This new exciting exhibit sounds an awful lot like the Detroit Zoo's "Arctic Ring of Life" here in the USA. Detroit's is considered by many people (including my coauthor and I) to be the best polar bear exhibit in the world. So has anyone seen both (Detroit and Copenhagen)? I'm wondering how they compare. Toddy, you took me to see this exhibit when it was still under construction. Has it lived up to your expectations?
Well, due to an unfortunate camera malfunction I'm afraid that I have not pictures to post. I can give a short review though until I can post pictures: Overview The Arctic Ring is based around a journey through the Arctic. Visitors start at the the Arctic coast from where they look over the rocky land-part of the polar bear exhibit. The substrate varies from gravel, to small rocks to large rocks to dirt/grass and sporadic vegetation. The visitors overlook the exhibit from across a dry moat (which the polar bears can also use) or through various viewing windows. The next part of the journey takes the visitors into the Arctic sea. Through panorama windows and a 306 degrees tunnel through the water. The polar bears can go on both sides of the tunnel and on one side there as a viewing window through which visitors might be lucky to see a harbour seal (Phoca vitulina vitulina) swim by. All through The Arctic Ring there are signs, exhibitions and 1:1 models on polar bears and other Arctic wildlife. After the tunnel visitors enter the main building with loads of interactive education stations. Visitors can follow a polar bear for 24 hours, attempt to catch a seal when it looks through it's breathing hole or take the role of the seal, looking out for polar bears on the prowl, and much more. The centrepiece of the main building is the exhibit for North Atlantic birds made to look like a cliff side above the water on the Faroe Islands. In here visitors can observe Atlantic puffins (Fratercula arctica grabae), common guillemots (Uria aalge) and banded razorbills (Alca torda) both over and under water. The last part of The Arctic Ring gives the visitors a panoramic look over the Arctic coast before taking them up a ramp glowing with the Northern lights The journey ends with one last look over the coast from the opposite side of the entrance point. Review Animal perspective: While the polar bear exhibit is a definite improvement, I would define it as still a bit on the small side. The polar bear land area is 720 km2 and the water area 330 m2. The land area is surprisingly varied though and a lot of hidden enrichment has been designed into the exhibit. The pool is also very deep and the polar bears are showing a very high interest in the tunnel. Unfortunately, the exhibit cannot be divided in two so if the polar bears need to be separated one of them will temporarily go in the old exhibit. The bird and seal exhibits are likewise decently designed but a bit small. Visitor perspective: The visitor experience is generally good but it seems like the designers couldn't figure out whether to go with a naturalistic and architectural direction. Some places the exhibit is covered in mock rock and suddenly there is a blank concrete wall or even a window. The visitors can also see each other from across the exhibit. However the attention to design details in the visitor area is very high. Educational perspective: The education aspect of The Arctic Ring is where it really shines. The signage is generally very good and the interactive displays work really well. The building itself is surprisingly pleasant to look at and would work very well if this wasn't a zoo. If one likes architecture this is sure to be a hit! In short: The Arctic Ring is better than I thought it would be but it is not one of my favourite exhibits. Having only seen pictures of Detroit's exhibit I can't really compare but I doubt Copenhagen's is nearly as good.
Thanks, Toddy. Great review. It sounds like Copenhagen has a real winner here, but that Detroit maintains their title of world's best polar bear exhibit.
A bit late in the day on this one ,but ive seen both Detroit and Copenhagen Arctic Rings in the last year-Copenhagens is much better as far as im concerned..in fact I was a bit disappointed with Detroits (a lamp sticking off a cliff edge,a humped main exhibit means you cant see the bears too well sometimes,an empty exhibit to one side,interpretive stuff miles away from the Danish experience,etc etc.
I don't normally rank enclosures but I think Orsa Björnpark's polar bear enclosure in Sweden is incredible It's the world's biggest polar bear enclosure.
