Life Lessons | Kyle Shepherd, media/public relations manager for the ...

I’d say the biggest life lesson that I’ve learned is that life lessons are active, ever evolving and present; that I am always learning and relearning them. Or maybe it is just me. Which leads me to another lesson. It isn’t just me. We are more alike than we are different. Almost every day I see something in another human that makes me realize we all have the same dreams and fears. One of those dreams is connection with another. It is a romantically “paired” world out there, and while there is inherent freedom that comes from being single that I have enjoyed for all of my adult life, it is tough sometimes. The lesson I am learning here is patience and that it is OK to want something. I know who I am alone. Unlike many women who cannot be alone, I have learned my strength and am OK with saying that I now want something more. I was laid off from a job I had for 10 years and was out of consistent work for a year and a half, and learned more than a few lessons. Unemployment messes with your head a bit. It makes you question your abilities and, to some extent, your purpose. While most of us would admit at the end of the day we know our purpose in life isn’t our jobs, society tends to define us a bit by what we spend our days doing. If you let that in, society can make you feel less or more about yourself based on what you do for a living. I relearned that, in reality, we are more defined by how we treat one another. I also learned that I was pretty darned strong. When we put Arki, our new polar bear, out into Glacier Run, I was taking photos one day when this little boy who appeared to be about 4 came running at full speed from quite a distance toward Arki, shouting at the top of his lungs: “Polar bear, polar bear, polar bear!” His unabashed and sheer exhilaration at this creature made me happy. I have always had childlike wonder and I have learned and am learning that it is OK to lose yourself in the awe of something. It is better than OK; it is imperative to your experience here on this planet.

Along those same lines, I had the privilege of being a “keeper” for the day when I first began. When we fed the lions that afternoon, I was nearly nose to nose and, when Kenya, the male lion, looked right at me and roared, I teared up. When my colleague asked if I was scared, I replied that I was in awe. I am learning every day about some of the most amazing and powerful creatures on the planet and the respect and responsibility that comes with that.

Little Polar Bear: Lessons - San Diego Zoo & Safari Park

For polar bear cubs, life is all about learning to survive in the Arctic from the moment they are born until Momma kicks them out. Momma bear has all the right stuff for teaching: intelligence, nourishment, and communication. For Qannik, communication with her keepers would be the first lesson. Luckily, Qannik is very intelligent, and, dare I say, so are keepers! Training using positive reinforcement is how we communicate with our bears.

We taught Qannik to slurp her formula out of a large syringe that is easy to use from outside the mesh. Qannik is a large girl now and will soon be reaching over 400 pounds (180 kilograms), so it’s important we teach her just as we would when she is an adult polar bear. This beginning relationship is so important: we look for nice, relaxed eye-to-eye moments. Next are a few simple behaviors like shifting rooms, sitting, or presenting a paw when asked to do so.

While the Louisville Zoo keepers were flying to Alaska to pick up Qannik, one of my tasks was to build a false bottom in her new pool to help her learn how to swim. In the Arctic, Momma bear offers her back for the young cubs to hold on to until they learn to swim well. With the help of Steve Goodwin, Louisville Zoo’s all-round-can-do-it-all guy (he makes incredible pottery, too!), we built, netted, tied, and lashed a false bottom into the pool. The design allowed for sloped access into the deep end, strength enough to hold a pouncing 60-pound (27 kilograms) bear, and be easy to take apart once Qannik could swim and get out of the pool on her own.

The day after Qannik arrived, we watched her make her first plunge into the pool.  Miss Qannik knows how to hold her audience! She spent the majority of the day on the first steps holding on by her toes, stretching ever so far that we all knew she had to go in! She would turn and look at us as if to say “Gotcha!” Finally she rewarded our patience by a not-so-graceful dive into the pool after a white bucket toy.

After the first excitement we held our breaths: would she be able to get out of the pool? Well, of course—she’s a polar bear! At that moment we decided we could take the false bottom out of the pool, as it had done its job! The slope helped her with gradual ease into the pool, it was strong enough to hold her, and was easy to take apart. Did you know little polar bears are also helpful? Qannik hopped right back into the pool and began to dismantle the false bottom to the floor. Louisville Zoo keepers report she now throws all her toys into the pool and is officially a swimming maniac.

Darwin awards 2

HONORABLE MENTION: POLAR BEAR LESSON Confirmed by Darwin SEPTEMBER 1994, ALASKA Anchorage residents have seen it all now! Two inebriated teenagers decided ...

Polar bears, proceedings of the 14th working meeting of the IUCN/SSC Polar Bear Specialist Group, 20-24 June 2005, Seattle, Washington, USA

Monitoring PCBs in polar bears: lessons learned from Svalbard. /. Environ. Monit . 3:493-498. Isaksen, K., Bakken, V. and Wiig, 0. 1998. ...

Polar Bears

Henriksen, EO, Wiig, Ø., Skaare, JU, Gabrielsen, GW and Derocher, AE 2001. Monitoring PCBs in polar bears: lessons learned from Svalbard. J. Environ. ...

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Where does the Polar bear live ? How does he differ from the brown bear? Describe his coat— food— feet. What is he able to do? What name is sometimes given ...