Story By: Gheorghi Caraseni, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash
Newsflash/@spbzoopark
This is the moment a polar bear in a Russian zoo is filmed throwing a ball up high up a wall to workers as if playing volleyball.
The scene was shared by the Leningradsky Zoo located in the north-western Russian region of Leningrad Oblast after female polar bear Khaarchaana, 4, recorded playing with zookeepers.
In the video, the workers can be seen dropping a yellow ball into the bear’s pool and the huge animal jumps into the water after it.
Newsflash/@spbzoopark
The bear then grabs the ball and throws it back up towards the workers who use a pole to knock it off the wall and into the water.
The bear repeated the trick before it can be seen walking out of the pool stairs, lifting the ball and throwing it back into the pool, jumping into the water after it.
After grabbing the ball the bear throws it back up to the watching zookeepers.
The zoo’s Head of Public Relations, named Ekaterina, told Newsflash the young bear likes to play games, adding: “Her name is Khaarchaana, she is four years old. Back in 2016 she was born in Ort-Doydu zoo (in eastern Russia’s Sakha Republic) and was brought to our zoo just a year ago.”
Asked if the bear was trained to play specific games, Ekaterina responded: “Nobody ever trained her. She is very active herself and often brings up new ideas for the next game when another ball, plastic can or a cone are thrown to her to have fun.”
Ekaterina said that the bear especially likes to play games in water and pretends the balls are prey when trying to bite it or throwing it up in the air.
Another polar bear, named Uslada, Khaarchaana’s grandmother, is also living in the zoo. She was born in 1987 and gave birth to 16 cubs, which are now spread all over the world.
The polar bear’s native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses.
An adult female weighs around 175–350 kilogrammes (386–771 lbs). Polar bears are the largest land carnivores currently in existence, rivalled only by the Kodiak bear.
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