The Bears are Back in Town

Alaskan Brown Bears and Polar Bears return to the Columbus Zoo in the new Polar Frontier exhibit

By Beverly Mullet Randall,
Animal Tracks

Bears have returned to the Columbus Zoo in the Polar Frontier exhibit and they are a lot of fun to watch. There are two Alaskan Brown bears, Brutus and Buckeye, and twin Polar Bears, Aurora and Anana, in the exhibit that opened in May. Brutus and Buckeye were orphaned in 2004 outside Anchorage, Alaska and stayed at the Alaska Zoo until they could be brought to Columbus.

Brutus and Buckeye

They're huge and they're strong as you can see from some of their handiwork when they decided to tear off the metal strips covering the joints between the glass window pieces.

The Bears' Habitat
An exhibit sign says busy bears are happy bears and their habitat includes several bear-friendly features:

• sand and mulch pits for digging
• log over waterfall with holes for browsing
• Two "sniff ports" for the bears to smell you
• Boulders and fallen trees for playing
• Live fish in pool
• 42,000 gallon pool heated in winter and cooled in summer
• 2.5" glass to keep bears and people from mingling.

The Columbus Zoo is also reducing its carbon footprint with this exhibit:

• The new geothermal unit provides energy to run the Zoo's heating, cooling, and water filtration system in the Polar Frontier which will reduce its use of fossil fuels.


• They planted over 700 trees and shrubs which will absorb carbon dioxide.

Bear Facts
As the sign says, even though they're in the same exhibit, there are a number of differences between the two types of bears. The Brown Bear's habitat is the far northern coasts, mountains, grasslands, and tundra, ranging from Asia, Europe, and North America, giving it the largest range of any bear. The Polar Bear's habitat is the pack ice of the Arctic Ocean, and the coastlines in summer. They may be moving inland. One of their habitat adaptations is a streamlined body for swimming. They range from Canada, the USA, Norway, Russia, and Greenland with more than 50% living in Canada. The Brown Bear's food consists of a bit of everything with 50% being vegetation and 50% 'meat' from grubs to salmon to moose. They can weigh up to 1000 pounds. The Polar Bear's food consists of ringed seals' blubber, almost exclusively. "Ice is the key. No ice, no food." They can weigh up to 1500 pounds but may be getting smaller. The Brown Bear population is suffering from regional declines in population while the Polar Bear population is threatened. Both bears are usually loners. Brown Bears gather at major food sources and Polar Bears usually gather in autumn, waiting for ice to form. Both mail and female Brown Bears hibernate for eight months in the winter, while only the pregnant, female Polar Bears hibernate. The number of Polar Bear cubs born may also be in decline.

These pictures and quotes are part of the Columbus Zoo's Polar Exhibit...

Glaciers Then and Now
A Visual Record of Receding Ice


Glaciers are sensitive to changes in temperature and precipitation associated with climate change. Since 2006, the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado has updated old images included in the Glacier Photograph Collection. These repeat photographes of the same glaciers taken from the same vantage point and at the same time of year indicate the extent of glacier/ice retreat. Note the years indicated on each pair of glacier photographs. NSIDC/WDC for Glaciology, Boulder, Compiler 2002. Updated 2009. Glacier Photograph Collection, Boulder, Colorado, USA.

What Can We Do

The sign says:

...Rediscover the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in...
Rachel Carson

"Never silent in the face of destructive trends, Rachel Carson fed a spring of awareness across America and beyond. A biologist with a gentle, clear voice she welcomed here audiences to her love of nature. With an equal determination she warned us of the dangers we pose to nature. Always concerned, always eloquent a tide of environmental consciousness that has not ebbed."


Some personal thoughts on environmental efforts:

The picture of Rachel Carson is at the Columbus Zoo's aviary and the Margaret Mead quote is in the Polar Exhibit. Rachel Carson is credited by many as the leader of the environmental movement. She started out as a Staff Biologist and later Chief Editor in 1949 with the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries which later became the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

In 1951 she wrote The Sea Around Us, a well-researched book about the ecology of our seas and oceans. It was on the New York Times Bestseller List for 86 weeks. In 1955, she wrote The Edge of the Sea which was on the New York Times Bestseller List for 20 weeks.

She is most know for her book, Silent Spring, published in 1962. Silent Spring documented the toxic long-term effects of pesticides and herbicides, especially DDT, on birds, other wildlife, and man--information she gathered during four years of extensive research. The Silent Spring was the term she used to describe what would eventually result from continued use of pesticides as song birds and other living creatures disappeared from our backyards and landscapes and the coming of Spring was silent as a result.

This book was extremely controversial, raising the ire of the agricultural chemical producers in particular who dubbed the book as "bland," "hysterical," and "sinister." In spite of attacks and efforts to discredit her on a personal and professional level, she stood her ground with the result being that the detrimental effects on the enviornment from pesticide and herbicide use became an issue of intense public, citizan, and consumer concern.

Once the issue was on the "public agenda," polical entities were required to take some kind of action in response to public outcry. After reading Silent Spring, President John F. Kennedy initiated a presidential advisory committee and the U.S. Senate soon opened an investigation of pesticide research.

"The President's Science Advisory Committee issued a report in 1963 largely backing Carson's scientific claims. By 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established as a cabinet-level position and, in 1972, DDT use was banned."1 The EPA was created during President Richard Nixon's administration through an executive order.2

Rachel Carson died of cancer in 1964, before she could fully witness the benefits of her book that raised the public's awareness and launched the environmental movement in the U.S. in the face of controversy, intense lobbying, and personal attacks designed to silence her and the public's concerns. Since the banning of DDT, many endangered species, including the Bald Eagle, have returned, clearly demonstrating the impact a group of concerned citizens or even an individual can have on environmental public policy.

Sources:

1. About.com: Womens' History, Rachel Carson, By Jone Johnson Lewis, About.com Guide, http://womenshistory.about.com/od/carsonrachel/p/rachel_carson.htm

2. Wikipedia: United States Environmental Protection Agency, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Environmental_Protection_Agency