With Master Petz to the Rostock Polar Bears

Akiak is the name of the polar bear enjoying the morning sun on the smooth rocks of the polar bear enclosure in Rostock Zoo's Polarium. Aki, for friends. Animal keeper Matthias „Petz“ Petzoldt is one of the friends, and soon eight-year-old Erik, who is still waiting excitedly behind the large gate to the Polarium, which Petz is about to open. Then Erik will stand face to face with Akiak. Eye to eye, in private. Only Erik's mother is present, as well as Petz and his colleague Lukas Stelljes, both zookeepers and animal experts. At Rostock Zoo – üby the way, the best zoo in Europe – this is possible. „Exclusive Animal Encounters“ is the name of the offer where zoo visitors can take a look behind the scenes at the day-to-day work of the zookeepers and get to know various animals up close. For example, the Rostock polar bear Akiak.

For Erik, this is the first time he has come so close to the ice bears. To celebrate, he has put on his blue T-shirt with the wild animals printed on it. He has already learned a lot about life in the Arctic and the ice bears this morning. First on the agenda was a visit to the Ice Worlds – visitor center of the Polarium –. Between large canvases with lonely Spitsbergen landscapes, Erik was able to compare his hand with the front paw of an ice bear - five times as big as Erik's! He was able to handle a polar bear's teeth with 42 teeth, touch a small iceberg and get in the perfect mood for his encounter with Aki. Icebergs can jump five meters from a standing start," the boy breathlessly read to his mother. „And still two and a half meters out of the water! That's amazing! Only then did we reach the gate. Behind it is a spacious, 3,500 square meter tundra landscape, designed to look like the Canadian Hudson Bay. This is where Akiak and his two conspecifics, the Rostock polar bears Sizzel and Noria, live.

„Aki really likes doing this and is always very attentive“, says Matthias Petzoldt. „Our giant Labrador!“ The animal keeper explains to Erik that this training takes place every day and that sitting up, opening the mouth and learning other commands are part of the so-called „medical training“. The aim is to be able to examine the polar bears, the largest land predators in the world, without anesthesia and to be able to carry out minor treatments. First a bucket of herring! But Akiak only gets it after training, when he dives weightlessly through the large water basin and Erik watches this very special water ballet, in which Sizzel and Noria also take part, through the huge glass pane.

It's not just Rostock Zoo that offers exclusive glimpses behind the scenes; visitors can also encounter animals and nature in a very special way at the other nature experience centers in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

More information on nature experiences and centers in MV: on-mv.de/nature-experience