Hello friends! The snow has melted away and they say it’s Spring. We haven’t noticed so much of it yet because it’s been quite cold. The water in our pool is still ice cold so we enjoy swimming and fooling around in it.

Doesn’t the blue water match our white furs perfectly?

I think you need a hair wash ….. is there any shampoo?

Talking about fur and shampoo ….. I have a big surprise for you!

A white bear…..

…. and another white bear….

Simsalabim! Hihihii ….. I wonder if La Donna recognizes me now.

These bears are very frustrated because no matter how much they roll in the mud their furs remain the same brownish colour!

Maybe she won’t be  so keen on flirting with the dark, exotic guys now that I’ve put on my Spring fur.

Don’t you like my new look?

Of course I like your new look! I just love it!

Dear Knuti, I don’t care what colour your fur has. You may be white, black, red or green – I still love you!

Well, my friends, she loves me yeah, yeah, yeah!!! Jürgen, Bhumibol and the other exotic fellows can go and hide in the sand. I – Knuti – RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wish you all a wonderful Spring – with or without new look!

Your pal, Herr Knut

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Joy mixed with shame. That is what the nursing staff felt at the birth of a baby elephant at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. The chick was still three days earlier declared dead in the womb of the mother.
“While this news is incredible, the young elephant still has a long way to go,” said the director of the zoo Cameron Kerr. “We have no guarantee that the pup gets it in the long term, but we hope that his birth may be a good omen”.

On Monday, the keepers who accompanied the eighteen year old elephant Porntip during her pregnancy lasting 22 months were deeply saddened when they heard the news that the fetus died during labor.

According to the spokesperson of the zoo there was no heartbeat of the baby elephant. Also, according to the German elephant expert Thomas Hildebrand, the five elephants, which held the pregnant mother company, expressed grief because they have not felt the baby move.

It turned out that is not true. The new family member weighs 100 kilograms

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March 01, 2010

Research that suggests polar bears have evolved more quickly than previously believed is creating new questions about their adaptability as they face a warming environment.

Scientists at Penn State University studied DNA from a rare fossil found in Norway and determined that polar bears developed only about 150,000 years ago — much more recently than the six million years some researchers previously thought.

It means that the bears survived the last interglacial period, a time that also saw warm temperatures in the Arctic.

“One of the messages that the general public needs to accept is just how dynamic and flexible species are and how fast groups of individuals adapt to selective pressure,” says Stephan Schuster, one of the lead authors of the report published Monday in the U.S.-based Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Polar bear fossils are exceedingly rare because the bears often die on the sea ice and their bodies eventually sink to the ocean floor.

But a well-preserved jawbone between 110,000 and 130,000 years old was found in Norway in 2004 — one of two such fossils in the world. Schuster’s group was able to sequence its DNA, making it the oldest mammalian genetic sequence in the world so far, and compare it to DNA from modern brown and polar bears.

“Our results confirm that the polar bear is an evolutionarily young species that split off from brown bears some 150,000 years ago and evolved extremely rapidly,” says report co-author Charlotte Lindqvist.

The results confirm that polar bears were around during the last interglacial period about 4,000 years ago — a time when the Arctic climate was generally warmer than now.

Schuster suggests polar bears survived those warm times by retreating to areas of continuing cold and ice, such as Norway’s Svalbard region. But he acknowledges his results are likely to be used by those who argue the bears aren’t endangered by current shrinking sea ice caused by climate change.

“I could easily see that either side of the climate discussion would try to use the results we present for their purposes.”

Schuster adds that some scientists even opposed publication of his research out of fear it would be misinterpreted by climate change skeptics.

“Politics should stay out of science,” he says. “Our key interest is to understand biological diversity.

“We’re also trying to understand this rate of change that happens in mammalian populations. It should be used as a data point, not for any political purposes.”

Schuster says the polar bear findings confirm a growing body of knowledge showing how quickly evolution can happen. He points to an adaptation in humans that allows adults to digest milk. That ability only developed about 8,500 years ago after agriculture was invented.

Still, Lindqvist warns that polar bears may have become so used to their icebound environment that it would be much harder for them to adapt this time — especially given the speed at which the Arctic is changing.

“The polar bear may be more evolutionarily constrained because it is today very specialized. Climate change now may be occurring at such an accelerated pace that we do not know if polar bears will be able to keep up.”

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The 35 years old Phang Thong Khun, an Asian elephant, gave birth to the twins in the province Surin on Saturday morning on March 6. It took two hours for the babies to enter the world.

The ‘cutefantjes’ have no names yet.

Elephant twins are born very seldom and not many of them survive. The newborn elephant babies are the first known male twins. The female twins Phang Jum and Phan Jim were born 15 years ago – also in Thailand.

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A 13 years old wolverine managed to escape from his enclosure this morning in the Zoo Korkeasaari in Finland, near Helsinki.The snow made it easy for the wolverine to ‘hit the road’.

The female wolverine wasn’t staying in the same enclosure. The ‘fugitive’ isn’t dangerous to people, especially not this one because he’s already quite old.

He weights about 20 kilos and is 40 cm high. The dark brown animal moves in the way that reminds jogging.

The zoo is closed until the wolverine is caught and brought back to his enclosure. One might guess that the snow heaps will be removed…..

12.30

The wolverine has been found! Because it’s been snowing it was difficult to follow it’s tracks but at 12.30 it was found on the ice – about 6 km south of Korkeasaari (which is an island).

A veterinarian from the zoo aenesthisized the animal and the run-away-wolverine was brought back to his home where he’s now resting and recovering from his adventure.

The wolverines in the wilderness live about 5-7 years but in a zoo they can be much older. In Finland there are about 160 wolverines left and they’re  classified as endangered species.

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Zum 39. Monats-Geburtstag wurde am 05.03.10 eine Lieferung in den Bärenhof gebracht. Das Foto vom letzten Eintrag hat nur eine kleine Auswahl gezeigt, es gab natürlich viel mehr und wir mussten zwei Bollerwagen für den Transport benutzen.

Nachdem der strenge Winter vorbei, gibt es jetzt wieder regelmäßig alle 14 Tage eine Lieferung, worüber sich natürlich am meisten die Pfleger der Bären freuen. Ich danke allen Spendern für die erneute Sammlung, da gibt es dann wieder viele Leckereien für den Bärenhof und die Tiere danken es uns.

Danach ging es zur Fütterung der großen Eisbären, die unter anderem auch den gelieferten Lachs verputzten. Inzwischen schon 10.45 Uhr wurden Knut und Gianna aufgesucht, Knut war am ruhen und Gianna lief hin- und her. Knut passte heute wieder auf, das Gianna nicht zu nah an ihn rankam und wenn ja gab es die Tapirschnute.

Da ich noch einen Arzttermin hatte musste ich den Beiden den Rücken kehren und war erst nach der Fütterung von Knut wieder da. Inzwischen waren viele Knutianer eingetroffen und man konnte sich unterhalten, weil bei Knut und Gianna nicht viel passierte. Da es gestern wieder ausgesprochen kalt war, vor allen Dingen der starke Wind, legte man eine Kaffeepause im Zoo- Restaurant ein, damit man sich etwas von innen wärmen konnte.

Danach ging es wieder zu Knut und Gianna, man hatte nichts versäumt und so konnte man langsam den Weg zu Joe’s Wirtshaus zum Löwen einschlagen. Auch etliche neue Gesichter kamen heute zum Treffen, denen man endlich den Namen zuordnen kann. Der Abend war wie immer sehr schön und man kann sich schon auf das nächste Treffen am 03.04.10 freuen.

Liebe Grüsse von Gudrun

Mehr Fotos von Gudrun

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Willy is silly; and he has a lot to be silly about these days. This wasn’t always the case. Willy spent his cubhood in a circus. There wasn’t anything silly about those days. Working in 100+ degree heat well-beyond a polar bear’s endurance; not enough water; and a too small cage…

Willy is a survivor. U.S. Authorities rescued Willy and his friends when the traveling Mexican Suarez Brothers Circus reached Puerto Rico in 2002. That’s when Willy’s life made a complete turn around. Willy has been at the North Carolina Zoo since then and has been well cared for and well loved ever since.

Willy is 24 and very special. People come from miles around to see him. He is friendly, funny and loves to put on a show! Willy’s favorite tricks are playing hide and seek; blowing bubbles right up against the glass wall; high-fiving visitors; and sticking his head in a bucket.

Willy is Wilhelm; he is 800 lbs.; and Willy likes ice! Back in November, 2009 a local ice company donated 2 tons of ice cubes for Willy’s enjoyment. The ice was covered in maple syrup! The frozen treat was thoroughly enjoyed by Willy. He laid on the ice, dug into the ice, rooted in the ice, napped on the ice and best of all, his beautiful tongue slurped up that delicious maple coating. Then Willy took a “n-ice” nap in it!

Willy’s other bear pals: Masha (who died 2 yrs. ago) joined him at N.C. Zoo. The other bears went to zoos in Detroit and Washington state. Remember the poignant story of Barle and her cub Talini at Detroit Zoo? Barle was another survivor of the circus. Barle became a first time mama and had to teach her baby to swim. Barle had to learn to swim herself in order to teach her cub. The triumphant pictures of them swimming will fill your heart with joy.

Willy is grateful, full of life, and one funny polar bear dude. Did I tell you that Willy is famous? He’s on the cover of The Dave Mathews Band album. Ain’t he something? I love Willy.

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Since I’m a godmother for polar bears and pandas WWF sends me their newsletters and I found this article in the latest issue. What has been possible in Russia should also be possible in Iceland. There’s no need to shoot the poor polar bears looking for food and a decent life! If there’s a will there’s a way! Greetings from Mervi

The polar bear patrol and Mr Kozhevnikov

In eastern Russia several hundreds of polar bears wander along the coast line and pass the villages Ryrkarpie and Vankarem every year. Due to the climate changes in Arctis the bears have decided for staying in land while waiting the sea to freeze again. The result of this has been that the polar bears have approached the villages looking for leftovers and carpage. In order to protect the inhabitants in the villages WWF has hired several very experienced hunters as the Polar Bear Patrol.

The mission of this patrol is to make an inventory of the bears and report to WWF but also to diminish the conflict between the inhabitants and the polar bears. So far the mission has been a great success!

Last autumn they saw a very tired, haggard polar bear on his way to the village Ryrkarpie. The patrol chased the bear away but he kept on coming back. However, very soon the bear understood that as long as he stayed on the spit of the village without disturbing the inhabitants he himself would be left alone.

Since the bear had the possibility to rest and access to a food supply he rapidly gained weight. Obviously he was enjoying his life because he stayed in the village for two months. The people living in the village got used to the polar bear and called him Mr Kozhevnikov after the spit he was living on.

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Yesterday it was right April-weather in Berlin. Day started with sheer sunshine and blue skies, which animated me to go to zoo immediately in the early morning. Daylong weather changed half-hourly. Sometimes there were darkest grey-black clouds with blue skies at the same time, approximately fifty-fifty. Within the six hours I spent in zoo, we had sunshine, rain, driving sleet, shower of sleet, and real snow!

The part with sunshine was such that you felt as being on vacation at the seaside, especially at the sea-lions pool. There were near to no visitors in the morning. Enzo and three of his ladies were beautifully swimming in formation across their pool. One of the sea-lion ladies, most probably Diego’s mother, set at the exposed rock in their pool and craned her head towards the sun, such looking from far like a statue. Little Diego visited her once in a while. He climbed the rock in order to see whether there was access to his source of milk. It was not! He didn’t really mind and continued his business?. He is a funny little guy, who usually swam confidently his own laps. Also Mandy and Hilde, the little seals, swam around happily in their pool.

Petzi and Siddy also enjoyed the sun, far away from each other: Siddy laying at her pitch, that’s next to the wall in the background which separates the brown bears’ enclosure from that of the wolves, Petzi slept contently in one of the stone cages to which you get sight-access from the way alongside the wolves and coaties? enclosures.

The four wolves gave a matinee-concert-performance of the finest kind Falco (!) started timidly, Pelle joined in, followed diffidently by the two wolf-girls. This time I saw the four of them peacefully together. Pelle even didn’t lift his tail to show he is the boss, such there were no missunderstandings and everything remained peaceful. He also didn’t bother one of the girls this time he just made sure they were next to him. He obviously is most content when Falco is approximately four to at least two meters far from him and the girls.

The Gr-zebra little-ones are not so little anymore, at first sight it was even not possible to see which were the adult ones and which the three descendants. They are very attentive, especially one of them kept an eye on me. When I was under the impression it kind of nodded to me, I did the same. So we started kind of communication like that, which was very funny. I nodded, he/she answered. She/he nodded, I answered?. When I finally left there enclosure, he/she was after me with his/her looks until it looked to it like I was out of sight and continued to nosh as though nothing had happened. At least for me it was fun!

The trees in zoo still look lifeless but when you stand still and have a closer look, you can discover squirrels and birds, which you hear anyway all around zoo but don’t see them immediately. The eagles are also back in their aviary and are making some noise – this special kind of screech.

Lulu has fortunately improved a lot; however, I didn’t see her walking, just eating happily her portion of hay in the middle of the enclosure, Nico took his under the roof in the background.

Kumi obviously enjoyed that there was a visitor taking to her. She listened carefully. It’s obvious, she likes it! I made this experience once already earlier. After a while she started to go for a stroll, she made rounds within her far too small stall followed by her lovable daughter Zawadi round and round?.

Little Kigoma and mother Maburi are certainly also always worth a visit as the four tapirs are. I love them all in the Nashornhaus.

As you know already by now the three polar bear ladies are in the small enclosure next to Devi and Sutra, which were unfortunately not to be seen ? most certainly it was again too cold for them Therefore, I went to see them at their feeding time. They copy quite peacefully with one another; however, Tosca and Nancy are always eager to make sure that Katjuscha keeps a little distance. If she comes too close to their opinion, they push her aside ? not really unfriendly but decisive either with their full long side or taking their paws as an aid. Even I felt pity with Katjuscha, she obviously always would like to be near Nancy, I had to grin as this behaviour reminds me a lot of human behaviour. Sometimes animals are not such different from one another one normally thinks

Finally I come to our darlings Knuti and Giovanna. When we arrived their enclosure early in the morning, Knuti was awake but in a very relaxative position on his prominent rock looking dozily at his visitors. Giovanna slept in the deep hole they have dig together and was hardly to be seen. When I came back after a extensive zoo round, Giovanna still slept at the same place and Knuti alongside the bears’ court rocks in the sun. So I went for a second tour, followed by a short restaurant visit.

At the time Knuti’s feeding came nearer, a good many of visitors had rallied round him including some visitors of foreign countries which were content to get the chance to witness a Knuti-feeding. Knuti then was too sweet when he munched his food with relish and begged for more each time it went not quick enough with the feeding in his opinion. When Giovanna came back and after she had picked up anything that was left as e.g. some carrots and apples, Mrs Weckert had thrown in the upper part of the enclosure for her, the both of them didn’t make a fuss but it was nice anyway to see their little actions and sparsely kisses. It looks so sweet when one of them takes just the black point of the nose of the other one very softly between their impressive teeth for a polar bear kiss! Mmmmmmm……..

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Maybe some of you have read about Vasaloppet – a long distance ski race that takes place every year on the first Sunday of March. The whole week is filled with skiing events – there’s a race for children, for women only ‘tjejvasan’, ski relays – you name it – and it all culminates with the ‘real’ Vasaloppet. It’s a competition for  top skiers but also open for amateurs with a good condition.

You can read more about Vasaloppet here

When Ewa and I heard about this event we immediately decided to participate. Since Orsa Ghönklitt also is a famous winter sports resort we’ve seen people skiing and believe me – it looks like a very tiring kind of way to move forwards! Being clever bears we wouldn’t dream of skiing 90 kilometers. No, we rented two fast snowmobiles!

In the morning we had asked Pernilla to wake us up early and bring a really hearty breakfast for us because we knew the day would be loooong.

The race begins in Berga, a little village in Dalarna. When we arrived we were amazed to see almost 16.000 skiers waiting for the start! However, we thought it was unnecessary to wait for the starter to use his gun so we started our snowmobiles and off we went.

The first control is in Smågan (11 km) where you can have something to eat and drink. We checked what they had to offer. There was blueberry soup, meat bouillon and cinnamon bread. We remembered how messy it is with the blue berries. Last summer our furs were all blue after we had been eating these delicious berries so this time we only had a couple of cinnamon breads – 26 to be precise.

The next stop was Mångsbodarna (24 km) and by this control many of the skiers usually have had enough and give up. We didn’t give up – we had given our keepers an order to stand by with some yammy salmons so we made a short break for a snack.

In Risberg (34 km) we had hot bouillon and a couple of cinnamon breads and watched on TV how the skiers were struggling on the loop. Oh, we had a good laugh thinking how comfortable we were compared to the poor two legged creatures…..

Well, no time to lose – we continued our race to Evertsberg (47 km) and of course, we needed some more calories to keep our sporting spirits up. By this control half the race is done and the number of participants has diminished. Luckily there are doctors and nurses to take care of the exhausted skiers.

In Oxberg I called my pal Knut in Bärlin and thanked him for the good idea of renting a snowmobile. You see, he’s older than me and knows a lot about these sporting matters. Ewa wanted to freshen up her fur so we made a little longer stop here. Of course, we had something to eat as well….

White, fluffy and beautiful we continued to Hökberg (71 km) where we were interwiewed by the Swedish TV. The reporter thought we were two legged creatures dressed like polar bears but when he found out  we are real he suddenly started running and screaming something like ‘oh my God, I’ve been interwiewing polar bears’. It really was a hilarious sight!

Later we heard that a few years ago only men were allowed to participate in Vasaloppet so many women dressed like men to be able to start in the race. There were lots of very feminine men with a faulse moustasche, hahaa…. I suggested Ewa would wear a moustasche, too but she wouldn’t hear about it. She wanted to look her best in case there would be more TV-interwiews.

When we came to Eldris we had already made 81 km of the race! We checked the standings on TV and saw we were leading the race – the others had hardly reached the first control! Once again we wondered why they didn’t take a snowmobile instead of skis. After a little snack – 5 salmons and 34 cinnamon breads – we headed towards the finish in Mora.

In Mora (90 km) a ‘Kranskulla’ was waiting for us. Kranskulla is a girl dressed in a traditional outfit and it’s considered to be a very great honour to be elected the Kranskulla of the year! She will reward the winner with a laurel wrath by the finish line. We had, of course, had our own ‘election’ and I think you can guess whom we chose. Yes, doesn’t she look familiar? Since we don’t care so much about laurel wraths we had expressed a humble wish of having a couple of salmons instead….

After crossing the finish line we had a great celebration. We danced, made high fives and of course, we simply had to have something yammy to eat. Our Kranskulla had made delicious cakes with fish oil for us – oh, we were so proud and happy!

There was no sign of the other competitors yet so we decided to go back to Orsa which is only a stone’s throw from Mora – about 30 km. It was much more fun to somersault in our own mountain than to wait for the slow skiers!

What a wonderful day it was! We will definitely do the Vasaloppet again next year!

…………………………………………………….

Ewa, Wilbär und Vasaloppet – Ûbersetzung von Ludmila

Vielleicht haben einige von Euch über Vasaloppet – einen langstrecken Skirennen gelesen, das jedes Jahr am ersten Sonntag des Märzes stattfindet. Die ganze Woche wird mit Ski Ereignissen gefüllt – es gibt ein Rennen für Kinder, ein Rennen nur für Frauen ‘tjejvasan’, und Skistaffelläufe, und all das kulminiert mit dem ‘echten’ Vasaloppet. Es ist ein Wettkampf nicht nur für die Spitzenskifahrer sondern auch offen für Dilettanten mit einer guten sportlichen Form.

Sie können mehr über Vasaloppet hier lesen

Als Ewa und ich über dieses Ereignis hörten, entschieden wir uns sofort teilzunehmen. Weil Orsa Ghönklitt auch ein bekannter Wintersportart-Ferienort ist, haben wir Leute Ski laufen gesehen und glaubt uns – es ist eine sehr anstrengende Art sich vorwärts zu bewegen! Als kluge Bären, würden wir vom 90 Kilometer Skilaufen nicht träumen. Nein, wir mieteten zwei schnelle Motorschlitten!

Am Morgen hatten wir Pernilla gebeten, uns früh zu wecken und ein wirklich herzliches Frühstück für uns zu bringen, weil wir wussten, dass der Tag laaaang sein wird.

Das Rennen beginnt in Berga, einem kleinen Dorf in Dalarna. Als wir ankamen, wunderten wir uns, fast 16.000 Skifahrer zu sehen, die auf den Anfang warteten! Jedoch dachten wir, dass es unnötig war, auf den Starter zu warten, der seinen ’startgun’ benutzt, so starteten wir unsere Motorschlitten an und es ging los.

Die erste Kontrolle ist in Sm å gan (11 km), wo Sie etwas zum essen und zum trinken haben können. Wir überprüften, was sie im Angebot hatten. Es gab Heidelbeere-Suppe, Fleisch-Brühe und zimtfarbiges Brot. Wir erinnerten uns, wie unordentlich es mit den blauen Beeren ist. Letzten Sommer waren unsere Pelze ganz Blau, nachdem wir diese köstlichen Beeren gegessen hatten. Dieses Mal hatten wir nur einige zimtfarbige Brote genommen- 26, um genau zu sein.

Der folgende Halt war M å ngsbodarna (24 km) und bei dieser Kontrolle haben viele der Skifahrer gewöhnlich genug und geben auf. Wir gaben nicht auf – wir hatten unsere Tierpfleger gebeten mit einem köstlichen Lachs auf uns hier zu warten, so machten wir eine kurze Unterbrechung für einen Imbiss.

In Risberg (34 km) hatten wir heiße Brühe und einige zimtfarbige Brote und sahen im Fernsehen zu, wie die Skifahrer auf der Schleife kämpften. Oh, wir hatten ein gutes Lachen, das denkt, wie bequem wir im Vergleich zu den armen zweibeinigen Wesen waren…..

So, keine Zeit, um zu verlieren – setzten wir unseren Rennen zu Evertsberg (47 km) fort, wir brauchten noch einige Kalorien, um unsere sportlichen Geister aufrechtzuerhalten. Dieser Kontrollpunkt bedeutet die Hälfte vom Rennen, und die Zahl von Teilnehmern vermindert sich. Glücklicherweise gibt es Ärzte und Krankenschwestern, um auf die erschöpften Skifahrer aufzupassen.

In Oxberg rufte ich meinen Freund Knut in Bärlin an und bedankte mich bei ihm für die gute Idee, einen Motorschlitten zu mieten. Sie sehen, er ist älter als ich und weiß sehr gut Bescheid über diese sportlichen Sachen. Ewa wollte ihren Pelz erfrischen, so machten wir ein wenig längeren Halt hier. Natürlich hatten wir etwas, um ebenso zu essen….
Weiß, flaumig und schön setzten wir zu Hökberg fort (71 km), wo wir ein Interview dem schwedischen Fernsehen gaben. Der Reporter dachte, dass wir zweibeinige Wesen waren, die wie Eisbären angekleidet sind, aber als er herausfand, dass wir echt sind, fing er plötzlich an, zu laufen und etwas wie ‘oh mein Gott zu schreien, ich habe die Eisbären um ein Interview gebeten. Er war wirklich ein komischer Mann!!

Später hörten wir, dass vor ein paar Jahren nur Männern erlaubt wurde, an Vasaloppet teilzunehmen. So viele Frauen kleideten sich wie Männer an um teilnehmen zu dürfen. Es gab viele sehr weibliche Männer mit einem falschen Bart, hahaa…. Ich schlug vor, dass Ewa einen Bart auch tragen würde, aber sie wollte darüber nicht hören. Sie wollte sehr schön aussehen, im Falle dass es mehr Fernsehen-Interviews geben würde.

Als wir zu Eldris kamen, hatten wir bereits 81 km gemacht! Wir überprüften den Stand im Fernsehen und sahen, dass wir das Rennen führten – die anderen hatten die erste Kontrolle erst erreicht! Wieder fragten wir uns, warum sie einen Motorschlitten statt Skis nicht nahmen. Nach einem kleinen Imbiss – 5 Lachse und 34 zimtfarbigen Broten – starteten wir zum Finish in Mora.

In Mora (90 km) wartete ein ‘Kranskulla’ auf uns. Kranskulla ist ein in die traditionelle Kleidung gekleidetes Mädchen, und es ist eine sehr große Ehre, zum Kranskulla des Jahres gewählt zu werden! Sie übergibt dem Sieger einen Lorbeer-Kranz an der Ziellinie. Wir hatten natürlich unsere eigene ‘Wahl’ gehabt, und ich denke, dass Sie denken können, wen wir wählten. Ja, sieht sie nicht vertraut aus? Da wir uns nicht so viel über den Lorbeer-Kranz freuten, hatten wir einen bescheidenen Wunsch ausgedrückt, einige Lachse stattdessen zu haben….

Nach der Überfahrt der Ziellinie hatten wir ein großes Feiern. Wir, tanzten, klatschten alle Hände ab und natürlich, wir mussten einfach etwas Schönes zum Essen haben. Unser Kranskulla hatte köstliche Kuchen mit Fischöl für uns gemacht – oh, wir waren so stolz und glücklich!

Es gab noch kein Zeichen von den anderen Mitbewerbern, so entschieden wir uns dafür, zu Orsa zurückzugehen, der ein Steinwurf von Mora – ungefähr 30 km ist. Es war viel mehr Spaß, in unserem eigenen Berg einen Purzelbaum zu schlagen, als, auf die langsamen Skifahrer zu warten!

Welcher wunderbare Tag war es! Wir werden an Vasaloppet im nächsten Jahr wieder teilnehmen!

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