Auf nach Sibirien zu Commander Sedov....

Das ist der 7 jährige Eisbär Commander Sedov aus dem sibirischen Zoo in Krasnoyarsk am 4.Oktober. Ungewöhnlich warme Temperaturen über 20°C noch vor ein paar Tagen, ließen den Commander noch mehr Zeit als ohnehin üblich in seinem Pool verbringen...

Seven-year-old polar bear Commander Sedov shakes off water in his pool at the Royev Ruchey zoo while playing with a ball in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, October 4, 2009. Unusually warm weather for this time of the year with temperatures over 20 degrees Celcius (68 degree Fahrenheit) has prompted the bear to spend still much more of his time in his pool. Dieses Foto entstand im Juli 2008-
This photo was taken in July 2008...Wenn es ums Schwimmen, Tauchen und Sich-das-Fell-Ausschütteln geht, ist Commander Sedov nämlich kein Unbekannter....Dieses Foto vom 31.10.2007, da war der Commander also 5, fand ich letztes Jahr zufällig bei Dostoy im Blog, es war damals das erste Mal überhaupt , dass ich dort wegen Eisbären bei ihm in Chicago gelandet bin...

When it's about swimming, diving and shaking off water in different physical states, then Commander Sedov usually appears on the scene...That photo I found accidentally on Dostoy's blog, by the way the very first time ever that I checked for polar bears in Chicago...Also on October 31, 2007- with meat...in the pool...Und hier noch eine ganze Bilderserie vom Tag, als sein Pool nach Reperaturarbeiten wieder "bezugsfertig" war...-

A combination of pictures shows polar bear Commander Sedov jumping into his favourite pool for the first time after maintenance work in a zoo in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk August 5, 2008. Commander Sedov leapt on Tuesday into his favourite pool for the first time in over one month when it re-opened after maintenance work. There are two pools in the outdoor enclosure but the six-year-old polar bear prefers to spend most of his time in the one that was closed for re-painting.
Natürlich versuchte ich auch etwas über Sedov und den Roev Ruchey Zoo in Krasnayarsk herauszubekommen, dies ist nicht ganz so einfach. Der Zoo liegt im Westen der Stolby Nature Reserve und gilt als einer der artenreichsten Zoos in Russland.Commander Sedov ist der berühmteste Einwohner des Zoos, er war 2003 ein Geschenk des Governors Alexander Khloponin. Der echte Commander Sedov war im übrigen ein Arktisforscher. Das Foto oben habe ich in einem russischen Blog gefunden, ich vermute es ist Sedov... -

Sure, I also tried to find out more about the commander and the Roev Ruchey Zoo in Krasnayarsk. Not that easy, the zoo is located westward of the entrance to the Stolby Nature Reserve, its animal collection is considered as one of the richest in Russia. Commander Sedov is the zoo's most famous inhabitant and was gifted to the zoo by the governor Alexander Khloponin in 2003. By the way, Commander Sedov, the person, was a polar researcher. The photo above I have found on a Russian blog, it looks like it is Sedov....

Aber ich fand auch noch andere Fotos, aufgenommen im Herbst letzten Jahres...-
But I found other photos too, taken in autum 2008......vielleicht liege ich falsch, aber es sieht mir nicht nach dem Commander aus...Sollte dies etwas die gewachsene Ausgabe von diesem Kleinen unten sein...?

....maybe I am wrong, but to me it does not look like Sedov...Could it be the more grown up version of this bear, a cutie which by the way has been waiting (without any details then) to be presented already for quite some time on my hard disk...?

Das war im Juni 2006, ein verwaistes 4 Monate altes Junges wurde im Zoo von der wissenschaftlichen Forschungsstation auf Wrangel Island in der Arktis zum Aufpäppeln abgegeben...-

A four-month-old polar bear cub peeks out of a shed in an enclosure in a zoo in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk June 6, 2006. The weak and hungry orphaned cub was delivered in May from a scientific polar station on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean to Krasnoyarsk zoo to recover, as it lags behind in its development by about one month.Hier rund 2 Wochen später, ebenfalls nach einem Bad mit seinem kleinen Hippo...-
And here about 2 weeks later, after a bath together with its little hippo toy...

Wouldn't it be nice to get to know if there is really still a second polar bear beside Commander Sedov in Krasnoyarsk, I wouldn't mind some more details about both of them...

Photo credits:
Ilya Naymushin/Reuters (1), Dailife (2 & 3 & 4), Sedov behind bars (5), Spiegel (9/cub), Isegoria.net (8/cub), Jonathan Worthington (6 & 7/older cub ?)

Already Winter????

This photo of David C. Schultz was the first one a few weeks ago showing that autumn in Utah must have been short...
Since two days now, in more and more areas in Europe it has been snowing now, though I'll take it that at least some are thrilled...

So , to all polar bears and human creatures, who feel already uncomfortable by seeing a snow flake ...Have a nice day anyway!

Photo credits:
David C. Schultz (1),the Polar Bears (2) I have borrowed secetly today from Ursi...))

Ein besonderer Tag....Happy Birthday, Christina M!

Zwischen Regen, klarem Herbstlicht und einer Rose ...-
Between rain, clear lights of autumn and a rose...
Einem Eisbären auf der Straße...-
A polar bear on the road...Drei liebliche Sequenzen von 2 entspannten Eisbären, die mal nicht um den heißen Brei herumlaufen ...-
Three lovely sequences of two relaxed bears, for once not just pussyfooting around...

Danke, Christina M, nicht nur für dieses tolle gestrige Album...
Deine beständigen Besuche, deine behutsame Berichterstattung, die Fotos und Videos, die du so großzügig mit uns allen teilst, haben zu einem nicht unerheblichen Teil mit dazu beigetragen, dass ich quasi seit meinen ersten vorsichtigen Blicken in Knuts Blog im März 2007 unheilbar infiziert wurde. Alles Liebe zu deinem Geburtstag wünscht dir heute Knuts Aussenposten, der sich schamlos immer wieder bei dir mit Fotos bedient...Heute ist ein guter Tag mal Happy Birthday und Danke zu sagen...

Thank you, ChristinaM, not only for this beautiful album from yesterday...
It's also due to your consequent zoo visits, your reports, photos and videos you share so generously, that I got uncurable infected ever since I started peering into Knut's Blog in March 2007. Knut's Aussenposten, always shamelessly borrowing your photos, wants to wish you all the best to your birthday today...A good day to say thank you and Happy Birthday...

こんにちは。 Kon'nichiwa....News from Sapporo...

Erinnern Sie sich noch an uns??? Das bin ich, Mutter Lara (oder manchmal auch Rara oder Lala...) in Sapporo, mit meinen beiden Kleinen, die mich manchmal ganz schön auf Trab halten...-

Remember us? That's me, Mother Lara (sometimes Rara or even Lala...) in Sapporo, with my two little ones' who by the way are keeping me quite busy... ...und die auch gar nicht mehr so klein sind...-
...and who in fact aren't any more so little...Es gibt Neuigkeiten..., nicht dass wir es die ganze Zeit ausgesessen hätten..., aber es wurde ja wohl auch mal Zeit...-

There are news..., not that we have been sitting it out..., but too be honest, we had been waiting for quite some time...
Ja, ehrlich, echt wahr...-
Yes, you can say so...
Und deshalb ein Trommelwirbel ganz und gar auf japanisch...(normalerweise essen wir damit))!-
So, drum roll now, sure, Japanese style...(usually we eat with these sticks...))!
Denn es steht jetzt fest, laut DNA Test sollen wir Jungen sein (obwohl alle warten irgendwie auf das Gegenteil...)) und was aber wichtiger ist, seit September haben wir jetzt Namen....Kiroru und Ikor(oder auch Ikoro), es gab genau 5936 Namenseinsendungen...-

As it's official now, first of all, we are boys, DNA confimed boys to be more precise (although there are still people out there waiting for the contrary...)), and what is more important, since September we have got names, Kiroru and Ikor (sometimes Ikoro) made it out of 5936 entries...

In Anbetracht dieser gewichtigen Tatsache gucken wir auch schon mal ernst... Ikor bedeutet übrigens Schatz und Kiroru Straße...-

Due to this immense important fact we are allowed to put on a serious face, aren't we? By the way, Ikor means treasure and Kiroru road...
Die Frage ist nun bloß, wer von uns ist hier gefallen...?-
Now the big question, who of us was falling here...?

Related articles and sources about :
- Significance of Names, Gender & Weight, Names' Competition
- Sapporo enclosure photos, signs & souvenirs/blog (quite different...)
- more photos here and here and here
- photos of Steve Tracy (4,5)
- Main photo source Twin Diary/ Sapporo Maruyama Zoo (more to come soon)
- Posting "Meet Rara and her Twins"/28.05.09

Lala goes shopping...

This is Lala, a Japanese penguin at age 14 then, rescued by a Japanese fisherman years ago. Now living in an air-conditioned room she likes to run errands....walking to the fish store every day, carrying her penguin backpack. The cutest part is when the old lady at the fish store says: "See you again tomorrow, Lala-chan!" and the penguin nods furiously. When she gets home to her rescuer fisherman's home, the bird just walks into her little refrigerated room for some down time.

"Lala’s owners often took their pet penguin on the quarter-mile walk to the local fish market. When Lala began disappearing occassionally, her owners discovered that Lala was going to the market on her own.

The owner of the fish shop keeps track of Lala’s purchases and sends a bill to her owners. She says that Lala eats only the freshest fish. Mackerel and sardines are her favorites."

By the way in Japaenese Lala is pronounced Rara...(found here)

Video credits: here

Review: Gianna Meets the Press ....2 Weeks Ago...

"Hinweis für die Presse: Die Eisbärin Giovanna kann am Mittwoch, dem 23. September, zwischen 11.00 und 12.00 Uhr auf der Freianlage von Knut gefilmt und fotografiert werden."

Eisbärin Giovanna zeigt sich erstmals dem Berliner Publikum.Die Eisbärin Giovanna, die am 8. September im Berliner Zoo eingetroffen ist, hat sich im Bärenrevier abseits der Öffentlichkeit sehr gut eingelebt. Nachdem sie ihre neue Futterstelle und den Schlafbereich hinreichend kennen gelernt hat, darf sie (...) erstmals die Freianlage von Knut erkunden – allerdings vorerst noch alleine. Erst wenn Giovanna sich auch auf der Außenanlage heimisch fühlt, kann an eine schrittweise Vergesellschaftung mit Knut gedacht werden. Durch ein Gitter getrennt hatten sich beide Tiere im Innenbereich der Bärenanlagen bereits vorsichtig bekannt gemacht....Diese bereits mit größter Spannung erwartete Nachricht ....-
These news about Gianna's first public appearence had been expected with lots of excitement.......sprach sich in Windeseile herum...-
...and travelled fast...
Insider setzten sich in Positur und warteten gespannt....(nein, es ging leider niemand herum, um den Wartenden einen Begrüßungsapéritif zu reichen, wie es sich eigentlich gehört hätte...)-

Insider waited already impatiently...(no, unfortunately noone went around serving welcoming cocktails as it would have been appropriate on this occasion, wouldn't it...?)
...die zoointeressierte Öffentlichkeit fand sich bereits frühzeitig ein, denn man wollte unbedingt dabei sein, wenn...-
...the zoo interested public arrived early, as one didn't want to miss... ...die italienische Münchnerin ihren Debut-Bearwalk absolvierte...-
...the debut bearwalk of the Italian signorina from Munich...
Wer dachte, sie würde sich schamhaft zieren...-
Who thought she would come out only reluctantly or too embarrassed...
...oder gegebenenfalls darauf verzichten, Hintern zu zeigen...-
...to show her back side... ...sah sich getäuscht...-
...was in for a surprise...
Sie zeigte alles, was sie drauf hatte...Die Keksdiät der Tage zuvor, hatten Dank heimlicher Fressgelage, den Rundungen keinen Abbruch getan....-

She showed everything...The cookies' diet of the days before, hadn't done any harm to the curves, thanks to some secret eating binges... Mit sensationellen Sprüngen ins Wasser entzückte sie nicht nur die Fotografen ( für die die meisten ihrer Aktionen übrigens einfach zu schnell waren)...-

With her sensational jumps into the moat, she did not only intrigue the photographers, for whom by the way, most of her actions happened most of the time too fast)...
Wirklich, von Behäbigkeit keine Spur...-
No, really, not a single trace of corpulence ...
Auch die Anpassung an das neue grüne Element ist vielversprechend, prompt stellt sich die Frage, wann wir Gianna und Knut gemeinsam im Partnerlook durch die Entengrütze schwimmen sehen werden...-

Promising too her immediate adjustment to the new green element, so - when will we see Gianna and Knut, swimming together in partner look through the duck weed..? Dies schien sich auch Gianna zu fragen, denn es zog sie immer wieder zur Höhle...-
Gianna too seemed to ask herself the same question, as she was drawn and drawn again to the cave...Doch wird sie diesen jungen Mann erkennen, wenn er dann mal zu ihr herauskommen darf...?-
But will she really be able to recognize this young man, when he is allowed to join her eventually...?

Gute Frage...- Good question...

Wie auch immer ..." Beide Eisbären sind in einem jugendlichen Alter, in dem sie noch keinen Geschlechtspartner suchen, jedoch kann es durchaus sein, dass sie sich zukünftig spielerisch miteinander beschäftigen werden. Bis dahin wird aber noch einige Zeit vergehen; denn erfahrungsgemäß braucht man für eine Bärenzusammenführung Ruhe, Geduld und Ausdauer."

Anyway it will take some time, patience and perserverance until we all know.

Note: The international press commented the debut enthusiastically by attributing Gianna star qualities...

Sources: Zoo Berlin /dt., CBS/engl., Knut's female companion steals the show

Photo credits:
ChristinaM (1,2,9,12,13,14,15), Nene(11), SylviaMickey (10), Monika (4), Claudia74 (3), Jessie (7), BM (5,6,8)

World's biggest bachelor on his first blind date...

Knut, World’s Biggest Bachelor, Meets Bear Girlfriend
Phil Butler
2009 September, 10th

"News from Berlin the other day revealed our once small and cuddly Knut the polar bear on his first blind date. My how time flies. I remember doing one of the first stories about Knut when he came into the limelight, and now he is all grown up and ready for man, uh, I mean bear-hood. According to Spiegel Online, Knut has been “set up” with Italian super bear Gianna (after Italian singer Gianna Nannini) at his home at the Berlin Zoo. Will this be the end of Knut’s lonely life as the world’s most famous polar bear?

Gianna, who was moved to the Berlin Zoo from Munich, has been taking it easy and trying to get over the trip according to curator Heiner Klös. But today the two are slated to be introduced to see if there is a warm and fuzzy feeling between them, or if either Knut or Gianna seem unwilling to share the limelight. As many of you may know, Knut became the world’s most celebrated polar bear when he became the first born at the Berlin facility in over 30 years.

Having been ignored by his mother, Knut touched the hearts of the world when images of him alone, essentially orphaned surfaced in 2006. I for one remember writing about it and seeing these images saddened me as well. Knut has been seen as something of a lonely and sad figure. Abandoned by mom, losing his human father figure zoo keeper Thomas DörfleinSo last year, Knut’s story has been double sided. Well, perhaps this news is appropriate for the ongoing story. Later on this week or this month I guess we will all know if Knut and his new squeeze hit it off or not. From this writer’s perspective, I sure hope so. I will never forget how sad and lonely Knut looked in those first photos in 2006."

While Gianna had to adjust first to her new environment and was kept until September 22 inside, not eating much except of one or another cookie, the press and the public had a hard time waiting, while Knut seemed to take not much notice about the whole fuzz...beside a little make-up (just in case) and sniffing out ...the new scent behind the bars,......business as usual......during the day(s) after Gianna's arrival...Source:
Phil Butler , Frans found this article

Photo credits: Monika (1,2,3), ChristinaM (4), DorisW (5), SylviaMickey (6)

Vom Junggesellen zum Blumenkavalier....Aufregende letzte Wochen...

Das war an Knuts 34 Monatsgeburtstag...Statt von Gianna Blumen zu bekommen, macht er sich auf den Weg, um ihr welche zu bringen... -

This was on Knut's 34 months' birthday...Instead of getting some flowers of Gianna, he starts going over, offering her a well- and with care arranged bouquet......doch entweder wollte Signorina Gianna die Sprache der Blumen nicht verstehen... -
...but either Signorina Gianna didn't want to understand the language of flowers ....
...oder es hätte vielleicht ein Lachs sein müssen, denn sie zeigte sich ausgesprochen unbeeindruckt und rümpfte sogar ihre Nase...-
...or it should have been something else, a salmon maybe, as she played the complete unimpressed...Mal ganz ehrlich, wie kann sie bloß...???
To be honest, how could she...???

Photo credits: ChristinaM

Note:

Da Knuts Aussenposten gerade auf den Hund gekommen ist und Miss Molly im Moment noch nicht selbst bloggen mag (wir arbeiten daran!!!) , sind wir gerade sehr im Rückstand mit Postings...Um die Entwicklung des aufregenden letzten Monats für Knut jedoch nicht vollends zu übergehen, kommen peu à peu ein paar der ursprünglich geplanten Beiträge im Anschluss, quasi als Minirückblick des letzten Monats.-

As Knut's outpost is for the time being rather busy with Miss Molly, who by the way is at the moment more interested in keeping me mopping instead of blogging (as to her, she has not yet decided about becoming a blogger herself- we are working on it...), we are rather late with Knut's and Gianna's exciting developments. As we don't want to skip this crucial period completely, some of the originally planned postings will come as sort of mini reviews of the last month.

Tiny, Brave and Courageous...

This happened already in December last year...
The video shows one dog struck by a vehicle while trying to cross a multi-lane highway in Chile. While no drivers stop to assist the injured dog, one very brave dog does intervene to save a fellow...

Read related article here

Herbstmomente...Kraniche in Brandenburg....

A group of Comon Cranes gather in dawn light, on their night-roost on a lake in the German state of Brandenburg, close to Berlin September 26, 2009. From September to November tens of thousands of Cranes use the rural area close to the German Capital for a stopover during their migration from Scandinavia and Eastern Europe to their wintering quarters in Spain. The agricultural plains surrounding Berlin are among the biggest Crane roosts in entire Europe with several tens of thousands birds gathering during the peak of migration between September and November. Picture taken September 26, 2009.

Photo credits:
Thomas Krumenacker/Reuters (Thank you, Dostoy!!!)