I would say that Chester is the best zoo in Britain, but that is opinion (and something like 'best zoo' is always going to be opinion). Forbes [I think] lists it as the 6th best zoo in the world (the highest one from Britain), but another way of looking would be to check annual visitor numbers.

To bring this back on track, are Red Pandas a bear species or not? (I have a reference book that says they are bears, and a reference book that says they are in the raccoon family).
 
Javan Rhino said:
I would say that Chester is the best zoo in Britain, but that is opinion (and something like 'best zoo' is always going to be opinion). Forbes [I think] lists it as the 6th best zoo in the world (the highest one from Britain), but another way of looking would be to check annual visitor numbers.

To bring this back on track, are Red Pandas a bear species or not? (I have a reference book that says they are bears, and a reference book that says they are in the raccoon family).
Click to expand...

1) I would not rate Chester as the 6th best zoo in the world. I know alot of people wouldnt even rate Chester in the top 10/15. But, I do believe it is the top zoo in the UK. Just through visitor numbers, collection, animal care, enclosure design, conservation work etc. Although, this is too my opinion.

2) I thought they were in the Racoon family. They are not a Bear.
 
Red panda's are not a bear and are now often classed in their own little group - Ailurus (seperate to procyonids) to avoid confusion.
 
Paix said:
1) I would not rate Chester as the 6th best zoo in the world. I know alot of people wouldnt even rate Chester in the top 10/15. But, I do believe it is the top zoo in the UK. Just through visitor numbers, collection, animal care, enclosure design, conservation work etc. Although, this is too my opinion.

2) I thought they were in the Racoon family. They are not a Bear.
Click to expand...

Ahhh, the little description in the book says thus:

"Red panda: This species was once placed in the raccoon family because of a superficial resemblance, but genetic studies place it with the giant panda. It sleeps in trees by day and eats bamboo and fruit on the ground at night."

The book is "The encyclopedia of animals: A complete visual guide" and has the picture of a treefrog on the cover.

Ahh, maybe the book is outdated (I did buy it in a WHSmith's sale) (Copyright is 2008).
 
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Goretex said:
Possible a few zoo chatters may disagree there!!!!:p More to the point when are the sun bears coming to Colchester from the RSCC? I do know that they will be kept in 2 tempory enclosure near the entrance before a permanent exhibit is built for them.:)
Click to expand...

What's the story with Chesters Spectacled Bear then?
 
Handbook of the Mammals of the World Volume 1 (2009) lists the red panda as the sole member of the family Ailuridae, it was originally classified as a member of the raccoon family Procyonidae.
 
bongorob said:
Handbook of the Mammals of the World Volume 1 (2009) lists the red panda as the sole member of the family Ailuridae, it was originally classified as a member of the raccoon family Procyonidae.
Click to expand...

Ahh, I didn't think they were very bear like (other than they are supposedly related to Giant Pandas). I don't know where this book got its information from then.
 
foz said:
Thought I'd try and be useful and provide links to these similar threads for research purposes and to bring them to the attention to people who may not have seen them before:

http://www.zoochat.com/38/bear-breeding-uk-99750/

http://www.zoochat.com/38/bear-species-uk-zoos-145799/

http://www.zoochat.com/38/bear-situation-uk-9073/ - this one is porbably the most extensive and useful, (although a little out of date)
Click to expand...
I'm surprised no-one else had done this before you! The 'Bear Situation' thread is a good read (though as you say a little dated). It is funny to read back and see how appalled we were by the idea of wallabies replacing the sloth bears!
 
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