Green Bears!

Posted by Alex in Animal on September 7, 2008 at 1:41 pm


Thes bears aren’t early for St. Patrick’s Day – it got its fur stained by algae:

Three normally white polar bears at Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens in central Japan changed their color in July after swimming in a pond with an overgrowth of algae.

High temperatures in July and August and less-frequent water changes because of the zoo’s conservation efforts caused an algae growth in the bear pond and safety moat, Kurobe said.

Algae that enters hollow spaces in the bears’ fur is hard to rinse off, he said.

The bears are expected to return to their natural color when the algae growth subsides in November, Kurobe said.

LinkThanks Zacharaius!

(Photo: Shuzo Shikano / Kyodo News)


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COMMENT

5 comments to "Green Bears!"

  1. mrmuggles
    September 7th, 2008 at 4:06 pm

    Poor bears... It's probably toxic in some way too.

  2. Namowal
    September 7th, 2008 at 5:40 pm

    So the algae is a result of less water changes due to conservation efforts? Talk about going green.

  3. David B
    September 8th, 2008 at 6:38 am

    Conservation at the expense of the animals. Well isn't that just great. I wonder what other results have come about because of "conservation efforts".

  4. anon
    September 8th, 2008 at 8:27 am

    They could just chlorinate the water like every other polar bear display.

    Didn't the San Diego zoo discover this problem like 60 years ago?

  5. aisha
    October 6th, 2009 at 6:55 am

    Huh? i expected the bear to be FULLY GREEN!


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