Polar Bear Claws

Watch out - I've got polar bear claws! 

Book our Polar Bear Explorations workshop for grade 2's, and let your students check out polar bear claws and teeth, experiment with blubber and ice, compare wild and captive habitats, and join a campaign to help Yupi, a polar bear in a substandard zoo in Mexico.

Comparing Polar Bear Habitats

Grade 2 students at Clairlea PS had a great time learning more about polar bear adaptations during their recent Keep It Wild workshop. They got to experiment with blubber mitts to see how polar bears are insulated against icy waters, and to discover how polar bears migrate across the frozen ice in search of seals.      Then they compared the habitat of Yupi, a polar bear in captivity in Mexico, with the natural habitat of the polar bear. 

A Polar Bear catching a Seal at a breathing hole (by Aryan)

Yupi in captivity (by Aryan) 

Comparing a wild habitat with a captive one (by Isobelle) 

Polar Bears travelling in the wild  (by Tom)

Students used persuasive writing to send a message to the zoo in Mexico. Many students suggested sending Yupi to a polar bear sanctuary in Northern Ontario (Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat). 

       Ryder's message said:

          Let Yupi out of the zoo. She might be sad, bored, hot, trapped, and unhappy. 

Thanks for your great work learning more about wild animals and helping Yupi the polar bear! 

A video to help polar bears

Check out this great video by students at Davyhulme primary school in the UK. After learning about Yupi the polar bear's situation the students wanted to do something to help. They are hoping to raise awareness about the issue of polar bears in captivity in hot climates. What a fantastic and inspiring video. Thanks for trying to help the animals! 

Dear Zookeeper

     Dear Zookeeper. Please give Yupi some toys. from Elvis.

Save The Polar Bears!

The grade 2 and 3 students at Reesor Park P.S. have been busy working on a campaign to save polar bears in the wild. Polar bears migrate across the sea ice to hunt for polar bears, but global warming is causing the sea ice to melt early. The students have been learning about ways that they can help stop global warming. 

Check out some of their great posters to learn ways to help the polar bears. 

Keep up the great work Reesor Park! You're doing a great job helping wild animals. 

Polar Bears Love Snow

Students have been working hard on the campaign to get Yupi, a polar bear who lives in a zoo in Mexico, moved to a better habitat. Dear Zookeeper, writes Abhipsa, who is in grade 1 at Rose Avenue PS in Toronto, please give Yupi lots of snow and lots of ice and keep her in a cold place. Thank you. Her classmates also wrote postcards and drew pictures to bring awareness to Yupi's plight. All the students agreed that polar bears and snow belong together!

 

     

More Polar Bear Postcards

As promised, here are a few more of the great postcards created by students in grades 2/3 at Downtown Alternative School.

As you can see from the pictures, the students learned about polar bears hunting seals. In the wild polar bears migrate over the pack ice, searching for seal breathing holes, and waiting for hours for a chance to kill a seal.

In captivity, polar bears lack the freedom to move and travel as they would if they were hunting. They also lack the stimulation and excitment of hunting for their prey.

Yupi faces the additional challenge of being in captivity in a tropical climate. Hopefully the postcards and messages make a difference for Yupi. Learn more about Yupi the polar bear at: http://www.saveyupi.com/

Downtown Alternative School goes Wild!

 

Last week grade 2/3 students at Downtown Alternative School in Toronto participated in a Keep It Wild! workshop. Here are some of the postcards that they created to send to the Mexican zoo where Yupi the polar bear lives. The students had lots of great ideas that would improve Yupi's captivity. They asked for more space for Yupi, more things for her to play with, more shade, snow and ice, and colder water in her swimming pool.



Learn more about the campaign to help Yupi at http://www.saveyupi.com/ 



Thanks to the students for trying to help Yupi. We'll post more of your comments and pictures in the upcoming weeks.

Bone Clones

There are lots of ways to learn more about wild animals without actually seeing them in the wild or in captivity. A great way to discover more is by investigating the skeleton of an animal. In our Keep It Wild workshops all the skulls and bones we use are from Bone Clones (http://www.boneclones.com/).


Bone Clones provides museum-quality skull- and skeleton- replicas that are virtually indistinguishable from the originals. No real bone material is used in their replicas, so no animals died in the process.

Kids are always excited about the chance to examine a skull, study and count the teeth, peer into the brain cavity, run a finger along the sagittal crest, poke a finger into an eye orbit, and marvel at the sinus cavity. And of course, with a polar bear skull, they all imagine being bitten by those enormous canine teeth!

Wildlife - Keep It Wild!



This is a picture of two polar bears in a zoo in Indonesia. Take a moment and consider what it must be like for them. These are animals that are adapted for living in frigid, frozen places. Their fur and blubber are meant to protect them from sub-zero weather.

Polar bears don't belong in tropical places and elephants don't belong in the snow. Take a moment next time you see an animal in captivity to consider what its natural habitat and climate should be. If you don't think the animal belongs, consider how you can help. Write a letter, tell your friends, create a blog, start a petition! Take action to keep wild animals wild.

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A Polar Bear in Mexico?

Imagine being adapted to life in the Arctic, and living in a tropical climate instead. This is the situation Yupi the polar bear faces. Yupi is eighteen years old, and lives at the Morelia Zoo in Mexico, where the average daily high temperature is over 20 degrees Celcius year round. But the climate is not the only challenge Yupi faces. Her enclosure is small, barren, lacks shade, and is made entirely of concrete. You can learn more about Yupi's plight at:    http://www.saveyupi.com/

Do you want to try and make a difference in Yupi's life? You can join a campaign to get Yupi moved to a more appropriate northern climate, in an enclosure that has a natural substrate, things to do, and room to move. Write a letter to the Zoo Director at:

Parque Zoologico Benito Juarez
Calzada Juarez S/N, Col. Felix Ireta
C.P. 58070, Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico

If you are a part of a classroom in Toronto and would like to participate in a workshop about polar bears, check out our Keep It Wild website at: http://www.keepitwildeducation.com/