European Brown Bear Exhibit at Whipsnade 08/05/11

10-05-2011

I think for European, or certainly UK zoo-goers, a Bear enclosure like this one at Whipsnade is regarded as a highly natural/ great exhibit etc because overall we have no very grand exhibits such as outlined above in some of the USA Zoos. They are virtually nonexistent (except for Polar Bears) in our part of the world, probably because bears are not as emblamatic over here as in the states.

As you said, perception about how the Bears live comes into it too. European Bears don't normally fish rivers for salmon(except in places like the Russian Far East) and are more likely to be found rootling in woodlands or emerging to steal honey from farmers' hives in a meadow. So the Whipsnade exhibit, despite being simple and very old, still matches that vision. Also compared to many of the ghastly standardised concrete cells and pits that Brown Bears have often lived in, and still do, in many Europe zoos, it seems like a paradise. Of course even Whipsnade have been guilty of other 'bad' bear enclosures in the past- Spectacleds, Polars and Kodiaks.

10-05-2011

Great discussion all around! Maguari & Pertinax: you guys have solid points about the type of bear that we are talking about as grizzlies are indeed emblematic within Canada and the United States and are very common in zoos over here. In terms of other bears places like Cleveland and San Diego have 5-6 species on show at one time, and many other zoos have multiple bear species. Grizzlies are often depicted in nature programs, or even on hunting shows, scooping salmon out of the water and there is definitely an association of those bears in water. Thus there are 5 American zoos with underwater viewing for grizzlies, and 4 out of 5 of those exhibits were built since 2008 so perhaps the trend is just heating up?

@Toddy: it is interesting that you mentioned that 8 out of 16 European polar bear exhibits that you have visited have underwater viewing, as glancing through a list of North American zoos I found it difficult to find any that did not have underwater viewing for polar bears. Of the 35 zoos in North America that have polar bears perhaps only 5 do not have underwater viewing. It seems to be standard exhibitry to have those habitats with viewing windows that allow visitors to look into their underwater world.

10-05-2011

There are far more large-sized bear enclosures in continental Europe then Pertinaxs post suggests, even if many of them have been contructed with substancially smaller budgets then their counterparts in the USA (and thus with less artificial rocks/waterfalls/underwater viewing etc.).

If I look only at those in my thiny Czech rep., there are 5 bear zoo enclosures with over 1 acre. Most of them are between 2 and 3 acres. Interesting is, that 3 of those 5 ones were opened during last 2 years. That indicates that the trend on both sides of Atlantic is very similar.

10-05-2011

Sorry, Toddy, missed this first time round - think I was typing my post when you posted this!

Thanks for confirming I'm not going mad and underwater Brown Bear viewing is indeed rare on this side of the Pond - I always worry after I've posted something like that that I'm going to be presented with a whole list of places I've forgotten!

10-05-2011

In Europe as a whole it's still reasonably common for a zoo to have 2-3 bear species, though city zoos have tended to downsize.

In the UK, only Belfast (Sun and Spectacled) and Whipsnade (Sri Lankan Sloth and European Brown) have multiple bear species on show. Edinburgh theoretically will join the list soon if they do indeed get their Giant Pandas; they already have Sun Bears.

11-05-2011

I just realized that there are actually 6 American zoos with underwater viewing for grizzlies, and 5 out of 6 have been built in the last 3 years. For a long time Woodland Park in Seattle was alone in that category, and I think that it might have been the first zoo in the world to have underwater viewing for grizzlies. It is still arguably the best habitat out of the 6!

The zoos and the year that the exhibits were built:

Woodland Park (1994)
Minnesota (2008)
Columbus (2010) - Kodiak subspecies
Memphis (2010)
Brookfield (2010)
Louisville (2011) - grizzlies to be rotated with polar bears

11-05-2011

Not to be picky, but the Kodiak Bears and the Polar Bears are the only bears at the Columbus Zoo that have underwater viewing. The elderly female Grizzly Bear, the elderly male American Black Bear, and the Bornean Sun Bears do not have underwater viewing.

Anyways, the exhibit looks very nice for being so old. It reminds me a little of the exhibits for the elderly Grizzly and Black Bears at the Columbus Zoo. This exhibit just seems to be greener, and possibly larger, than the ones in Columbus.