Highland Wildlife Park Confirmed!

Marwell Dalek said:
Exactly what I mean. There's been recent rumours of London wanting to get pandas again, so if these smaller species' were kept in the city the larger polar bears could be kept in the chilly Chiltern Downs, creating a drawcard for each ZSL zoo.
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yes, it has been said before that whipsnade has had sucsess with gentoos because the position of there enclosure, at the top of that windy hill, that would be the perfect place for polar bears
 
Cat-Man said:
yes, it has been said before that whipsnade has had sucsess with gentoos because the position of there enclosure, at the top of that windy hill, that would be the perfect place for polar bears
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What sucess i`ve never seen a Gentoo chick their in over 15 years of visiting the place at least once a year,i stand to be corrected if i`m wrong.Any way thats where the Polar Bears were kept when Whipsnade had them the old den is still their now being used by a colony of native bats as a roost.
 
zoogiraffe said:
What sucess i`ve never seen a Gentoo chick their in over 15 years of visiting the place at least once a year,i stand to be corrected if i`m wrong.Any way thats where the Polar Bears were kept when Whipsnade had them the old den is still their now being used by a colony of native bats as a roost.
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i think it was gentoos, i know it was a cold weather species. it was also the species that belfast gave up on because they bred in the summer and all the chicks died,
 
Cat-Man said:
yes, it has been said before that whipsnade has had sucsess with gentoos because the position of there enclosure, at the top of that windy hill, that would be the perfect place for polar bears
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Cat man i think you are mistaking the gentoos for the kings that were previously held, gentoos only joined the collection last year after the last of the kings went Rotterdam (i think).
The kings did breed in that enclosure, but not to the extent for a self sustaining population, and one of the major reasons for moving the kings out was the exposure of the enclosure to the harsh winds.
 
Marwell Dalek said:
Exactly what I mean. There's been recent rumours of London wanting to get pandas again, so if these smaller species' were kept in the city the larger polar bears could be kept in the chilly Chiltern Downs, creating a drawcard for each ZSL zoo.
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It isn't so much the minimum temperature of Whipsnade that is crucial, but the maximum. I'm not familiar enough with a good summer temperature (... if we can remember what that is like) on that exposed part of Whipsnade, but I would imagine that polars would suffer.
 
tetrapod said:
It isn't so much the minimum temperature of Whipsnade that is crucial, but the maximum. I'm not familiar enough with a good summer temperature (... if we can remember what that is like) on that exposed part of Whipsnade, but I would imagine that polars would suffer.
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when i went to whipsnade (2006) it was quite chille up by the american bison/penguins
 
It does get pretty hot in summer actually, but I'm sure if they were to build an enclosure for Polars it would have a lot of shade or a very large, cooled indoor enclosure or something.
 
ashley-h said:
It does get pretty hot in summer actually, but I'm sure if they were to build an enclosure for Polars it would have a lot of shade or a very large, cooled indoor enclosure or something.
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Time for a new thread here i think:p;)
 
took this video from flickr, and it looks as if Merecdes is showing some stereotypical behaviour, looks as the though a new enclosure is coming at the right time for her.

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She's always done that, and she paces along the back wall. Probably the most swimming she can do in that "pool" though.
 
i am a regular visitor to the zoo and I will not try to defend the enclosure as 'perfect'

As someone who has spent several hours watching Mercedes on any given day, the behaviours with regards walking along the back of her enclosure several times occurs in two most occasions:

1 - after leaving the pool soaking wet she tends to 'pace' along the same path several times

2 - after a long spell of lying in one position she tends to 'pace' along the same path several times

I am not an expert in animal behaviours but in my opinion this so called 'pacing' by Mercedes is used in one instance to dry off (much in the way humans use a towel or hairdryer) and in the second instance used to stretch after lying in the same position for a long time

for this reason i agree the enclosure at HWP will benefit Mercedes hugely as she will have a larger terrain to 'pace' following a swim or sleep and also keep her healthy (on a side note i dont think there is anywhere in world where Mercedes could keep her coat white!!! have you seen the colour she gets herself in to recently?
 
Chris79 said:
I just looked on the Scandinavian wildlife park website and their polar bear park is 26,000m2 (6.4 acres). RZSS press office need to do their homework better!

It's great news though. Kudos to the HWP for doing a deal with the army again, they're getting a lot of big exhibits in a short space of time thanks to this relationship. I wonder what the soldiers prefer - building fences in Kingussie or frontline action in Helmand province :eek:
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A Swedish wildlife park has opened a 10.5-acre (41,000 square-meter) enclosure as a breeding ground for polar bears.
Polar bears Ewa and Wilbaer became the first two residents Monday of Polar World at the Orsa Gronklitt park in central Sweden. They came from zoos in Rotterdam and Stuttgart, respectively.
Chief executive Torbjorn Wallin says he hopes they will mate and increase the park's population.

He says there is room for up to 15 bears in the park, which also plans to breed polar bears for other European zoos.
 
Oh yay, Born Free will be happy!
 
Of course Will Travers conveniently ignores the fact that future Highland Wildlife Park polar bears will most probably come from other zoos with less impressive and less polar bear-friendly exhibits rather than being plucked off the nearest iceberg.
 
Quoted from Born Free's article:

If it wants to improve the welfare of captive animals, why not use the new enclosure to provide a home for some of the multitude of other bears in appalling captive conditions across Europe? Importing polar bears from the wild will not help conservation, and keeping captive wildlife will not halt climate change.
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That's what they would do!
 
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