White Christmas for Australian polar bears

Sea World, a zoo and marine park on the coast south of Brisbane, has decided to add snow to the landscape of its polar bear enclosure.

" The snow will give the bears new stimuli "
Trevor Long, Sea World director of marine sciences

The aim is to "enhance the bears' day-to-day physical and mental activity", according to the zoo's website.

Sea World's four polar bears - Kanook, Ping Ping, Lia and Lutik - already enjoy a variety of environmental features in their enclosure. There are even wind generation fans designed to entertain the bears with a wide range of interesting and stimulating smells.

Variety

Polar bears kept in zoos are believed to need a varied and challenging environment to avoid behavioural problems.

"The snow environment will give the bears new stimuli," said Trevor Long, director of marine sciences at Sea World.

The zoo expects to need about 50-70 cubic metres of manufactured snow every day to maintain the winter attraction, which will run from Boxing Day (26 December) to 27 January.

The change in environment will not come as a complete surprise to the bears, as trials with the snow were carried out earlier this month.

Polar bear supervisor Kerrie Haynes-Lovell said that the young bears, Lia and Lutik, in particular seemed to revel in the snow, which gave them a totally different stimulus from what they had been offered before.

"To date, the young bears, haven't experienced anything like the texture and feel of snow on this scale and the enrichment benefits to the bears are evidenced in their highly animated behaviour," she said.

Polar bears are uniquely adapted to the extreme cold of their natural habitat in the Arctic. A fat layer of blubber and two layers of fur protect their bodies from heat loss.

But the zoo says that all its bears have had no problem adapting to Australia's tropical climate. The snow is being added for the sake of variety and to provide an interesting contrast to their daily surroundings.

"It's the same with humans - if you are constantly offered choices and faced with new and interesting things you are ultimately going to be a much more enriched and happy person," Ms Haynes-Lovell said.

Photographs reproduced with the kind permission of Sea World