Elvis the King of Gelsenkirchen ZOOM

As we pause to observe the 35th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death, it is time to visit his namesake, Elvis the Polar Bear.

This Elvis is alive and well and living in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Like the original Elvis, this hulking guy has a swagger and a sneer, and also calls Memphis Tennessee his hometown.

This Elvis loves his carrots. 

Like any popular celebrity, Elvis the Polar Bear was at the center of a scandal in his younger days! A love triangle of sorts.

Elvis was born in the Memphis Zoo, Memphis Tennessee, USA, in November of 1979, two years after the death of the original Elvis, and was named in honor of the late King. This cub's parents were Olga and Bruno.

When Elvis was a year old, he moved to Zoo Osnabrück in Germany, where he lived happily for many years with lady polar bear Sonja. They did produce cubs, but none survived.

Also part of the Osnabrück bear group were brown and black bears, in a strange arrangement, living together with the polar bears. Living in this bear commune were European Brown Bear sisters named Susi and Ossi.

After 24 years of living together, there was a surprise in January of 2004. Susi gave birth to twin cubs. Tips (the girl) and Taps (the boy) were Hybrids, half Polar Bear, half European Brown Bear. At first the birth of these hybrid cubs was something of a scandal and an embarrassment to the zoo, but public attitudes quickly shifted so that today Zoo Osnabrück is very proud of their rare and quite beautiful silvery bears. Many visitors come to Zoo Osnabrück just to see this unique accidental pair.

Tips and Taps have also become ambassadors of climate change awareness. Since climate change is causing more and more hybrid bears to appear in the wild, scientists are even more interested in studying Tips and Taps.

Elvis the Polar Bear gives us his best Elvis "sneer."

Elvis spends his days sleeping, playing with toys, and enjoying yummy snacks.

Elvis moved the Gelsenkirchen ZOOM in June of 2005. He is now living like a king in a luxurious environment in the Gelsenkirchen Zoo with a elderly lady friend, Fanny, who is one year older than Elvis. She also has a connection to USA bears. Fanny is the mother of Charly, born in 1995 in the Hamburg, Germany zoo. Charly has been living at Sea World in San Diego since 1997.

Fanny

Elvis and Fanny are enjoying their sunset years in a very nice zoo, which is also home to young lovers Bill and Lara, as well as the cute and sassy little Antonia, also a remarkable little bear as she is about a third the size of a normal bear. She seemed to be normal when she was born, and was very bold and rude, but failed to grow at a normal rate. So anyone visiting Gelsenkirchen can enjoy watching five bears: amorous young bears, elderly bears, and a special and very cute little dwarf bear.

Bill and Lara enjoy a beautiful new home at Gelsenkirchen Zoom

 On the day I visited last year, Bill and Lara were swimming and walking and very active, but darling little Antonia spent the entire afternoon taking a nap.

Antonia the dwarf bear sleeps in her private enclosure at Gelsenkirchen Zoom

As offspring of Olga and Bruno in the Memphis Zoo, Elvis is great uncle to Aurora of the Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester, NY. Haley, one of Aurora's cubs, is now living in the Memphis Zoo, which is the birthplace of her Great Uncle Elvis. So visitors to the Memphis Zoo can still see a relative of Elvis the King (Polar Bear).

Elvis admires his reflection as he takes a drink.

Elvis is now 33 almost years old, quite elderly for a polar bear. Fanny is almost 34. They are doing very well for their age, and although they move more slowly than younger bears, they are still active in interested in life. 

Bam Bam keeps her cool

Pretty Bam Bam

We visited Bam Bam at the World Famous Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium in the middle of a brutal heat wave. She has plenty of energy, even in 100 degree heat, but then she does spend a lot of her time in the pool.

Bam Bam loves her pool

Bam Bam loves to interact with her fans

Born in the Henry Doorly Zoo on November 29, 1987. twin sisters Bam Bam and Patches were the last cubs of the prolific and popular Olaf and Olga of the Omaha Zoo. In fact, I think they were the last cubs born at the zoo. During the seventies and eighties, Olaf and Olga had many cubs in the Omaha Zoo, eleven of which lived.

Patches and Bam Bam were together at the Omaha Zoo until Patches left for the Erie Zoo in December of 2007. Patches was moved to Erie as part of a trade, and a male bear was supposed to come to the Omaha Zoo, but I don't think that actually happened. I am pretty sure that Bam Bam has been alone since her sister left. She seems to be getting along just fine on her own, and loves to interact with the visitors. Alan Host, Senior Supervisor of Cats and Bears, said there are no plans to get another polar bear at this time.

24 year old Bam Bam weighs in about about 550 pounds.

Her official book name is Fanny, but she got the name Bam Bam because when she was younger she like to bang on the metal doors and make a racket to be let in or out. The keepers successfully worked with Bam Bam over the last few years to cut back on this noisy behavior, and while she doesn't do it anymore, she has kept the name.

Bam Bam has a heart shaped nose

Feeding time for the Omaha bears is at 11 a.m.. Before the food comes, Bam Bam is happy to swim and play with all her fans. She has a lovely 30,000 gallon pool and a waterfall in the Durham Family Bear Canyon, which opened in 1989 at a cost of $1.4 million. 

Bam Bam dives for her lunch

Her friends can view her from above, or wander down a trail to see her at eye level. A three level elevator can also make it easier for visitors to access the upper and lower levels of Bear Canyon.

She loves her celery

A yummy piece of fruit

Bam Bam stalks a floating melon

She seems to love cantaloupe melons, and. She also got various fruits and celery during feeding time, and had lots of fun swimming around and gathering her snacks, which are thrown by a keeper from above. She gets training three or more times a week, and her favorite training food is some delicious crunchy celery! Her favorite toy at the moment is a big red ball.

My mother Carol and Bam Bam study each other. This is the first time
 Carol had ever seen a polar bear in her 93 years.

I visited Bam Bam with my sister Lois, and my almost 94 year old mother, both of whom had never before seen a polar bear. My elderly mother was enthralled by the silly antics of Bam Bam, who gave her a face-to-face experience, in spite of the famous early July heat wave of 2012. Even with the incredible heat, the zoo was busy and crowded and Bam Bam was having a lot of fun.

Bam Bam is ready for an afternoon nap

Bam Bam spent the afternoon napping in her favorite spot in her enclosure, happy after an active morning and a big helping of healthy snacks.

The Henry Doorly Zoo has a roomy polar bear home with a great pool

Although the Bear Canyon is an outdoor exhibit, the Omaha Zoo has a great number of indoor, air-conditioned attractions to comfortably enjoy: the Lied Forest, gorilla house, the brand new Aquarium, the Butterfly House, the Desert Dome, the IMAX theatre and more. With the help of an $8 rental wheelchair and a big umbrella, our little group spent the whole day at the zoo. Much of this zoo is designed to be enjoyed year-round, no matter what the weather.

A shady spot on a hot day

  

Bam Bam plays in her waterfall. Goodbye.

Farewell, gentle Bärle

Bärle 

Circus bear Bärle did get her fairytale ending. And now she is at peace.

 After 17 years of being confined to a tiny dirty cage and being forced to perform tricks in a traveling Puerto Rican circus, she was rescued ten years ago and given the gift of spending happier days in a beautiful setting in the Detroit Zoo's Arctic Ring of Life area. She enjoyed the company of other bears, was given proper food, and ventured out onto real green green grass. Even more miraculously, she experienced the joys of motherhood with her darling cub Talini, now age 7. She enjoyed the affection of her many fans, zoo docents and caretakers.

Bärle enjoyed her final years in the Detroit Zoo

The former circus star's story came to an end yesterday, July 18, 2012, when Detroit Zoo vets found that Bärle had terminal cancer, and they made the decision to end her suffering. She had been acting poorly for about five days, even refusing to eat her favorite meal of sweet potatoes and chicken.

Bärle in July 2009, roaming around the lush vegetation in the green area of the Arctic Ring of Life,
 which is North America's largest polar bear exhibit

Bärle had been captured in Manitoba as a cub, and grew up in a small cage in the Suarez Brothers Circus. She and a number of other polar bears were rescued in November of 2002, including the famous Willie, now living at the Milwaukee County Zoo while his home in Asheboro NC is being upgraded and expanded. Willie is also an older bear, in his late 20s. With the loss of Bärle, Willie is the last of the rescued circus bears still alive.

When she arrived in Detroit back in 2002, Bärle was small and her muscles were not well developed, due to lack of exercise and poor diet. The Detroit Zookeepers had to teach her to swim at age 17. She was pear shaped from inactivity, so she had to get used to having room to move around. She gained weight quickly, and learned to be a polar bear. On November 22, 2004, Bärle gave birth to Talini, fathered by Triton, who died in 2008. Zoo staffers were hoping that she would have another cub with Lee, but that did not come to pass.

Bärle playing in the wildflowers in August, 2011

Bärle enjoys a summer afternoon in nature

Bärle

My last vision of Bärle was a happy one, as she napped among the wildflowers on a lovely summer afternoon last August. She was a gentle spirit among bears, and she will be greatly missed.

Sweet Dreams,  Bärle

A big party for Qannik at Glacier Run

Today, June 28 marks Qannik's first anniversary at her new home, Glacier Run at the Louisville Zoo. She is still a media darling. The Louisville Zoo has produced a wonderful DVD documenting her first year called “Qannik: A Polar Bear Cub's Journey.”

Qannik and her sister were born in January of 2011 (a guess, since she was born in the wild). In April, she was found wandering alone, separated from her mom and twin sister, near an oilfield. She was drastically underweight, just 15 pounds, about half what she should have weighed at that age.

The rescued cub was nursed back to health at the Alaska Zoo, where she won over many fans and friends, and poignant photographs of this sweet little bear girl recovering from her traumatic experiences circulated around the world, making headlines and bringing attention to the plight of the polar bear in today's changing environment. 

When it was time for Qannik to leave her friends at the Alaska Zoo, UPS generously provided the logistically complicated flight to bring Qannik and her staff to the Louisville Zoo. That big adventure was called “Operation Snowflake.” Grandma Arki, from the Brookfield Zoo, was the only other resident of the brand new Glacier Run habitat at that time.

Arki

In September, Siku of the Toledo Zoo arrived. Siku is the grandson of Arki (although of course they don't know this, because they are bears). He is a year older than Qannik and while they can see each other across the way sometimes, and of course they can smell each other, they aren't ready to play together. Qannik now weighs almost 300 pounds and Siku is almost 600 pounds. In addition, Qannik has spent most of her life as an only child, and probably doesn't know how to share her toys and her space.

When asked about when Qannik and Siku will be put together, zoo staffers say that the bears have to be mentally ready for that step. In addition, Qannik will have to put on some more weight so she is closer in size to her companion. Because Qannik is property of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the zoo must also get official approval for such a step.

Training sessions with food in the overhead walkway

The staff at the zoo always take their cues from the bears when it comes to activities and schedules. The bears come first.

Zoo Director John T. Walczak chats with Qannik

What a big ball!

My Egg!

She loves her Crazy Egg

Qannik plays with a stick

Qannik still is a busy little girl, playing with her toys and swimming. She currently has an interest in putting things like sticks, or frisbees, or balls, or her new golden egg, into a crevice in the rocks underwater, and is always surprised when they float to the top. And then she just does it again. You can see she is trying to figure things out.

Qannik is trying to stick one of her toys into an underwater hole, a favorite activity.

Underwater ballet

Qannik, being the "girly" girl that she is, seems to be attracted to visitors wearing pink, orange or yellow. The bright colors catch her eye. She is taking more notice of her fans than she did a few months ago, and often swims over to say hello.

Greeting her fans...

Hello to a special visitor.

Hello, everybody!

It's time for my close-up

Kisses from Qannik

Siku is currently in the rotation schedule, but a last minute change meant that we didn't get to see him on the day of our visit. Since the zoo has two enclosures where we can watch the bears, and they have three polar bears and three Grizzly bears, the exhibit is always changing. However, Qannik is usually out and about.

Grandma Arki is swimming more, and “dancing” very little these days, thanks to the many enrichment activities offered by the zoo staff. Arki was supposed to be part of a zoo training talk on the day of my visit, but the old lady decided to take a nap. She had been swimming for quite a while  that morning, so she was tired out.

Qannik can look forward to an anniversary party with presents and treats on her special day. She is one lucky girl. Happy Anniversary, Qannik!

A pretty girl with a pretty smile