Well, I just don't know what to say about this. I shake my had and chuckle is what I do.
So, the Zoo posted to their Facebook page, "Join us this weekend at 10:30 to see our polar bears enjoy a cooling mist in the summer sun."
For one, "Polar Bears" (plural) is a bend of truth as this Mist function only appears to be hooked up in Ulu's Grotto, and as far as I know, they are not rotating the Polars, even though they should.
Not sure who thought of this, but another thing that ranks up there with the dirt piled in mounds. Sure it appears good in theory, an added enrichment, but it doesn't function in any way that looks usable as intended or appealing. In fact I watched Ulu for some time and she never went near it, in fact at one point just looked at it and yes, appeared to laugh.
As you can see the light "mist" is carried away into the air above. There wasn't even any wind, so this is useless, other than to water the Eucalyptus Trees above and the grass growing on Mt Ulu <clap!>, there is no fun going on here. Putting it that high was never going to have any effect on the Bears. Maybe moving it lower, even over the shelf bed area would have created a "cool room".
The manual spray into the pool like what they do with Pike is more fun for them.
If they wanted to add something "cool" for them, one of these options would have been better.
rain/water curtain
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ground spouts
shaking my head and laughing. Couldn't even find the spray in the pics until I looked for quite a while.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous - (Joanne) Thank you for your comment.
DeleteThe idea, in theory is one I thought might work but it appears to just send the water mist up to the heavens. I love the water curtin idea and the water can be pump recycled so its not water wasting as the mist is. I know they probably don't want to put the misters lower because the bears might pull on them, etc. and we always worry for safety. As in anonymous's comment, I didnt spot the spray either. If the keepers would just make a point of daily water spraying each bear and rotating them, that would be sufficient. The water misters don't appear to be of any use, the water is wasted, and there's more money thrown away that could be spent on enrichments and upgrades. Ulu doesnt appear to be interested because the water isnt even touching her. Pike's loving that spray from the hose.
ReplyDelete@Lee- Thank you for your comment. ... Until we were there this past Monday I didn't even know you had this thought as well. Yes, in theory it seems like a decent try idea, the issue is the height of it. Admittedly when I wrote that it would need to be lower (suggesting the shelf area), I did wonder if that would make it too reachable. There might be a way to secure it, it does only carry water. Aren't some of the electric wires within reach?
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