Walker enjoys the bachelor life style
Feb 1st, 2012 | By mervi | Category: Clips from readers1.2.2012 – Posted by Crissi, Source: Mail Online, Photos by Andrew Milligan und Tony Marsh
How much fun can you have with a hard hat? Just ask the lonely polar bear!
You’d be amazed how much entertainment a polar bear can get out of a simple hard hat.
And Walker the polar bear proved there was no end to the games he could play with a workman’s safety helmet when he managed to get his paws on one for an hour after his weigh in today at the Highland Wildlife Park.
His keepers spotted three-year-old Walker throwing the hat into the water before diving in to retrieve it and then practised balancing it on his paw and his nose.
Taking the plunge: Walker dives in after his favourite toy – a hard hat
Nearly got it: Walker sets his sights on grabbing the workman’s safety hat
Walker was given a trail of sardines to follow to tempt him on to a large wooden platform attached to a set of scales which revealed he has gained around 330lb in just over a year.
The three-year-old bear weighed in at 63 stone – when he arrived at the Highland Wildlife Park in Kingussie, Inverness-shire in December 2010 he was around 39 stone.
Making a splash: Walker throws the hat up into the air before chasing after it again
Got it: Walker finally catches the pesky hat that kept giving him the slip
On the nose: Walker prepares to practice balancing his hard hat with varying degrees of success
It will be another two or three years before he is fully grown and by the age of six he will weigh an estimated 80-110 stone.
Una Richardson, the centre’s head keeper, said: ‘The weigh-in this morning with Walker went extremely well. We managed to tempt him on to the scales with a few of his favourites – sardines.
‘We are really pleased with Walker’s weight. He’s a big boy at 403kg, which is around 63 stone. It’s slightly higher than what we had expected. We guessed he could be around 62 stone, which is around 395kg.
‘It’s a good, healthy weight for a polar bear of his age and size and is close to the weight we had expected.
Dinner time: Keepers had to use sardines to lure Walker on to the scales to get weighed
Walker is weighed by Senior Keeper David Barclay at the Highland Wildlife Park at Kincraig, Inverness-shire
Tongue rub: Walker gets a tongue rub after being weighed by Head Keeper Una Richardson
‘After we took his weight reading he was off to play with his favourite toy – a hard hat – and enjoy the rest of his morning.
‘Knowing precisely what he weighs gives us a very good indication of how well he is doing and, should we need to anaesthetise him for any reason or give him any medication, knowing what he weighs allows us to give him a more accurate and therefore a more effective dose.
‘Weighing Walker is a two-person job. One of us has to be ready to take the weight reading and the other has to get Walker on to the scales.’
Una said Walker has become a favourite with visitors at the park, which is owned by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, because of his playful antics.
And she added that the UK could have a second polar bear on display by the end of this year.
Una continued: ‘We have hopes of getting Walker a mate sometime this year but at the moment he is enjoying his bachelor lifestyle.’
Dear Crissi,
Thank you for posting this lovely article about Walker. We haven’t seen so much of him so far although he certainly deserves more attention!
We have often said ‘La Donna é mobile’ about Giovanna and LuLu – maybe we should say ‘L’Uomo é mobil’ this time
Walker seems to be enjoying his bachelor days enormously but I hope he will soon have a girl friends. A hard hat is great but a sweet, soft polar bear lady would be something very special…
Hugs from Mervi
Crissi…
Wonderful photos and wonderful article. Our polar bear friends can happily make a toy out of anything- and this hard hat really makes you realize just how big Walker is, even though he’s not yet full grown; the hat looks almost tiny in his massive paws!
Thanks for posting this… Hugs from
Susan
Liebe Crissi,
da hast du aber einen feinen Bericht gefunden.
Walker ist wirklich schöner Bär geworden
Seine Sprünge nach dem Bauarbeiterhelm sind herrlich und die Freude daran kommt prima herüber.
Ich denke, nicht nur beim Wiegen wird der hübsche Bursche so verwöhnt von der Pflegerin
Seine fast 400 Kg hat er sich wirklich gut angefuttert! Ich wünsche diesem Jungbär für die Zukunft eine nette Partnerin, damit er nicht ewig allein dort leben muss. Hoffentlich wird sich bald Gesellschaft für ihn finden!
Mervi und Dir sage ich vielen Dank, man iest so wenig von Walker, da freut ma sich über jede Nachricht.
Liebe Grüße, Ute
Liebe Crissi,
danke für`s Einstellen der schönen Fotos von Walker. Besonders das Foto, wo Walker die Hand seiner Pflegerin leckt, hat es mir angetan.
Liebe Grüße
Monika
Dear Crissi,
Thank you so much for these delightful photos. What a joy to see Walker in such a good shape – and with a toy. I would love to see him playing with a crazy egg …
Kind regards,
LeenaP
Liebe Crissi,
herzlichsten Dank für diesen wunderschönen Artikel von Walker.
Wie Ute auch schon schrieb, hört und sieht man ja nicht viel von diesem munteren Bären.
Ein Helm ist ja auch ein wunderbares Spielzeug. Giovanna würde ihn sich sofort auf den Kopf setzen
Viele liebe Grüße,
caren
Dear Crissi,
Thank you very much for finding and sharing this article with us! It is good to see Walker has a toy–he is sure enjoying playing with it! Great photos!
Hugs, Sarsam
Liebe CRISSI, auch wenn Du diese Super-Fotos – vor allem die ersten 6 – echt SPITZE! – nicht selbst geschossen und den informativen Text nicht selbst geschrieben hast, gebührt Dir für das Auspüren dieses bebilderten Artikels ein EXTRA-STERNCHEN! Vielen Dank. Ich bin ganz begeistert von diesem Youngster-Koloss mit dem hübschen Gesicht (siehe Foto 6) und den “TATZEN-ALARM”-EisbärenTatzen. Hoffentlich wird für ihn DIE passende Partnerin gefunden, damit er auch im späteren Erwachsenen-Polarbear-Dasein seine Lebensfreude beibehält (und die Partnerin natürlich auch!).
Thank you another time this morning, dear MERVI for having published Crissi’s found also in KWM!
Liebe Crissi,
Dumba spricht mir aus der Seele.
Danke, dass du uns einen Besuch bei Walker ermöglicht hast.
Er ist ein echter Prachtbursche – Prachtbär!
So vital, so lebensfroh, so gut gepflegt.
Ich freu mich für ihn genauso wie Una Richardson!
Herzlichst
Bärgit
Dear Mervi – Thank you for putting this great report into KWM!
Liebe Crissi!
danke fuer Information.
Es ist wunderbär, dass es mit Walker gut geht.
LG
TBM
Dear Crissi
Thank you for information and the wonderful pictures of Walker.
Hugs Inge
Crissi,
Walker has so much personality and he’s such a livewire. He really loves that hat and makes the most of his toy. I like his idea of making sure he gets sardines before he allows for a weigh-in…dude is right! He’s a winner in my book!! I loved looking at his photos and knowing that he’s thriving.
Thank you so much for sharing.