Photos

Took this at the Singapore Zoological Gardens.
I thought it was adorable watching these kids getting up close and personal with a polar bear.

------------------------------
The opening of the Polar Bear Viewing Exhibit in 1988 marked the beginning of a new concept in displaying aquatic animals. It is a great thrill for guests to be able to observe the seldom-seen underwater behaviour of the bears and to `rub noses' with them.

Polar bears are endangered creatures of the Arctic. They have a thick coat of hollow hairs and a thick layer of body fat to insulate themselves against the cold. So, how does a tropical zoo like ours keep our polar bears and bred a male cub in 1990, the first such birth in the tropics?

The answers lie in having a large, 3.5-metre deep pool to allow the polar bears to cool off, an air-conditioned den and a separate cubbing den for rearing cubs.

Our success with the polar bears can also be attributed to the provision of behavioural enrichment. Live fish are released so that the polar bears can go `fishing' as they would in the wild. Pieces of fruit and meat frozen in ice blocks are thrown in for the bears to toss and discover the goodies as the ice melts away, not forgetting toys such as traffic cones for the bears' amusement as well.

As a physiological reaction to the warm climate, our polar bears have a thinner coat and they moult more often than their counterparts in cold countries.

Source: www.zoo.com.sg