Alaska Tundra Exhibit

Overview

The Oregon Zoo's Alaska Tundra exhibit is brought to life for zoo visitors through interpretive graphics, animal exhibits, photographic displays and learning games.

What may seem like a frozen wasteland is actually a land rich in diversity of life forms. Our exhibit depicts this from the moment you enter. Howling winds, wolf calls and the thundering sound of a herd of caribou welcome you to the first part of the exhibit.

Animals

Walking Through the Exhibit

Moving into the exhibit, the "wall of extremes" explains the physical aspects of the land - how it "lives", how it sustains life, how it feels. Back- lit photographs of the region illustrate this unique ecosystem. A cross-section of the earth offers an opportunity to "see" and "feel" permafrost, the permanently frozen underlayment of the north slope. The top six to eight inches of tundra soil thaws each summer to give way to an abundance of colorful, tiny flowers and plants that cover the surface. A diorama illustrates just how different the surface appears in summer and winter. On the tundra, spring and fall barely exist.

The animals of the region are introduced next. A computer game shows how the number of lemmings living on the tundra affects other animal populations. For many animals, the food chain begins with these furry, six-inch-long rodents whose numbers rise and fall in cycles. When lemming populations are high, the number of wolves, snowy owls, and foxes begins to rise. When the lemmings have stripped the area of vegetation, they begin to die, thereby reducing the food supply and the numbers of other wildlife dependent upon them.

The final section of this part of the exhibit is a wall mural portraying Alaskan wildlife from the Ice Age to the present. Twelve thousand years ago, the area, then protected by mountain ranges, was inhabited by woolly mammoths, camels, lions, large horned bison, giant ground sloths, Arctic horses and saber-toothed cats. Southern movement of the ice sheets helped destroy the verdant refuge of central Alaska that housed these species, many of which migrated to the area across the Bering land bridge. What remained are the ancestors of the species that live there still, species that you will visit as you enter the second part of the exhibit.

Architects and designers had both the animals and visitors in mind when designing the enclosures. In hopes that the animals will be visible most of the time, naturalistic amenities were built towards the front of the enclosures. Wolf and grizzly bear dens, streams, and shaded areas are in full view.

Birds and ducks of the summer tundra are housed in a separate aviary that replicates the marshy characteristics of the land after the snow melts. Because the permafrost layer prevents water absorption, small ponds and marshes form, covering the tundra. Interestingly, these ponds, referred to by scientists as oriented lakes, lie on a common northwest-southeast axis. They become the nesting grounds for millions of birds, some migrating from as far as South America. A map of migration patterns details origins and distances traveled.

The wolves, grizzly bears and musk oxen live in grass and herbaceous plant covered enclosures that represent the rolling and slumping permafrost banks found across the tundra. Footprints imbedded in the concrete traverse the viewing areas. So that visitors can become more familiar with the animal's behaviors and characteristics, specimens, including wool, horns, fur, teeth, claws, scratching trees, and bones are found in interpretive displays located across from each enclosure.

Perhaps one of the most curious looking tundra animals in the exhibit are the musk oxen, rather odd looking creatures resembling something from an prehistoric era. Scientists believe the musk ox has not evolved significantly from early times. Part of its Latin name means sheep-cow, probably because the animal resembles both. A coat of wool protects the animals during the long cold Arctic winters. They also have sheep-like teeth, a cow-like tongue, heavy horns, and are hump- shouldered and sway-backed. Musk oxen are year round residents of the tundra, and eat dwarf willows and grasses. In winter they search for vegetation by using their large hoofed feet to scrape through the snow.

Musk oxen vanished from Alaska because of indiscriminate hunting. The last herd was killed in 1865 by native Alaskans with imported rifles. In 1930, the United States purchased 34 musk oxen from Greenland to begin the re-establishment of this native animal to its original range. By 1968 the herd had increased to 750 animals, and in 1970 was separated, with colonies being moved to five areas throughout the state.

The zoo's wolves in a hilly, grass covered area which contains a stream, trees for shade, and heated dens in which to sleep or rest. Wolves are numerous in most areas of Alaska. They hunt and travel in packs of up to 20 family members. Wolves follow caribou migrations, feeding on sick and young animals. Probably the most serious threat to moose and caribou, wolves were the subject of a massive government-sponsored eradication effort up until 1970. Beginning in 1920, a legal bounty was paid for their pelts. Perhaps because of this, the number of wolves on the tundra has remained quite low in comparison with the rest of the state.

If you've ever thought about meeting up with a grizzly bear, voluntarily or not, now is your chance. The grizzly exhibit has two dens, one of which has a wall of glass that lets the curious get nose to nose with Ursus arctos horribilus. Grizzlies, also called brown bears, are less numerous on the tundra than in any other area of Alaska. The coastal bears are commonly referred to as "browns" or "brownies", and are much larger than the bears living in other parts of the state. In Alaska, the interior and tundra bears are called "grizzlies." The diet of the world's largest carnivorous land mammal (polar bears are larger, but they spend most of their life at sea) consists mostly of grasses, herbaceous plants, berries and shrubs. However, they will eat meat depending on availability, salmon if they live in the coastal areas, and just about anything when they are hungry.

The last part of the exhibit begins at the end of the covered walkway. The sounds of rushing water, cracking ice and birds surround you as you enter a small theatre. A nine-projector slide show illustrates the burst of Arctic summer. Its 24-hour sunlight and immediate warmth provides the much needed sustenance for plants and shrubs that must bloom and go to seed in two short months.

Friendly competition with an educational twist can be tried in the learning games section of the exhibit. In "Animal Adaptations", you are asked to name the animal after reading a list of its characteristics and behaviors. Elements that impact an animal's ability to exist on the tundra is the focus of "Race for Survival". This re-designed board game presents strategies for survival as well as the hardships these animals face.

The "micro tundra" is portrayed in a series of photographs of the plants that cover the surface. Cold winds, permafrost, 9’ months of darkness and wet summer soil force plants to live in miniature form. Explanations on their amazing adaptations follow.

Because the layer of top soil is so thin and wet, and because the winter is so harsh, trees do not survive. But some of the plants and flowers in the photographs may seem familiar to you. In many cases, they are the "cousins" of those that thrive in seemingly gargantuan qualities in the Pacific Northwest.

After seeing this photographic display, you may notice that the trees and plants in the exhibit are not exactly tundra-size. In Oregon, where plants can grow wild in a few short months, this task was a challenge impossible to meet. But trees, shrubs, grasses, and ground covers that are native to the more southern areas of Alaska were planted throughout the exhibit. Trees chosen for their visual characteristics are mountain hemlock, a slow growing evergreen that has the stunted and dwarfed characteristics of trees growing in an extreme environment, shore pine, paper birch, and dwarf Alaska blue willow.

The pathway leading out of the exhibit is lined with what many regard as the "symbol" of Alaska - a herd of caribou. Artist Tom Hardy recreated the sense of the spectacular caribou migrations in an 18' forged bronze sculpture of the "nomads of the North." Funds for the piece were donated by the Friends of the Zoo and Delores Winningstad.

Much of Alaska remains wild. Despite development, due in large part to the discovery of oil on the north slope in 1968, the land still sustains the large numbers of wildlife with which the region is long associated. Herds of up to 100,000 caribou travel through every part of the state. Still, it is perhaps fortunate that the physical extremes of the tundra will prevent much development beyond oil pipelines.

As you leave the zoo's Alaska Tundra exhibit thought-provoking quotes leave with you.

"The sounds, the colors, the cold, the darkness, the emptiness, the bleakness, the beauty."

"Miles beyond measure, numbers beyond counting."

Enrichment  

Learn about the things we do to enrich the lives of our animals.