March 20 9:13
The inhabitants of the Krasnoyarsk flora and fauna park “Roev Ruchey” – polar bears Ursula and Ermak – have opened the swimming season.
After the winter break, the pools in the predator enclosures were thoroughly cleaned and filled with water. Zoologists say that nwatching bears bathe is a special pleasure, tMoreover, they are clearly trying to impress the audience.
“Water is part of life for bears; it’s not for nothing that in Latin they are called Ursus maritimus, which translates as “sea bear.” Already, Ursula and Ermak spend most of their time in the water. They swim, dive, play. For polar predators, this is an opportunity to maintain their natural skills and at the same time get a little training. Nature has equipped polar bears with everything they need for cold water; they calmly spend up to two minutes under it, and an impressive layer of subcutaneous fat and the unique structure of their coat save them from the cold. It would seem that spring is just beginning, at night it’s still minus – the pools are covered with thin ice, but try to explain to the bears that it’s too early to swim! For them, “winter swimming” is a common thing. Ursula has one cute feature: when she sees visitors, she tries to jump into the pool with a running start, in order to raise a cloud of splashes. For her, dousing the audience with water is a separate form of entertainment, for which she is ready to dive again and again. We can say that the bear has a new spring pastime. In general, the swimming season is open. The bears are delighted, and visitors risk leaving wet but happy“, they said in the park.
Let us remember that Ermak is a young male who was brought to Krasnoyarsk from Gelendzhik. His father, the legendary Commander Sedov, was the park's first polar bear. Ursula appeared in Swarm Creek in 2018 and was rescued in the village of Dikson, where she lived in garbage dumps and lived under a school, scaring children and their parents.
Newslab now in MAX. News is also published in OK | VK | Zen | Telegram
Related links:
