31,000 square miles
That same year in 2004, controversies started over the polar bear enclosure at the zoo and Inuka and Sheba's behaviour. The enclosure was a mere size of 391 m² compared to its huge Arctic habitat which can spread an area of over 80,000 km². Inuka was born in the Singapore Zoo and is the first polar bear to be born in the tropics. This was the result of an extensive breeding programme run by the zoo. There have been four polar bears at Singapore Zoo altogether—Nanook, Sheba and their offspring Inuka, as well as another female, Anana. Polar bears in zoos. Polar bears present zoos with a number of problems in housing them. Being large, intelligent, active and strong animals (up to 1.5 metres at the shoulder and males weighing up to one tonne), they demand precious space in zoos and require expensive barriers. Of particular interest is the bear's winter den. Polar bears dig through the snow into the frozen ground. A tunnel is formed up to five metres in length terminating in a chamber of about two square metres. The polar bear enclosure in the Munich Zoo Hellabrunn provides a total of 2,580 m² for two adult polar bears and is divided in several enclosure parts to allow the animals to avoid each other. The bears have access to two large and one small pool, several elevated plateaus and two basins filled with wood chips. However, a lot of information about the bears and the enclosure can be found on the zoo webpage and in daily keeper talks that occur in front of the enclosure. The narrow walkway that connects polar part and tundra/taiga part inside the enclosure has a door on each end to serve as a shift corridor. Churchman and Bossler found visitors spent an average of 3:09 minutes viewing the Polar Bear Exhibit at Singapore Zoo compared to an average of 1:03 minutes for the eighteen exhibits studied. Yet it may also be due to the enclosure. The Polar Bear Exhibit is all about showing the animals--explicitly. Of particular interest is the bear's winter den. Polar bears dig through the snow into the frozen ground. A tunnel is formed up to five metres in length terminating in a chamber of about two square metres. • 12 enclosures (41.4%) were estimated to be less than 100m 2 in area, i.e. less than a tenth of minimum size requirements stated in the Polar Bear Protection Act. • The smallest enclosures were found at the following facilities: Sapporo Muruyama Zoo, Kushiro Zoo, Tobe Zoo, Yagiyama Zoo and Cuddly Dominion. Land: water ratio. Polar bears are bears first and marine mammals second, 18 so polar bear enclosure design should reflect this. Both the TAG and WSPA guidelines recommend that the ratio of water to land in polar bear enclosures should not exceed 1:3 (Appendix V). The typical zoo enclosure for a polar bear is one-millionth the size of its home range in the wild, which can reach 31,000 square miles, the authors said. Some captive polar bears spend 25 percent of their day in what scientists call stereotypic pacing, and infant mortality for captive animals is around 65 percent.  Large polar bear enclosure is built. By Chester Zoo. The zoo began building two new enclosures for bears in 1944 which were constructed from local, inexpensive materials.  According to The Great Bear Almanac, the range of a single polar bear is more than 51,800 sq km (20,000 sq miles). In fact, polar bears inhabit the largest living space of any terrestrial animal species. In 2005 scientists reported that they had tracked a tagged polar bear as it swam a distance between 74 km (46 miles) and 99 km (62 miles) in a 24 hour time period. While it has long been known that polar bears swam great distances, this was the first time such a long swim had been scientifically tracked. Figure 69 Plan of the original Polar Bear enclosure (drawing: CIAP). Figure 70 Plan of the Polar Bear exhibit showing view-sheds. The original development The Polar Bear enclosure in Singapore Zoo was built in 1977 at a cost of $462,000 and renovated to its present state eleven years later at a cost of $550,000. Of particular interest is the bear's winter den. Polar bears dig through the snow into the frozen ground. A tunnel is formed up to five metres in length terminating in a chamber of about two square metres.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuka http://designforlife.com.sg/thesis/42polar.html http://www.zoolex.org/zoolexcgi/view.py?id=1448 http://designforlife.com.sg/thesis/42polar.html http://www.zoocheck.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Japan-Polar-Bear-Report.pdf http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/01/science/02CAGE.html http://www.chesterzoo.org/memories/zoo/1940/large-polar-bear-enclosure-is-built?categories=everything&page=1 http://www.saveyupi.com/what-all-bears-need http://designforlife.com.sg/thesis/42polar.html
what size should a polar bear enclosure be