September visit to Yorkshire Wildlife Park

13.10.2022 by Ralph Morton

Knutis Magazine has brought you Sheila and Philip Baker”s lovely photographs of the polar bears in Yorkshire. My last visit to YWP was in mid September. I would like to share some notes and impressions from Project Polars 1 and 2.

The most significant development since August when I last visited has been in Project Polar 1. Hamish and Luka now live together in the third enclosure and the quarantine enclosure. As the two biggest males they spend a lot of time keeping to themselves.

They love playfighting in the water and are very evenly matched. Luka has experience and size and so matches Hamish’s boundless energy.

The other big development is that Indy and Yuma, Flocke’s two boys now share the first two enclosures with Nobby and Sisu. There is so much space for all of them.

A toy that got a lot of attention was a purple plastic bath tub.

The arrangement of cage tunnels that links the enclosures and dens while keeping bears and humans apart is a key feature of Project Polar 1. Polars are fast learners and make good use of them.

Unfortunately human visitors assume that when the bears rest in the cage tunnels that they have been locked up. A notice tries to explain what is happening.

Flocke and her daughter Tala share the enclosure and den now called Project Polar 2. They are hard to photograph as they are either playing in the lake at the back of the enclosure or resting in the steel den.

On my second morning I arrived to find them in the sun by the wire fence. Flocke was sitting.

Tala was snoozing in front of her mum. I spent half an hour before other visitors arrived. Mother and daughter have very different routines. Flocke likes to explore the enclosure for food. Tala has very complicated exercise routines unique to her.

Rasputin has passed his size on to his boys. In this photo Nobby stands behind one of the cubs. They are nearly the same size despite the size difference.

Nobby is easily the cleverest bear in PP1 and knows that the cubs can be pushed into the water so that he can have peace and quiet.

Polar Bear tail stumps contain a small bone and can raise as these two photos show. Unusually Nobby decided to pass water on one of the paths rather than in a corner. Polars are careful about such things.

I hope you have enjoyed this short summary of September with the YWP Polar Bears. The mating season will begin soon and it will be interesting to see how this effects the relationships.

This car sticker badge is so true!