Polar bears (old exhibit) @ London zoo

Polar bears (old exhibit) @ London zoo
03-02-2007

This is a very old exhibit with very little room with ony a small pool, built in the late 1800s (I think)

27-04-2007

Hey, this takes me back... This is probably the pair Sam & Sally, who were the parents of the cub 'Pipaluk' Before them in the 1950's era was Ivy and Mischa, who bwecame parents of the world-famous 'Brumas' during London Zoo's heyday. London Zoo polar pairs probably bred every year but very few cubs survived. They bred at Whipsnade also but of course were never so well publicised as London's.

10-10-2008

I Hate It boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!

05-03-2009

This part of the zoo (The Mappin Terraces) was one of the main landmarks of London Zoo, originally it contained six bear grottos. It was completed in 1914, and interesting to mention that it was an improvement in comparison with the previous bear pit.

24-04-2009

Gosh ..... it's really weird to see this picture and have it confirm what has only been a hazy image in my mind's eye for over 30 years (thinking back to the early 70s).

It's interesting to compare this to pictures of the redeveloped mappin terraces. When I first saw those I couldn't work out how the desert mock-up had been done, but now seeing this and piecing together what went where 30+ years ago, I can see they got rid of the bear pits.

FWIW, I hated these pits even as a child ...... but then my parents often commented on the conditions the bears were kept in so I took my cue from them.

26-04-2009

What became of Pipaluk? I have a sketch of him and his mother, and I always wondered what became of them

06-05-2009

shipped off to another zoo- probably in Europe but I can't be sure of that. Maybe someone else knows? Polar Bear cubs, when zoos bred them, would soon outgrow their 'cuddlevalue' and by a year old would go on the 'surplus' lists.

4 Weeks Ago

I realise that this quite an old thread, but I have only just encountered it.

Checking through my old ZSL Annual Reports, I can confirm that Pipaluk was born on 1st December 1967. (Pipaluk’s parents were Sam and Sally; Sam was sent to Munich Zoo in 1975 and Sally died in 1975.)

In 1985 Pipaluk, and all the other bears then living on the Mappin Terraces, were sent to other zoos. The Annual Report covering that period does not state where Pipaluk went but, from memory, I think it was a zoo in Poland.