Enclosure for spectacled bear in Givskud Zoo

One of three enclosures for spectacled bear in Givskud Zoo. This is the largest enclosure of the three. The park has five bears; two brothers and a breeding pair with their cub. Normally, the brothers live together in one enclosure and the breeding pair with their cub in another.

There are so many GREAT Spectacled Bear exhibits in European zoos, from Duisburg to Frankfurt to Chester to Givskud to Zurich and many others. There's not as many above average exhibits for that species in North American zoos, with Nashville leading the pack, Saint Louis having a decent Andean Bear exhibit...and then too many junky enclosures. Here are 5 examples and all the following photos were taken by me.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (2014):



San Diego Zoo (2011) - lush but still a small grotto



Buffalo Zoo (2010) - thankfully demolished now



Tulsa Zoo (2010)



Toledo Zoo (2018)

It's worth noting that neither Cheyenne Mountain nor Tulsa have Spectacled Bears anymore.

Are san diego still in that enclosure?

@felis silvestris I believe so.

@Dhole dude shame, because it’s a pretty bad enclosure for an amazing zoo, although it’s better than those other grottos.

@felis silvestris I would say it’s not as lush and green these days as it used to be and is quite similar to the other grottos, unfortunately. The upside is there are a lot more logs and climbing opportunities for the bears. Nonetheless, many of us suspect the grottos will be the next renovation project done by the zoo considering they are probably the biggest weak spot in an otherwise wonderful zoo.