Your questions answered
POLAR BEARS FAQs
We are proud to be the home of Europe’s largest polar bear reserve. Here are a few interesting facts:
- It all started from a rescue mission from a zoo closing down in Sweden
- The reserve is a UK first for bears in woodland with 5 acres of woodland for them to enjoy
- The reserves includes three deep pools and lakes with the deepest being 16m
- It is not only home to our polar bears but also the largest pack of Arctic wolves in the UK
We are proud to provide a safe home for these wonderful mammals. Below are answers to some of the questions we get asked most regularly:
Wild Polar Bears rely on the sea ice to help them hunt seals – or even whales! It is also where they might choose to dig dens to have their cubs. However, during the Summer months, temperatures can reach 26°C in large parts of the Tundra so most bears do not live on ice all year round.
- Although ‘Tundra’ means treeless plain, we understand that in a world of rising temperatures we must now offer a large area of cooling shade for these magnificent animals to maintain their body temperature. Our polar bears have access to over 5 acres of magnificent woodland. This will not only keep them cool but will also offer an enriched environment allowing them to display their natural behaviour.
- Polar bears are classed as marine mammals. We have provided three deep lakes for the polar bears to swim and cool down in, with the deepest being 16m!
- Hudson Bay is “the polar bear capital of the world”. The average temperature in Hudson Bay is 26°C. In Suffolk the average temperature is 22°C – a little cooler!
Here at Jimmy’s we are continuing a lasting legacy.
Two of our polar bears, Ewa and Hope, were companions at a zoo in Sweden called Orsa Rovdjurspark (Orsa Predator Park) which sadly had to close in 2022. We rescued Ewa, while Peak Wildlife Park rescued Hope. Ewa and Hope have now been reunited here in the Lost Lands of Tundra. Read more about Hope’s arrival.
Flocke and Tala have joined Jimmy’s Farm & Wildlife Park, from Yorkshire Wildlife Park, as part of the EAZA (European Association of Zoos and Aquaria ) Ex-situ Programme whose aim is conserving and safeguarding healthy populations of threatened species and animals in captivity. Read more about Flocke & Tala’s arrival.
Jimmy’s Farm has always held a vision of promoting a wider understanding of the natural world and inspiring future generations to support and protect our planet.
Never has there been more of a need to protect our planet, our habitats and our wildlife, both native and exotic.
That is why Jimmy’s Farm & Wildlife Park is now the largest Tundra exhibit in the world home to the largest Polar Bear reserve in Europe. Polar bears are the flagship animal of climate change and by creating a mock habitat here in Suffolk, we can educate visitors on the devastating effects on our planet.
The reserve, which was built with Born Free’s report in mind, and world experts in polar bear care and behaviour to ensure the reserve meets the highest standards of welfare, features grassy plains, lakes fed from natural springs and a large area of woodland.
The reserve was specifically designed to reflect the habitat of the Arctic Tundra commonly found in North Canada during Spring and Summer months.
We have built Europe’s largest polar bear reserve. The bears have three deep lakes to enjoy, open pasture and 5 acres of beautiful woodland.
A shrinking polar ice-cap and shortening polar ice season has pitched the species to the fore-front of conservation concerns, so much so that representatives of the IUCN/SSC Polar Bear Specialist Group and the conservation group Polar Bears International now feel that the modern zoo community has an increasingly important role to play, which includes keeping and managing polar bears within our collections long term.
Polar bear enclosures such as ours offer the bears the space to get away from each other when they want, to dig day beds as they would in the wild, and run at full speed, should the mood take them. The space we have provided for our bears is in the region of 145 times larger than traditional zoo enclosures for polar bears, which were also always all concrete.
A large area is of course still required to address the species’ seasonal social and spatial needs which are in general linked to their reproductive cycle. In addition, a dynamic, varied and imaginative enrichment programme still needs to be provided by the keepers, both food and non-food based. Polar bears are very intelligent and it is our responsibility to provide them with as interesting a life as we can. Varying what they get to eat, how it is presented to them, providing them with a range of toys and other objects they can manipulate and play with are all part of their care.
Within the European Ex-situ Programme (EEP) there are currently 124 polar bears in 43 different collections, which is currently the only viable managed population in captivity. All were born in captivity with the exception of 5 young bears in Russian zoos that were orphaned wild-born individuals and two older females in the Netherlands.
