Polar Bears - Data, Pictures and Videos

[Betty]

How much does a Polar Bear weigh? 

Weight was also the hot topic on Monday at our sister park, the Highland Wildlife Park as Mercedes the polar bear had her first weigh-in!   

Mercedes is the only polar bear in a UK zoo and she arrived at the Highland Wildlife Park from Edinburgh Zoo last October.  At Highland Wildlife Park she has a four and a half-acre purpose-built enclosure and since her arrival she has settled in extremely well.  Since arriving at Highland Wildlife Park keepers have been continuing with positive reinforcement training.  Training is done to facilitate husbandry and health checks as it means that basic checks and tasks can be carried out without causing stress to the animal and without the need for anesthetic.  Positive reinforcement involves animals getting a reward when they give the correct behaviour and keepers have been using this to encourage Mercedes to step on to mechanical scales in her enclosure.  

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