San Diego Zoo live webcam

[Odie]

Originally Posted by Kathy Ellen

Hi Odie

Thanks so much for leaving little messages asking if I'm feeling better. I appreciate it so much. You're sooooooo sweet

I've been to San Diego zoo years ago and adored it. When I was in college I wanted to move to CA and work at this zoo or Sea World with the whales. I allowed my family to make me feel quilty about moving so far away It was always my dream to become an oceanographer.

But, it wouldn't have worked out anyway as the ocean affects my allergies. I don't care though...I'll swim et all and suffer the consequences. It's very moldy at the beach

So glad your feeling better as I know this was your first week back at work.

Our Toronto Zoo is gigantic, actually it takes more than a day to walk through it all..............just adore the animals.


would love to work with dolphins.

[spot]

Originally Posted by Odie

do you look up everything?

North Pole is where they live and they are endangered.

Here we are...

IUCN 2008 Red List - Ursus maritimus

That's the official listing body.

Look at their categories: on the red bar. Nine categories. One's labelled "Endangered"? Between Vulnerable and Critically Endangered? The polar bear's in the Vulnerable category. The text explains why.

Next, polar bear zoo environment suitability:

Polar bears typically experience more problems with confinement than most other animals. Captive polar bears are well known for exhibiting repetitive behavior such as pacing back and forth, particularly when housed in substandard, sensory-deprived exhibits. In fact, pacing is so widespread in captive polar bears that the Dutch verb "to pace" is to ijsberen or "to polar bear."

Polar Bears International - PBI-Supported Research

The rest is worth reading too.

[Odie]

There is so much you need to learn.



Where do polar bears live?
Polar bears range throughout the circumpolar north in areas where they can hunt seals at open leads. The five "polar bear nations" in which the bears are found include the U.S. (Alaska), Canada, Russia, Denmark (Greenland), and Norway. Polar bears do not live in the southern hemisphere.
Are polar bears endangered?
Scientists predict that, if current warming trends continue in the Arctic, two-thirds of the world's polar bears could disappear by 2050. At the most recent meeting of the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group (held in Seattle in 2005), the world's leading polar bear scientists reported that of the 19 subpopulations of polar bears, five were declining, five were stable, two were increasing, and seven had insufficient data to make a determination. The group reclassified the polar bear as vulnerable on the IUCN World Conservation Union's "Red List of Threatened Species," noting that the species could become extinct due to sea ice changes. Individual countries with polar bears have reclassified the species as well. Citing to concerns about shrinking sea ice habitat, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced on May 14, 2008, that it is listing the polar bear as a Threatened Species under the Endangered Species Act. Canada and Russia both list the polar bear as "a species of concern." The major threat to the polar bear is shrinking sea ice habitat due to climate change. Other threats include pollution, poaching, and industrial disturbances. Hunting could become a threat if populations are not well managed.