I need a baby wolf!

June 19, 2010
After saying goodbye to our Narvik friends, we climbed into the big van to drive over to Polar Zoo. We were hoping for a bright, sunny day but instead we got a cold (1 degree Celsius!) and rainy (pouring !) day. It didn’t stop us from putting on our winter gear, followed by raincoats and gloves and heading out to see the animals. We were all so excited to kiss the wolves!

The Polar Zoo is the northern most zoo in the world, located in the Salangsdalen Valley in the Bardu municipality in Troms County. With over 275 acres of land, the zoo prides itself in providing a natural and spacious enclosure for the animals. The animals at the zoo today include moose (referred to as elk here), brown bears, wolves, wolverines, red deer, arctic fox and lynx. The biggest attraction at the Polar Zoo is Wolf Camp, where people can play with the wolves and get kisses. Unfortunately, three days ago, one of the female wolves died from a sickness and the wolf pack was in mourning and therefore, not interested in playing with humans.

Our first animal encounter for the day was with the moose. Elk can weigh up to 700 kg with a body length of 3m and shoulder height of 2m. In Europe, elk are typically found in Norway, Sweden and Finland. Elk is primarily hunted by wolves, though wolverines and bears have been known to steal the carcasses from the wolves. Mating usually occurs in September and October and usually results in a solitary calf. During our visit, we only saw one elk.

Next door to the elk was the home of the lynx. Lynx, which belong in the cat family, are typically a very shy animal and sightings at the Polar Zoo are generally only during feeding hours. During this feeding we saw three lynx come out of the trees and eat the food, both on the ground or after climbing up. Lynx have short tails and characteristic black tufts of hair on their ears. Mating takes place in the winter and usually a lynx litter is about 2-4 cubs. This year, there was only one male in the enclosure and he was too young to know what to do so there were no new cubs. In the winter, lynx grow a thick undercoat of fur to protect themselves from the ice and the cold.

After feeding the lynx, we moved over to the wolves, who were also eager to get their meat for the day. The European wolf is a subspecies of the grey wolf and is most common in Europe and Asia. The wolf is an apex predator, feeding on large animals. Wolves travel in packs and are highly sociable animals, especially relying on each other while hunting. A typical pack has 2-8 members, including the alpha male and the alpha female and then their cubs. Mating season is in February or March and the babies are born in May. A typical litter is 2-6 cubs, depending on the amount of space and prey available. This May, the wolves did give birth to babies. Three of those babies are in a separate location where they are becoming familiarized with humans. The rest of the babies are with the wolves in the enclosure. The Polar Zoo does not disclose how many cubs are with the mother because deaths are common at this age. The wolves typically do not leave their cubs unless they know they are in a safe place. When the two alpha wolves came out for the feeding, they left the babies hidden away.

From wolves to the lone wolverine, it was our turn to meet the largest member of the weasel family. These animals typically live in the isolated northern regions of the tundra and prey on reindeer and rodents, though they have been known to kill animals as big as a moose or steal the carcasses. They have a powerful jaw and thick hide, to help them hunt. Wolverines need a lot of space; a male typically needs 240 sq miles though that area can overlap with the females. Even in the same living quarters, males and females stay separate from one another until mating season in the summer. Watching the wolverine is an interesting experience since they are practically blind and rely entirely on their sense of smell. The zookeeper hid pieces of meat in trees, under rocks and in bushes before the wolverine started sniffing out the food and finding each piece. Wolverines are very agile and can easily climb up trees too!

Our last feeding stop was the most playful of the animals: the brown bears! In the enclosure today were three adult brown bears, putting on a show for their food including standing, sitting, leaning against the cages and play fighting with one another. The brown bear can weigh up to 350 kg and live for 20-30 years. They are extremely agile and fast for their weight, running up to speeds of 60 km/h in short distances. They eat berries, roots and herbs, along with rodents, fish and bird eggs. It is rare that a brown bear would kill sheep, deer, reindeer or moose because they are a solitary animal in the wild. In the fall, the bears must eat a lot of food in preparation for their long hibernation from October through March. Mating season takes place from late May through early June and the cubs are born during the winter. Baby bears are born hairless, toothless, blind and weight less than 1 lb at birth. They feed on their mother’s milk through the spring and summer, when they start eating solid food. Cubs stay with their mother for the first 2-4 years, learning survival techniques including how to search for food, fish, defend themselves and where to den.

If the adult bears were cute, there weren’t words for Salt and Pepper. These two cubs, born last year, are now too old to play with humans but until last summer, they would be able to climb all over people and would hug and lick them with unconditional love. Salt is an albino bear, which is extremely rare because albino cubs would usually die early in the wilderness since they can’t adapt as well to their surroundings. Today, I was one of the three people selected to go down to meet Salt and Pepper in their cages and hide some of their food before they were allowed to come out, find their treats and play for a bit. The baby cubs eat the same food as the adults, berries and fruit, with some fish tossed in for protein. Watching them look for food and then tease one another was fun, but watching videos of the two of them a few months ago made me wish we here last year!

After warming up with a mug of hot chocolate and attempting to get blood circulating in our body again, we headed back out into the cold rain to meet the baby wolves! Since we couldn’t kiss the wolves today, we signed up to help feed the baby wolves and the baby arctic fox. We sat outside on the wet log, in the pouring rain, with baby bottles in our hand waiting for the three 40-day old wolf cubs to join us and yes, it was so worth it! The wolves were adorable… they were still clumsy and learning how to use their bodies, so they’d often fall over for no reason. Unfortunately, they were not a huge fan of the rain so would come hang out with us for a few minutes and then run back under the wood logs for some protection from the rain. The zookeeper told us that they always keep the baby wolves in groups of three, so that if two of the animals started fighting, the third one would generally break it up and ease the tension. Wolf cubs might look like puppies, but they were more intense in every way. The zookeeper said that once the wolf has made up his mind about something, they stay focused and determined. For example, if the cubs start howling and scratching the door to go outside, they will not stop until they go outside. A dog would probably try for 10-20 minutes before giving up while the wolves would continue howling for hours unless they were let out. Speaking of howling, the zookeeper started a howl to show us how the babies respond. Sure enough, they each started yelping in response to let the mother know that they are still around and doing okay. Being able to have three wolf cubs play around in front of humans is quite an accomplishment since wolves tend to be very nervous and anxiety-filled around humans. They were incredibly cute… if only there were a way to keep the wolves cubs rather than have them grow up! These wolf babies will stay around humans and will join the other tame wolves for human interactions as they grow up. It is therefore extremely important to keep them associated with humans and to teach them early on to stop biting or feeling anxiety while next to big groups of people.

The Polar Zoo, weather aside, certainly did live up to our expectations! After a change of clothes, we all met back at Elin Uhre’s (the GSE inbound team leader and incoming president) house for taco night!