Watch: Endangered Polar Bear Tundra Explores Detroit Zoo

Royal Oak, MI — Tundra, a 29-year-old female polar bear, spent the day Tuesday exploring and getting accustomed to her new home at the Detroit Zoo’s Arctic Ring of Life.

Tundra made to the trip to Metro Detroit last weekend after the Indianapolis Zoo decided to permanently close its polar bear exhibit.

Tundra was the solitary resident at the Indy Zoo, but she has company at the zoo in Royal Oak —Talini, born in 2004 at the zoo, and Nuka, who arrived in 2011 as a potential mate for her.

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Ron Kagan, executive director of the Detroit Zoological Society, said in a statement that Tundra is “acclimating very well to her new environment.”

“She is sweet and curious and rather sprightly for an elderly bear,” Kagan said.

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Detroit Zoo to Get Third Endangered Polar Bear

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At 29, Tundra is one of the oldest polar bears in captivity. Polar bears have an average lifespan of 15-18 years in the wild and 21-24 years in zoos.

“Animals in general tend to live longer in captivity due to the health care and nutrition provided by veterinarians and animal care staff,” Kagan said

It’s rare for a zoo to obtain polar bears, listed as endangered in 2008. Due to their protected status, few polar bears are relocated or moved from other facilities in North America, zoo officials have said.

The Arctic Ring of Life is considered one of the leading facilities in the world for captive polar bears. In selecting Detroit for Tundra, the Indy Zoo cited large spaces and pools with easy slopes to help Tundra to enter and exit the water, especially as she gets older.

Three arctic foxes and five seals also live at the Arctic Ring of Life, one of the largest habitats for polar bears in North America. The state-of-the-art, interactive facility encompasses more than four acres of outdoor and indoor habitats and public spaces. The bears have access to grassy tundra, a “pack ice” area, a freshwater pool and a 190,000-gallon saltwater pool, as well as indoor spaces.

Visitors can view the polar bears and seals swimming above and around them from the facility’s 70-foot-long Frederick and Barbara Erb Polar Passage.

Images and video courtesy of the Detroit Zoo