00:00Polar bears are incredibly adaptive for an aquatic lifestyle.
00:13In fact, their paws are actually partially wet to help them swim.
00:17And these guys can swim across 30 to 60 miles of open ocean with really no problem.
00:22They spend so much time in the ocean that they're actually classified as a marine mammal.
00:26And their Latin name, Ursus maritimus, literally means sea bear.
00:31We give them live fish so that way they do have an opportunity to hunt.
00:44The bears responded greatly to the fish today.
00:46In fact, as soon as we let them out into their exhibit, the bears hit the water and they were out there fishing.
00:52So that's really cool because out in the wild, polar bears don't necessarily hunt live fish.
00:57So it's something that they have to identify and also they have to come up with ways to be able to hunt them in this pool setting.
01:03So each polar bear has their own technique when it comes to hunting fish here in their exhibit.
01:09Takik is our most playful bear here and that transitions over nicely to hunting.
01:14And she's got a pretty cool and pretty smart technique when it comes to catching these fish.
01:17She likes to corral them into the shallow end where they're a lot easier to catch.
01:22She'll also utilize the corners of the exhibit because she knows once she has them corralled into an area where they can't escape, it's much easier for her to catch them.
01:30And that's something that she's figured out completely on her own.
01:36Cashing or hiding your food is a very important part of being a bear because if you catch an animal but you can't eat it all, well, you don't want somebody else to steal your food.
01:46So the bears will actually go and utilize the snow to hide the fish after they catch them so that they can come back to them later.
01:56They're respy cubs that were orphaned out in the wild.
01:59So the fact that they can utilize these types of natural behaviors is incredibly important and stimulating.
02:05We're able to give them a number of different environmental resources.
02:09And some of these things are daily.
02:10For instance, this is one of the only places in San Diego where it snows every day.
02:14Our bears always have access to snow.
02:17And that's something that we're able to provide them here at the zoo.
02:19Also, the water.
02:21We keep their water temperature controlled.
02:23It's about 55 degrees throughout the year so that our bears remain comfortable.
02:27Also, a lot of different natural things such as substrates, plants, grasses.
02:32There are a lot of different things in this exhibit that are all meant to help them keep them psychologically stimulated and engage with their environment.
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