Arctic Encounter

You are now entering our Arctic Exhibit at the Toledo Zoo. This exhibit includes our Arctic Encounter Building, which houses polar bears, seals and sea lions, as well as our arctic wolf enclosure. As you enter our Arctic Encounter Building, the chill in the air indicates that these animals live in a cold habitat. In this exhibit, polar bears are housed on your left and seals and sea lions on your right.

To your left, you may hear the splashing of our Polar bears in the water or their low growls while exploring their habitat. Polar bears mostly stand on four legs, being five feet tall at the shoulder. They have large paws and a massive head, with smaller eyes and ears. Polar bears are found in Arctic habitats in Alaska, Russia, Canada, Greenland and Norway. Due to the extremely cold Arctic temperatures, Polar bears have many adaptations to help them survive in their environment. Two of those adaptations are thick, coarse fur and black skin. Their dark skin helps the bears absorb the sunlight to stay warm. They also have blubber, a thick layer of fat, to keep them warm in and out of the water.

Polar bears are predators. They have large canine teeth and thick claws that help them catch their prey. A Polar bear’s main diet is seals. Our Polar bears have the ability to stand on a platform above the seal exhibit, with a small hole for them to smell the seals swimming in their cave below. Visitors can experience this interaction by standing near the viewing area between the polar bear and seal exhibits.

Polar bears are part of the Toledo Zoo’s conservation program, helping to breed new Polar bears and keep a healthy captive population within zoos. The Toledo Zoo is one of the most successful zoos in terms of having baby Polar bears, with nine cubs since 2006. Many of these cubs now live in other zoos across the country.

To your right, there is a tank that is 12 to 16 feet deep filled with water. There are Harbor and Grey seals in the exhibit. Harbor seals are small and round compared to the long and larger Grey seals. The seals have whiskers that stick out from the sides of their faces to help them avoid running into the rocks or other animals. They swim with their front flippers tucked next to their body and their back flippers help them glide smoothly through the water. On the end of their flippers, they have rounded, sharp claws used to grip fish for their next meal.

There are also California sea lions in this exhibit. Sea lions are from the coast of California to Mexico. These animals are dark in coloration and use their front flippers to propel themselves through the water. Ever wonder why they are called sea lions? They roar like lions! Sea lions not only swim differently than seals, they are also able to move better on land. They have a rotating hip bone that allows them to tuck their back flippers underneath their bodies to “walk” on land. Sea lions also have external ear flaps, like a human, while seals have very small ear holes.

As you follow the path, you will approach our wolf exhibit. This exhibit is full of lush trees and tall grasses and shrubs to simulate a forest habitat. As you continue along the path, you will enter the wolf cabin. When you enter the wooden cabin, there will be two large viewing windows in front of you facing the entrance of the wolves’ cave.

The Gray wolves can often be observed lying in their cave or the shade of the trees on hot days, or trotting around the perimeter of their exhibit. Our wolves have coarse, dense white fur. In the winter their fur is long and thick to keep them warm, while in the summer their fur is much thinner to help them stay cool. These animals hunt in packs to help take down larger prey such as elk, musk ox and caribou. They can smell their prey up to a mile away and have been known to hear each other howling from up to six miles away.

We hope that your tour through the Arctic exhibit at the Toledo Zoo has helped you to learn more about this harsh, but beautiful habitat and that you have gained a greater appreciation for the animals that call the Arctic home.