San Diego Zoo and Polar Bears International Join Forces in the Conservation of the
Arctic Bear
January 31, 2008
As the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service considers the listing of the polar bear as a threatened species, members of the Polar Bears International (PBI) advisory council meet in San Diego on January 31 to discuss the future of this bear and the role of zoos as educators and conservation partners. The San Diego Zoo and Polar Bears International are forming an alliance to establish a conservation program called “Arctic Ambassadors” that will involve zoos and researchers around the world.
“As climate change impacts the extent of Arctic ice, more research and education are needed to protect polar bear populations,” said Ron Swaisgood, Ph.D., head of Applied Animal Ecology at the San Diego Zoo. “By partnering with Polar Bears International, the San Diego Zoo has a unique opportunity to assist in polar bear conservation by focusing research on those questions that are best addressed in zoos and will have useful application both here and in the wild. The polar bear has much to gain from this alliance.”
Polar Bears International has already funded three San Diego Zoo polar bear research projects. One ongoing program is studying the bear’s hearing sensitivity to help determine the impact of human-generated noise, such as oil drilling, on this species.
“Under the guidance of this program, zoos throughout the world will help educate and inspire millions of people by establishing Arctic Ambassador Centers,” said Robert Buchanan, Polar Bears International president. “PBI and the San Diego Zoo will work together to build an extensive network of Arctic Ambassadors to become champions for this sentinel species by inspiring, informing, and empowering change.”
Arctic Ambassadors will include some of the world’s top leaders in polar bear education, research, and husbandry issues. The San Diego Zoo will become an active participant in Polar Bears International’s field research initiatives, including the Polar Population Project (Tri-P), which is designed to establish census counts, track the movement of the bears, and determine the location of geographic pockets where the species might be able to survive the current period of climate change.
Together, the Zoo and PBI will continue conservation projects researching poorly-understood aspects of polar bear reproduction, sensory ecology, mother-cub behavior, and cub development as well as how these systems are impacted by humans and a changing environment. The alliance will provide worldwide leadership in polar bear husbandry areas such as behavior, nutrition, and veterinary care.
Education will also be a key component of Arctic Ambassadors. Not only will this program generate scientific information to support conservation, it will become a vanguard messenger for the polar bear conservation crisis and the threats facing the Arctic and the Earth due to climate change. During the 2008 Year of the Polar Bear, Arctic Ambassadors will include Polar Bears International’s Leadership Camp in Churchill, Arctic distant learning initiatives, a world lecture series, interactive education, a national teen contest, a teaching curriculum, polar bear tours with scientists, an online game, an interpretive center, and a Web-based education center.
More
Projects:
News archives:
Read blogs from the San Diego Zoo's 2007 Teen Arctic Ambassador...
