Celebrate Polar Bear Week by learning about the Detroit Zoo's efforts to protect these amazing bears in the wild. 🐻‍❄️ This October, Rick, a mammal zookeeper at the Detroit Zoo, traveled to Churchill, Manitoba, to attend polarbearsinternational's (PBI) Climate Alliance Conference. This conference addressed the effect climate change has on all species, with special attention paid to polar bears. The location of Churchill, Manitoba is special because it is one of the first areas to form sea ice in the winter. Polar bears know this and congregate there to hunt for seals on the sea ice, giving them their first meal in months. But, due to climate change, the sea ice is forming later in the year and receding earlier. This shortened hunting season is affecting the bears' physiology and survival. During this conference, Rick and his colleagues were fortunate enough to not only see polar bears, but also caribou, arctic hares, ptarmigan and belugas. These wild encounters made the work being ...