World Premiere in Orsa today

The World’s Largest Polar Bear Park Opens at Orsa Bear Park

Today is a great day, not only for all animal friends in Dalecarlia, Sweden and around the world, but also for all polar bears. Polar World is the largest polar bear park in the world, and is the first of its kind to have a breeding program for polar bears.
- Words are not enough in expressing how proud we are to finally be able to open the park. The idea was born in 2004, and now our first polar bear couple, Ewa and Wilbär, have a new home here. The international interest has been enormous, says Torbjörn Wallin, CEO at Orsa Grönklitt, which holds Polar World.

The 41 000 sq m eter polar bear park opens today to the public in Orsa Bear Park at Grönklitt resort in Orsa, Dalecarlia. The polar bear park offers large and deep swimming waters, separate artificial snow production, space for fishing, dens for hibernation, including exhibition halls, amphitheatre and information areas for visitors.
The polar bear is today classified as an endangered species due to diminishing areas of ice around the polar areas and worsening conditions for hunting seal. One goal for the park is to ensure that polar bears have a good genetic variation in case of rehabilitation or relocating polar bears in the wild in the future. Polar World is acting as a European breeding facility for polar bears, and is also a part of a new European preservation project focused on polar bears.
- We have been listening to experts from all over the world and made a list of how their dream park for polar bears would look like. That is how Polar World was born, says Torbjörn Wallin.

The Polar World Educational Centre on Polar Bears
The idea of Polar World is to spread knowledge about the polar bear and its conditions, in the same way as Orsa Bear Park does with other species today. Throughout the park efforts are focusing on information and education about the polar areas, polar bears and climate effects together with leading research experts from around the world. The facility offers both outdoor and indoor environments for this purpose. One example is the glass company Kosta Boda/Orrefors which has created realistic ice installations.

At the time of the opening of Polar World, two polar bears just moved in to the park; Ewa from Rotterdam Zoo and Wilbär from Stuttgart Zoo. Both of them have arrived to a colder climate zone with long winters and lots of snow and they will be the first polar bear couple in Polar World. The international interest has been enormous up to the opening date.
- People love animals, we knew that, but not in my wildest dreams could I predict the big interest, mostly from countries in Europe, says Torbjörn Wallin.

To download pictures and movies, enter the website www.orsagronklitt.se

For more information, please contact:
Torbjörn Wallin, CEO Orsa Grönklitt. +46 (0)70 649 12 89, torbjorn.wallin@orsagronklitt.se
Kenneth Ekvall, Zoologist Orsa Grönklitt, +46 (0)70 400 77 55

Wilbär and Ewa – two personalities

Polar Bears have, just like all others, completely unique personalities, regardless of if they are born in a animal park or on a glacier. In May, two new Polar bears moved into Polar World. We would like to introduce Wilbär and Ewa.

WILBÄR – a curious polar bear boy who likes to show off.

Wilbär was born on December 10, 2007 in Stuttgart (~1,5 years) and has been raised by his mother.
Weight: approx. 160 kg.

Willbär is a very self confident, playful and outgoing polar bear who likes to show off in front of an audience. He usually plays tricks on his audience and will dive under the water and in the next moment jump out to frighten people much to the audience’s joy. Wilbär was born as an only cub and raised by his mother Corinna.

His father, Anton, is a huge polar bear weighing approx. 600 kg. His mother, Corinna, weighs approx. 300 kg.

Willbär is developing a lot during the recent months and is becoming more and more independent. He is practising his hunting skills and is trying to conquer big blue barrels which are hanging in his habitat. He generally eats fish, meat and some vegetables.

Parents
Mother “Corinna” was born on December 20, 1989 at Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark.
Father “Anton” was born on December 22, 1989 at Karlsruhe Zoo in Germany.

 

EWA – a proud female polar bear who knows what she wants.

Ewa was raised by her mother and was born on November 26, 2005 at Ouwerhand Zoo, Rhenen, Holland (~3 years).

Ewa has a dominant character and a strong personality which she surely acquired through growing up together with brothers Henk and Jelle. She is a very curious and lively bear with large social competence. Eva loves fish liver oil. At Polar World she eats fish, meat, apples, carrots, bread and pellets.
She likes rolling in the greenery and running to the pond, jumping in for a swim.

Weight: approx. 160-180 kg.

Parents
Mother “Huggies” born in January, 1994, at Wrangels Isl. Vild.
Father “Viktor” born December 18, 1998 at Rostock Zoo, Russia.

For further questions, please contact:
Kenneth Ekvall, Park Zoologist Orsa Bear Park, +46 (0)70-400 77 55
 

The Polar Bear – An extreme carnivore threatened by ice loss.

Facts Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus)
Polar bears live the circumpolar north. Some zoologists place this species under the scientific name Thalarctos maritimus in a species of its own, but the animal is closely related to the brown bear.

Habitat Expansion Area
Polar bears can be found on ice floes in the Artic and on surrounding islands and land areas. Regions with a larger population of polar bears include northern Alaska, Canada’s artic islands, Geenland, Svalbard, Frans Josefs land, northern Siberia and Wrangels Island. The southern most population can be found by James Bay in Canada. A 14 000 yr old thigh bone from a polar bear was found in 1852 on Kullaberg, Skåne, which shows that polar bears existed in southern Sweden at the end of the Weichsel-ice age.

Appearance
The polar bear is one of the world’s largest carnivores and can measure between 2.40 to 3 meters tall. Adult males can weigh up to 725 kg and adult females up to 225 kg. The polar bear can be recognized by its white fur. The fur does not shed during the summer as with other animals, it stays thick and white. Each strain of hair is furthermore hollow in order to give optimal insulation against the cold, which can be a reason as to why the fur looks black when photographed with an ultraviolet light. UV light is apparently absorbed by the hollow hair strains. This effect can tend to give the fur a slightly yellow tint. The hair strains lead the light to the black skin and help the animal absorb as much heat as possible.

Way of Life
Polar bears gladly swim and can be seen swimming kilometres from land, however they prefer to move around and hunt on land and can, for example easily trap a human. The highest speeds reached on land can be up to 40 km/hour. They usually walk with a speed of roughly five kilometres/hour. The polar bear can be 20 to 30 years old and is often “left handed”, with the left side of their bodies as their main limbs.

Reproduction takes place around the month of April. The egg then rests in the female until October. In the event that there is a food shortage during the summer, the female’s body will reabsorb the egg which results in no births this year. The female has 2-3 cubs per litter. Cubs are born in January in the hollowed cave where the mother spends the winter.

Cubs weigh just 600 grams at birth. They are helpless and blind at birth. After about a month, their eyes open and a couple of weeks later they take their first steps. Up to March or April the cub can weigh between 10 and 15 kg. They are now big enough to leave the cave for the first time. During the coming 10 months they stay with their mother and learn how to hunt. It takes 3 to 4 years before they are mature.

Food
The polar bear is a carnivore. It means feed on seals, but is also known to feed on whales and walrus, bird’s egg, small animals and some plants. During the periods when food is abundant the polar bear feeds only on their preys skin and fat and leave the rest. Weaker polar bears or foxes that follow after live off of the meat. If there is a shortage of food the polar bear will feed on carcasses or even cubs. Mothers with cubs avoid other polar bears for this reason.
During the hunt, the polar bear waits often by a wake in the ice until a seal appears. When the polar bear catches the scent of a seal and a wake in the ice is not available, the polar bear jumps on the ice in order to break through using its own weight. With its white fur, the polar bear blends into its surroundings making it difficult for prey to see the polar bear. The only part that may draw attention is the black nose and the polar bear learn early on to cover it with its paw.
The polar bear absorbs an enormous amount of vitamin-A which is stored in the liver. Artic explorers have died of vitamin-A poisoning after eating a polar bears liver.

Polar Bears and Humans
The polar bear does not have any natural enemies in the wild. Until the middle of the 1900-century, the polar bear was hunted intensely. At that point in time the polar bear became endangered. In 1967, after pressure from scientists to the states that boarder the Arctic, an agreement was signed protecting the animal. Today, only Inuit’s have permission to hunt a decided number of polar bears. The population is now estimated to be between 25 000 to 40 000 individuals.

Endangered Species
Today the polar bear is threatened by global warming, the icy area around Hudson Bay in Canada is gradually shrinking, and the seal population is shrinking. In Russia there have been reports of cannibalism among starving polar bears. Polar bears were during spring 2006 again on the list of endangered species, a list that today holds over 5 000 species.

For questions about polar bears, please contact:
Kenneth Ekvall, Park Zoologist, Orsa Bear Park, +46 (0)70-400 77 55, kenneth.ekvall@big.su.se