Spectacular tunnels for underwater polar bear viewing

The view in Columbus, atop the underwater viewing porch,
 2014. Nanuq looking down upon us. 

Many aquariums and some zoos have made good use of the development of modern acrylic underwater viewing tunnels, usually showcasing colorful fish, sometimes sharks and other aquatic animals. 

The Tunnel in the Arctic Ring of Life in Detroit,
with male polar bear Kali on top of the tube. July 2026.

Astra and her mother Suka swim, 2021 in Detroit.

Most zoos housing polar bears offer 2 dimensional underwater viewing, usually giving visitors a chance to see the bears swimming on the other side of tall wide windows.

The Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat in Canada even offers a kiddie paddle pool right at the polar bear viewing window, so it almost seems that you are swimming with the polar bears, except for the thick sheet of glass in between.  

The three bears, Chinook, Kalluk and Tatqiq, 
 in 2015 at the San Diego Zoo,
 play-fighting in front of a giant viewing window.

I have been able to discover only five zoos that offer the incredible experience of viewing polar bears from underneath, from the dry comfort of a viewing tunnel, or in the case of the Columbus Zoo, an underwater "porch" where the bears can swim overhead and on three sides.

Viewing tunnels for polar bears can be found:

The Detroit Zoo in Michigan

The Pittsburgh Zoo in Pennsylvania

The Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg Canada

The Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark. 

Also the Columbus Zoo in Columbus Ohio has an underwater viewing "porch"

Aurora and the late Nanuq in 2014 Columbus.

The Columbus Zoo has an underwater viewing area in the Polar Frontier where visitors descend, either by stairs or by long ramp trail into an abandoned "mine shaft" to 16 feet below the upper viewing level. Polar Bears swim through a 167,000 gallon saltwater pool, in front, to the sides and above seen through thick acrylic windows in this 30 foot long alcove.

This bear in Columbus is actually standing

 on the roof of the underwater viewing alcove. 

Mother Aurora and her son Kulu in 2021, the Columbus Zoo, 

playing with a hose on top of the viewing alcove. 

Here's a video that shows the ramp down into the mine, and all the action in the underwater viewing area of the Columbus Zoo polar bear home. 

 

Watching polar bear cub Nora catch fish overhead in 2016, from the underwater veranda at the Columbus Zoo. 

Anana and her cub Amelia Gray in Columbus in 2017.

Columbus Zoo, 2014, a good view
 of the underwater viewing area.
 There are visitors at the window above, too, looking down. 

 

One of the cubs, Nuniq or Neva, at the Columbus Zoo in 2018. 

Young cub Neva and the fish,

 from the underwater viewing alcove at the Columbus Zoo. 

Current residents of the Columbus Zoo are Aurora and Lee. 

In 2018, cubs Nuniq and Neva have a play battle atop the roof of the viewing alcove in the Columbus Zoo, quite a sight to see. 

And now on to Detroit!

The transparent underwater viewing tube at the Detroit Zoo is a marvel. The 70 foot long tunnel within the 300,000 gallon chilled saltwater pool, the Frederick and Barbara Erb Polar Passage, is unparalleled in any other zoo that I have visited.

The tunnel was built for two species to "share," with an invisible division to keep them separate. For many years, the bears shared their pool with seals, but now sea otters are the polar bears' neighbors.

I also appreciate that the Detroit viewing tunnel has seating along both sides, so it is easy to just relax and spend lot of time there.

Current residents in Detroit are male Kali and females Suka and Haley.

In 2015, female polar bear Talini "hunts" for seals,
 as her mother taught her. Detroit Zoo.  

When the seals were in residence, rescued East German circus bear Bärle taught her daughter Talini how to "hunt" the seals, and the seals learned how much fun it was to play hunt with Talini.

Talini and the seal, in 2015 in Detroit.
 Talini now lives in Lincoln Park Zoo.

The seal teases and plays "hunt' with Talini in 2015.
They are separated by highly engineered acrylic walls in the tunnel. 

When the seals lived there, the water was crystal clear in both habitats, the polar bears and the seals, and visitors enjoyed watching the interaction between predator and prey, although the prey (seals) knew they were perfectly safe.  And yet, they were phased out, seals sent to other zoos around 2020, because some felt they were stressed out by being "hunted." 

The new neighbors, the Southern Sea Otters, cannot have chlorine in the water, for their fur is more sensitive, so now there is more algae in the water, and it is harder to see them in the tunnel viewing area. I was told by Rick the polar bear keeper, however, that Haley does see the otters and keeps and eye on them, which the otters are not happy about.

So now visitors can pretty much only see the polar bears in the viewing tunnel, and the sea otter section is too clouded to see  the swimming residents. You can see the sea otters in the surface viewing area, just past the exit of the viewing tunnel.

In 2022, cub Laerke swims by the viewing room
overlooking the Pack Ice at the Detroit Zoo. 

Near the tunnel in the Detroit Zoo s a special viewing room where you can also watch the bears swim underwater, with a large window to see the pool and the Pack Ice area above. 

Two of the three sea otters in Detroit.
Kit is the oldest and used to serving as a surrogate mother to young pups, so she treats Monte and Finn as babies, much to their dismay. 

Haley, who lived in Memphis for most of her life where there isn't a deep pool, really appreciates the fantastic saltwater pool in Detroit and spends a lot of time swimming there. Photo July 2026.

The acrylic tunnel in the Arctic Ring of Life in Detroit is four inches thick, but is perfectly clear. It is engineered to hold back the pressure of the 300,000 gallon saltwater pool, and the impact of the half ton (plus) polar bears pushing off from it or sitting atop the tunnel. Visitors get a clear 270 degree look at the swimming bears. 

In Detroit, Haley swimming toward the tunnel, July 2026.
The dark areas below and behind her are windows
 into the Southern Sea Otter pool. Haley does watch the otters,
which the otters are not happy about. 

It's a thrill to look up and see a huge male polar bear, in this case Kali, standing on the tunnel over your head at the Detroit Zoo, July 2026.  What a great way to see just how big are their paws. 

Boris/Ivan, in Copenhagen Zoo in 2013, swims over the tunnel
 to the delight of visitors. 

In Europe, underwater tunnel polar bear viewing is available only in Copenhagen.

 In the Arctic Ring of the Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark, polar bears can swim over and around a 360 degree circular acrylic tunnel with a glass floor. You must first descend down a long spiraling ramp into an underground complex to get to the tunnel, which you will pass through as you continue down the spiral to a dead end with various displays about other arctic animals and birds. It is hard to know when a bear might be swimming nearby, since it is isolated from the above ground viewing. I was fortunate to see Ivan/Boris swimming around the tunnel on one of my visits.

In Copenhagen, the glass tunnel floor is also a 

through walkway to the rest of the underground complex

so it can get very crowded when no one wants to move. 

Since you must walk through the tunnel to continue down the underground path, it can create a bottleneck on the path if there is a lot of swimming action. 

Be prepared for a lot of walking to get to the underwater viewing tunnel in Copenhagen, but it is amazing if you are lucky enough to see a bear swimming there.

Currently, two lady bears, Lynn and Noel, are the residents. 

Boris/Ivan sits atop the tunnel
 in the Copenhagen Zoo new polar bear habitat in 2013.

Boris/Ivan swims down the side of the tunnel,
with the reflections of the visitors. Copenhagen Zoo. 

The Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium has a spectacular marine complex called Waters Edge with underwater viewing for polar bears, but the only resident Snowflake is elderly, will be 31 years old this fall, and does not often venture out these days. You probably won't see her in the tunnel area. I have visited Snowflake in SeaWorld San Diego, but have yet to get to the Pittsburgh Zoo. 

This is a 2019 video the Pittsburgh Zoo created, where you can see Snowflake and her companion Koda, who is now in Memphis, swimming above the tunnel. 

In 2018 at the Columbus Zoo, Mother Aurora
with her cubs Nuniq and Neva, atop the acrylic viewing "tunnel"

Boris/Ivan overhead in Copenhagen.
He now lives in Skandinavisk Dyrepark in Denmark.

In the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg, Canada, a zoo I have not visited yet, the polar bear habitat is part of the 10 acre Journey to Churchill area, and the viewing tunnel is called the Sea Ice Passage. The tunnel is 70 feet long, and includes an area for seals, separated by an invisible barrier from the polar bears, so here, you can still see the bears "hunt" the seals.  

The bears here have all been rescued as orphans from the wild. They are females Kaska, Nanuq, Star and Willow, and males Storm and York. A new youngster, who was found by his dead mother in Churchill, has just arrived and does not yet have a name.   

Below is a video from 11 years ago, that shows the underwater viewing in Assiniboine Park Zoo for the polar bears.

Click on the photo to see the video 

of Abssiniboine Park Zoo bears.

In 2021, at the Detroit Zoo,
 cub Astra and her mother Suka having some swimming fun
 over the tunnel.

The experience of seeing polar bears from this extraordinary perspective is rare and quite wonderful, but of course these acrylic tunnels, a modern engineering marvel, are expensive. I never get tired of seeing polar bears swim over my head.