The Lazy Days of”¦Spring?
Posted at 3:49 pm March 21, 2007 by Kelly Murphy
We recently had our monthly All About Enrichment weekend here at the San Diego Zoo, but apparently someone forgot to tell our polar bears! They seem to be in a bit of a lazy phase right now. Usually when people ask me the best time to see the bears in action I say, ” Right when we open.” But this hasn’t been the case of late. I tried my best to entertain the guests with my wit and led up to my big finale of giving small Boomer balls to Tatqiq and Kalluk. Tatqiq (pictured) at least obliged me by getting in the water and munching on a few carrots, but showed little interest in what is usually one of her favorite toys. Kalluk just slept through the whole thing. But I guess that’s why they say you can’t make an 800-pound polar bear do anything they don’t want to do!
Yes, Kalluk is now over 800 pounds (360 kilograms) and the three girls weigh between 450 and 500 pounds (200 and 230 kilograms). Chinook and Shikari are 12 years of age and are considered full grown. Kalluk and Tatqiq have just come through their maturity at age 6. They probably won’t get much bigger but may fill out a little. Currently we are not breeding our bears but instead taking on more of a research role (read the blog, Can You Hear Me Now?).That’s why we keep them in two separate pairs. Tatqiq is on birth control, though, to prevent any ” accidents” from happening.
Because of the older girls’ reputation of being Sunday morning bears, we rotate the pairs daily. Usually the two younger ones go out first thing in the morning and then we switch at around 1:30 p.m. or so. On occasion, we will keep the kids out all day, pull them off for dinner then put them back out again overnight. This way the girls get to spend the whole day in bed. I know I’d sure like every now and again!
Kelly Murphy is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo.
Read Kelly’s previous blog, Polar Bears: Meet Kalluk and Tatqiq.
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March 22nd, 2007 at 8:22 am
Thanks, Kelly, for the update. I have seen bears swimming in the lighted pool late at night, or very early in the morning. I thought it must be Kalluk and Tatqiq as you mentioned in a previous blog that they love to swim, and the ones that get up early. In the middle of the day, or afternoon, when a bear is swimming, I assume it is Chinook or Shikari, since they don’t like to get up early. The bears that are out in the afternoon often just sleep so it is probably them then also.
Must be a rough life. The comment about birth control explains how you have been able to keep Kalluk and Tatqiq on exhibit together. Since Polar bears are more social than Pandas, it is nice to see them have the interaction with their siblings. It is also interesting to observe the differences in siblings as opposed to unrelated pairs.
March 22nd, 2007 at 8:25 am
P.S. YangYang in Atlanta recently reacted in a similar way. They took their panda cam off LunLun and MeiLan for an hour or so to show YangYang interacting with a special toy that had been given to him from ” some of his fans.”
He completely ignored it! I was embarrased for AZ keepers as they had made such a big buildup and production of doing it. Apparently YangYang did not get the message.