We visited the Detroit Zoo the other day thinking
we’d see the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year show and take a peek at a
few of our favorite exhibits like the Arctic Ring of Life habitat on the way to
the aviary and butterfly house with our cameras.
We’ve visited Detroit’s Arctic Ring of Life many
times—always with the hope of catching a glimpse of one of the polar bears as
they swam overhead while we walked the exhibit’s clear, underwater tunnel leading
though the 300,000-gallon aquatic environment.
We experienced a real treat during our last visit.
The underwater tunnel is usually crowded during
warmer months, but winter months mean fewer visitors and a chance to linger a
bit longer at popular exhibits.
We lingered in the tunnel and started snapping a few
photos as a lone bear appeared in view.
But this day, instead of a catching a fleeting
glimpse of a passing bear, we had chances to take plenty of photos as the bear decided
to stick around.
The Arctic Ring of Life’s underwater environment is
home to seals, as well as polar bears, with both populations separated by a
partition that prevents the polar bears from preying upon the seals.
This day, we watched with rapt attention as our
equally enthralled polar pal peered at the seals through the clear partition—looking
as if she was watching a particularly engrossing program on a really large
screen television!
The seal show held the bear’s attention for quite a
while, but her attention eventually waned after repeated attempts to join the
seals on the other side of the partition.
Just then, a polar playmate appeared for our lonely
bear.
The two bears engaged in a wary ballet as they
circled each other before engaging in a bit of spirited roughhousing.
By this time, I was grateful that I had a
large-capacity memory card in my digital camera as I snapped shot after shot of
the playful bears.
One of the zoo docents appeared in the tunnel to
tell us a little about the bears and this relatively rare show of extended
playfulness.
The first bear we saw, the cub so enthralled by the
seals, was a 600-pound 4-year-old named Talini. Talini’s mother, Barle, came to
the Detroit Zoo in 2002 after rescue from a circus where she constantly lived
in tropical temperatures without access to a place to swim or roam. Barle gave
birth to her cub in 2004. The cub became Talini after a zoo-sponsored contest
to name her.
Talini’s playmate the day we saw her was one of the
two visiting bears from the Como Zoo in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Como Zoo
bears, 12-year-old twins Neil and Buzz (named for Apollo 11 astronauts Neil
Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin), arrived in Detroit for a two-year stay in May 2008.
The twins quickly acclimated to their new temporary
home in the Motor City as work continued at Como Zoo on a new home habitat for
them. Plans for the new polar environment in Minnesota call for a dramatic
increase in space for the bears with plenty to room to swim, forage and fish.
Our docent wasn’t entirely sure which of the twins
was playing with Talini that day, but said that the cub enjoyed playing with
the older bears. She wasn’t afraid of roughhousing with them, playing with them
much she might with older brothers.
Our docent also explained that once Talini’s new
pals return home to Como Zoo in 2010, she may be mature enough for the Detroit
Zoo to seek an appropriately aged mate for her. Perhaps that means there are
more polar bear visitors in the Detroit Zoo’s future.
The bears’ play session came to an end, and we
reluctantly left the exhibit.
We’d fortunately gone to the BBC photo exhibit first as we’ve seen it in past years and knew it was not to be missed, but we never made it to the aviary or butterfly house that day. That just leaves us with yet another excuse to visit the Detroit Zoo very soon.
Check out tomorrow's Photo Friday for more photos from this visit with the polar bears at the zoo.
Related
stories
Photo Friday-winter at the zoo
BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibit at the
Detroit Zoo
© Dominique King 2009
This is my favorite exhibit at the Detroit Zoo. I'm planning a visiting the Detroit Zoo in the winter post and will link to this -- though I'm afraid my photos aren't quite this good!
Posted by: Brandon | March 05, 2009 at 03:14 PM
Brandon-
I was particularly happy with my photos that day, although I shot -many- pictures to get enough decent shots to suit me.
I'm posting a few more of my polar bear pix tomorrow as part of a Photo Friday blog carnival.
I've got Urbane in my reader, so I'll be sure to read your story. Looking forward to it!
Posted by: Dominique | March 05, 2009 at 07:21 PM
Oh, those photos are amazing.
This post reminded me of a documentary on a polar bear that I saw a few months ago. They followed one bear over the summer in Antarctica as it tried to survive where the ice is melting. It was very sad and very fascinating all at once.
Posted by: gypsyscarlett | March 09, 2009 at 02:10 PM
Gypsy-
I've seen clips of the polar bears struggling to survive in the Antarctica over summer.
Polar bears don't do well in temps that are too warm. Talini's mother, Barle, was in pretty rough shape by the time the circus she was with rolled into Puerto Rico. It was then that she could be rescued because PR was she was then under US jurisdiction. And she eventually ended up coming to the Detroit Zoo. The docent told us it was a real success story when Barle succeeded in becoming a mother and nurturing her cub.
Posted by: Dominique | March 11, 2009 at 08:23 AM