Cincinnati Zoo - American black bear grotto

July 2008. What you see is what you get, which is an awful, ancient, concrete pit.

wow, these look dated!

The Cincinnati Zoo is full of dated enclosures, but their sumatran rhino paddock, Insect World and Jungle Trails habitats are all outstanding. The bear grottoes are so common in North American zoos that I am thrilled to see those animals in anything that isn't all concrete!

I think here in the UK, all our bear grotto style exhibits are gone, but as a consequence there are lots of zoos that don't exhibit bears at all. Some zoos, like Chester, have just recently gone back into them.

In the US, have you seen many new bear exhibits that are just concrete? It seems some newer exhibits have used a similar style, albeit more realistically. I think I've seen this in your photos actually, I think it was sun bears at the Columbus zoo.

All true. But historically: this was designed by the Hagenbeck's and carefully located in a north-facing hill to provide a cool environment for the bears. Nearby, one will see the remains of the original 1876 bear cages. So, out-dated today, yet state-of-the-art at the time.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when zoos persist in maintaining outdated bear grottoes while improving the rest of the zoo. Cincinnati, and many others, have spent millions upon millions on new exhibits...yet almost 100 years later the bears have the identical enclosure that they've born and died in all their lives. Bears require enrichment and natural substrate, and so all the zoos that have grottoes should put something smaller in them and renovate the pits so that they appear much more natural. Raccoons, coatimundis, porcupines, etc.

That's why there is a huge peak in new bear exhibits being built or designed

The remains are now gone. They expanded the polar bear exhibit out through them. I remember when they kept lemurs in the area you're talking about.

Is that true?!?!?!
When I last saw the expanded Polar Bear exhibit, it had connected two Hagenbeck grottoes, but the lemur/bear pit structures were still there, opposite Jungle Trails entrance. I cannot believe that the zoo would demolish them.

Aren't the current bear grottoes the original Hagenbeck enclosures? Across from the excellent Jungle Trails set of habitats are four ancient bear grottoes that are now basically three bear grottoes. American black bear in the first one, spectacled bear in the second, and then two grottoes have been combined to create the "Lords of the Arctic" polar bear enclosure, which in my mind is just two crappy pits added together.