00:09Polar bears are incredibly adapted for an aquatic lifestyle. In fact, their paws are
00:14actually partially wet to help them swim. And these guys can swim across 30 to 60
00:19miles of open ocean with really no problem. They spend so much time in the
00:23ocean that they're actually classified as a marine mammal. And their Latin name,
00:28Ursus maritimus, literally means sea bear. We give them live fish so that way they
00:33do have an opportunity to hunt.
00:44The bears responded greatly to the fish today. In fact, as soon as we let them out
00:49into their exhibit, the bears hit the water and they were out there fishing. So
00:53that's really cool because out in the wild, polar bears don't necessarily hunt
00:56live fish. So it's something that they have to identify and also they have to
01:01come up with ways to be able to hunt them in this pool setting. So each polar bear
01:05has 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
01:17these fish. She likes to corral them into the shallow end where they're a lot
01:21easier to catch. She'll also utilize the corners of the exhibit because she knows
01:25once she has them corralled into an area where they can't escape, it's much easier
01:29for her to catch them. And that's something that she's figured out completely on
01:33her own.
01:36Hashing or hiding your food is a very important part of being a bear because if
01:41you catch an animal but you can't eat it all, well, you don't want somebody else to
01:45steal your food. So the bears will actually go and utilize the snow to hide the fish after
01:51they catch them so that they can come back to them later.
01:56They're respy cubs that were orphaned out in the wild. So the fact that they can utilize
02:00these types of natural behaviors is incredibly important and stimulating.
02:05We're able to give them a number of different environmental resources. And some of these
02:09things are daily. For instance, this is one of the only places in San Diego where it snows
02:14every day. Our bears always have access to snow. And that's something that we're able
02:18to provide them here at the zoo. Also, the water. We keep their water temperature controlled.
02:23It's about 55 degrees throughout the year so that our bears remain comfortable. Also,
02:28a lot of different natural things such as substrates, plants, grasses. There are a lot of different
02:33things in this exhibit that are all meant to help them keep them psychologically stimulated
02:38and engage with their environment.
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