(WHTM) — Polar bears are extremely well adapted to their hostile environment.
Under their translucent fur (it appears white because of a lack of pigment) and black skin (which helps them absorb UV light to stay warm) is a thick layer of fat that helps them stay warm and can be drawn on when hunting is bad.
Their ears and tails are small in comparison to other bears, which helps limit heat loss. Their wide paws allow them to walk on thin ice and help make them powerful swimmers when the ice breaks anyway. (They can swim for days at a time.)
Their primary diet is the seal, which has thick blubber layers, which make for an incredibly fatty diet. The polar bear’s ability to survive on this without developing heart disease may be one of their most amazing adaptations (Part of this adaptation is a liver that can store so much vitamin A that it would be toxic to humans.)
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Yes, polar bears are very well adapted to the environment that was. In the environment that is, they’re in a lot of trouble. Unregulated hunting thinned their ranks; thankfully there are international treaties that regulate hunting but doesn’t stop it.
In this photo taken Dec. 8. 2011, the polar bear cub Siku is seen at Skandinavisk Dyrepark in Djursland, Denmark. A Danish zoo says a month-old polar bear cub has been taken into care since its mother failed to produce enough milk to feed him. Scandinavian Wildlife Park manager Frank Vigh-Larsen says Siku, now weighing 112 ounces (3,200 grams)_ against 49 ounces (1,800 grams) at birth _ was doing “really fine.” (AP Photo/POLFOTO, Skandinavisk Dyrepark) DENMARK OUT 
A female polar bear baby sits with its mother Tonja through their enclosure at the Tierpark zoo in Berlin, Friday, March 15, 2019. The still unnamed bear, born Dec. 1, 2018 at the Tierpark, is presented to the public for the first time. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber) 
A polar bear walks over sea ice floating in the Victoria Strait in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Friday, July 21, 2017. (AP Photo/David Goldman) 
FILE – In this April 8, 2011, photo provided by the U.S. Geological Survey, a polar bear walks across rubble ice in the Alaska portion of the southern Beaufort Sea. Alaska scientists say the chances of a polar bear encounter have increased after research reveals the bears are arriving on shore earlier and staying on land longer, a report said. Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey found changes in sea ice habitat have coincided with evidence that polar bears’ use of land is increasing, the Anchorage Daily News reported Saturday, Aug. 10, 2019. (Mike Lockhart/USGS via AP, File) 
FILE – This March 25, 2009, file photo provided by the U.S. Geological Survey shows a polar bear in the Beaufort Sea region of Alaska. A study by polar bear researchers in Alaska concludes that thermal imaging used by oil exploration companies to detect polar bears in dens works less than half the time. (Mike Lockhart/U.S. Geological Survey via AP, File) 
FILE – In this June 15, 2014, file photo released by the U.S. Geological Survey, a polar bear dries off after taking a swim in the Chukchi Sea in Alaska. A polar bear has attacked and killed two people in a remote village in western Alaska, according to state troopers who said they received the report of the attack on Tuesday, Jan 17, 2023, in Wales, on the western tip of the Seward Peninsula. (Brian Battaile/U.S. Geological Survey via AP, File) 
In this photo taken with a fisheye lens, Koda, a 900 pound Polar Bear swims above visitors to the Water’s Edge exhibit at the Pittsburgh Zoo Friday, April 30, 2010. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar) 
In this photo taken with a fisheye lens, Koda, a 900 pound Polar Bear swims above visitors to the Water’s Edge exhibit at the Pittsburgh Zoo Friday, April 30, 2010. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar) 
Koda, a 900 pound Polar Bear prowls the Water’s Edge exhibit at the Pittsburgh Zoo Friday, April 30, 2010. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar) 
A polar bear at the St. Louis Zoo plays with a ball in its pool Wednesday, June 29, 2005. The heat index in the St. Louis area exceeded 100 degrees. (AP Photo/James A. Finley) 
Right now, climate change is the biggest threat. Northern ice caps are shrinking and thinning. The loss of ice to walk on makes it hard for bears to reach seals to hunt, and without enough food to get them through winter, bears are starving, and their numbers are crashing. (This is the condensed version-there are a lot of factors in play here, and right now the game is stacked against the bears.)
In 2008, the polar bear became the first vertebrate species to be listed as threatened because of predicted climate change under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
In 1994 Polar Bears International, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the endangered polar bear, was formed. They organized the first International Polar Bear Day in 2011, and it’s become an annual event.
It used to be if you visited a major zoo, it was very likely you’d be able to see a polar bear or two on display. Such is no longer the case.
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My original intent in writing this article was to provide a list of places within a reasonable driving range where you could see polar bears; instead, it’s a list of places that used to have them but don’t anymore.
The Philadelphia Zoo shut down its polar bear exhibit after they euthanized Goldilocks, the oldest polar bear in the United States, at age 37 in 2018.
The Baltimore Zoo announced their two Polar Bears were being relocated in 2021. Amelia Gray relocated to the Oregon Zoo in Portland, where she’ll be with her six-year-old half-sister. The Neva moved to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City, Utah.
In 1986 The Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington sent their three polar bears to new homes in the Midwest. The main reason? The bears’ habitat in D.C. faced south and the summertime sun was “Just too hot,” according to officials.
In 2017 the Bronx Zoo had to euthanize their 26 -year-old polar bear, Tundra. Their website succinctly states “There are no longer any Polar Bears at the Central Park Zoo.”
The only location within a semi-reasonable travel distance that has polar bears is the Pittsburgh Zoo. Their polar bear is part of the Water’s Edge exhibit and has an air-conditioned cave and a chilled pool.
The air conditioning and pool might be a hint to you why polar bear exhibits are falling out of favor. Quite simply, it takes a lot of exhibition space and special conditions to exhibit a polar bear in a way that they don’t develop “stereotypical behaviors,” a scientific way of saying they can go a bit crazy from discomfort, lack of space, and sheer boredom.
Each bear requires a lot of personal space, a place to swim, and cold, all of which can be very expensive to provide.
There are also ethical concerns about taking threatened animals out of their habitat, and therefore out of the gene pool. Captive breeding of polar bears has had limited success, and even when cubs are born they can’t be returned to the wild, because they don’t learn how to survive.
So perhaps the best answer to the question of how to see polar bears is to turn on your TV set or go online, and watch a good nature documentary.
To visit the Polar Bears International site, click here.
To learn more than you ever wanted to know about taking care of polar bears, click here.
