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

interesting. At no time were the bears seen to be foraging for food and thefloor of the enclosure was always clean suggesting the absence of anyscatter feeding and indicating that food is not available adlib. No feedingenrichment devices were apparent in the outdoor enclosure.The token feedings occur at the same time each day. During the studyperiod, the food provided consisted of small, uniform chunks of meat, ordead fish, always of approximately the same size. The items fed to the bearsduring the token feedings were usually eaten within a few seconds. Live fishwere also thrown into the pool for the bears (usually Inuka) to catch. Thebears often did not even try to catch the fish, indicating that the noveltyvalue of this practice has already worn off. Research has proven thatfeedings, performances or shows that take place at exactly the same timeevery day lead to the development of stereotypic behaviour. 10 While thefeeding of live fish may be considered as enrichment by the zoo, the factthat it is provided at the same time each day means that it has become aroutine for the bears, rather than an enrichment.What’s a polar bear doing in the tropics?66www.acres.org.sg