Jun 9, 2008 7:24 am US/Central
Finding Minnesota: Russia's Grizzly Coast
APPLE VALLEY, Minn. (WCCO) ―
If you haven't been to the Minnesota Zoo in the last 24 hours, it's probably already time to schedule your next visit.
There's a new exhibit there that just opened over the weekend, and it offers a pretty cozy connection with the wildlife of
Russia's Grizzly Coast.
Even regulars may have little concept of what's to be discovered in the newly-developed exhibit in the southeast corner of the zoo, but after two years of planning and two years of building, the 30-year-old zoo has a $30 million shot in the arm.
"We're trying to recreate a big chunk of the Russia shoreline, where Russia and China meet on the Pacific Ocean," said Lee Ehmke, director and CEO of the Minnesota Zoo.
The shoreline is a magnificent stretch of terrain some 12,000 grizzlies call home. There are only three in the zoo's exhibit, but they are entertaining enough to capture your attention for hours, especially when they go fishing just inches from you. In fact, they'll spend much of their days hunting for the food scattered throughout the habitat created for them.
The design of the exhibit is such that you don't see the moats and other barriers keeping the bears from getting too close for comfort -- simple fencing wouldn't do the trick with these mammoth mammals.
"We think that's important because we want to show these animals in the real context of where they live and have people understand that these places need to be protected, along with the animals," said Ehmke.
While grizzlies get the top billing as they wander in the Kamchatka peninsula portion of the exhibit, they are not the only reason to pay a visit. The sea otters put on a cute show of their own.
"Our animals came as orphans that were abandoned along the Alaskan coastline and needed homes, and we were able to provide them with a very naturalistic home," Ehmke said. "With company."
That company includes 10 wild boars. The pair that came to live in the exhibit added eight piglets to the mix.
"We do have two Amur leopards, soon to be joined by a third from France. She's in quarantine now. And eventually we'll be bringing in a male as part of a breeding program to help save the rarest of the wild cats," said Ehmke.
The exhibit provides an imaginary escape to another world, but also a real-life education about preservation and conservation efforts to preserve an amazing natural habitat.
"Animals are not separate from nature and we want to show the natural habitat that great grizzlies and sea otters come from," said Ehmke.
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