Honestly, i didn't know that Maruyama Zoo in Sapporo was known to have succeeded in breeding polar bears since 2000 although on a prouder note, our dear Inuka from Singapore Zoo was the first polar bear born in the tropics!
Even though our beloved Inuka had passed away a month ago at an old age of 37, his spirit lived on. Anyway, coming back to polar bear enclosure at Maruyama Zoo; it was an empty enclosure that greeted us.
Venture further to the gated enclosure where you might get lucky! At that point, i didn't know that there was a family of polar bears and was just excited to catch the sight of one.
The metal grilles, while providing protection, was restrictive for photos and i couldn't help marveling how great our Singapore Zoo is; the use of glass enclosures had been there for decades!
Space was much significantly larger than the Frozen Tundra in Singapore Zoo but we feel that there's too little of the water that Inuka enjoyed so much when he was alive.
Yes, that's the zookeeper washing down the polar bear's diminutive pool; in terms of scale, i guess it's more a bathtub for the largest bear in the world. p.s. guess it takes great guts to enter the lair! What if the polar bear managed to knock down the metal door?!
Solution: keep it occupied with water and toys!
Unlike Inuka who had a greenish tinge, the polar bear at Maruyama was in its true white fur form! By the way, the skin of polar bear is black!
More pictures of the playful polar bear. It's quite sad for me now to write this post as i recalled how playful Inuka was when he was alive and he loved to show off his swimming prowess. Click here and there to read more.
Was about to end the post by saying you can find the polar bears simply by looking at the crowd congregating there. However, i understand that a "new polar bear exhibit with underwater tunnel" had opened in March 2018 and what i am sharing was simply the old den!
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Location
Maruyama Zoo,
Miyagaoka 3 Banchi 1, Chuo-ku,
064-0959, Hokkaido, Japan
Nearest Subway Station
Maruyama Koen (Exit 3).
Walk about 15 minutes.
Website
Pricing
Entrance tickets to the zoo apply at 600 yen an adult.
For my 8 days, 7 nights Hokkaido itinerary in summer, click here.