AssetID: 53594400
Headline: RAW VIDEO: Ahoy Bear! Woburn's Bears Take To The Water In Swan Pedalo
Caption: Bears at Woburn Safari Park in Bedfordshire have taken to the water in a pedalo boat. Like most of us, the curious mammals had found the wet March (2024) weather in the U.K. had put a dampener on their fun - so keepers decided to give them a new toy to play with - a swan pedalo. Tommy Babington, Deputy Head of Section, Carnivores, said: “There's been so much wet weather this year, that a new mini lake has formed in the black bears drive-through at Woburn Safari Park, so we had the idea of turning this into interesting enrichment for them. The 'sleuth' of bears was immediately intrigued by their new neighbour and wasted no time in investigating the swan peddle boat.” Keepers hoped the bears would find the swan boat an interesting addition to their 13-acre woodland reserve, and so they were delighted to see the four younger cubs head straight over to investigate their new swan ‘friend’. The young sibling black bears are two males and two females, and they spend a lot of time foraging, play fighting, eating and sleeping. The bears are named Harvard, Maple, Colorado and Aspen for their North American origins in the wild. Bears are naturally very curious animals, and so the animals didn’t waste much time in working out they could climb aboard! Babington added: “It was great fun for visitors to seeing them climb on board, and we love devising new ways to provide food, scent and habitat enrichment that stimulates their natural foraging behaviours.” Keepers encourage the bears’ curiosity with all kinds of enrichment through their habitat as this keeps their minds and bodies active. The swan boat enrichment may be a less conventional approach to stimulating their natural behaviours, but it certainly was a hit with the bears!
Keywords: bears,pedalo,animals,nature,natural world,feature,photo,video
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