What's a Polar Bear Doing in the Tropics? - Animal Concerns ...

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3.2.1 Adaptation to Arctic coldPolar bears are highly adapted to life in the Arctic with their fur, tough hideand blubber layer providing excellent insulation against the cold. 19 Polarbears are so well insulated that they give off no detectable heat. 20Physiological adaptationsFur and skinIn response to the cold environmentthey live in, a polar bear’s coatcovers the entire body except forthe footpads and the nose. 47 Thesoles of their paws are denselycovered with hair so that only theirtoe pads and sole calluses arenaked. 25 Polar bear fur is thick (640hairs/0.39 square inch) with tuftedguard hairs. 48 They have two layersof fur which serves as an additionalmeans of protection against thecold. The hollow, oily guard hairsare two to six inches long andprovide heat preservation while onland. 48 The fact that these guardhairs are hollow allows them to workas efficient solar collectors. 49 Thelong, clear guard hairs directultraviolet radiation towards theskin, which is black (a colour idealfor absorbing radiant heat), to soakup the energy of the sun moreefficiently. 47 The guard hairs change95% of the sun’s rays to heat. 48BlubberA thick layer of fat under the skincovers nearly all of a polar bear’sbody, including its head and theundersides of its paws. The blubberClimate experienced by wild bearsMost polar bears in the high Arcticlive permanently on the frozen ArcticOcean, following the edges of the seaice as it slowly extends southward. 22During the winter months in theArctic, polar bears may encountertemperatures of -57°C 22 whilst thewind chill factor may even causetemperatures to drop as low as-70°C 50 .Wild polar bears, once they areadults, only rarely seek refuge fromthese sub zero conditions (by buildingdens) due to their highly effectiveadaptations to life in the extremecold. Sleeping outside during Arcticgales, snow coats their fur and driftsover their bodies, but their thickcoats and layers of fat protect themfrom cold. 22The polar bears of Hudson Bay inCanada are the southernmostpopulation of polar bears in the worldand are forced to spend more time onland than their relatives in the HighArctic. Every year as the ice melts inHudson Bay, the entire population isforced to spend about four months onland, from July until November. 25 Thisis an unusual and stressful situationfor them. 49layer of a polar bear can be up to eleven centimetres thick. 19 On the bear’srump, this layer of fat may be up to twelve centimetres thick. Polar bearsalso have layers of fat up to four centimetres thick between their muscles,and particularly plump individuals may even have fat deposits up to threecentimetres thick around their internal organs. 25 As the fat is storedsubcutaneously, it serves as an excellent insulator. 47What’s a polar bear doing in the tropics?24www.acres.org.sg
Ears and tailsThe ears and tails of polar bears are shorter than those of other bears inorder to avoid heat loss. 47What’s a polar bear doing in the tropics?25www.acres.org.sg
Page 16 and 17: animal is diving. They also eat car
Page 18 and 19: individual’s own choices. This ab
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Page 24 and 25: Accommodation20 All animal accommod
Page 26 and 27: Table 3.1 Categories of behaviours
Page 28 and 29: TABLE 3.5 Lying flat behaviour prof
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Page 36 and 37: the pool area. However, theeffectiv
Page 38 and 39: 3.2.4 Algal growth in furInuka cove
Page 42 and 43: Table 4.1 Categories of behaviours
Page 44 and 45: TABLE 4.4 Activity pattern of Sheba
Page 46 and 47: TABLE 4.6 Abnormal behaviour profil
Page 48 and 49: 4.2.1 Prevalence of abnormal stereo
Page 50 and 51: to more space, a more complex, quie
Page 52 and 53: Guidelines and LegislationsGuidelin
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Page 58 and 59: SubstrateThe polar bear enclosure d
Page 60 and 61: In the 2004 report, Acresrecommende
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Page 66 and 67: 5.1.2 Problems in husbandryUse/acce
Page 68 and 69: At a workshop on the Behavioural Ne
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Page 74 and 75: 5.2.3 Condition of teeth 10Sheba ha
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Today there is just one polar bear
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What’s a polar bear doing in the
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Providing natural substrates in enc
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Stimulating olfactory and rubbing b
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What’s a polar bear doing in the
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Singapore Zoo states that they are
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22. Wood, D. 1995. Bears. Whitecap
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66. Baars, D. and Weegenaar, A. 199
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APPENDIX I: GUIDELINES FOR ENCLOSUR
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• For polar bears the ratio of wa
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APPENDIX IV: GUIDELINES FOR SUBSTRA
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APPENDIX VI: GUIDELINES FOR PRIVATE
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• Environmental enrichment should
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