Schönbrunn Zoo has donated the body of a deceased polar bear to the NHM Vienna for the special exhibition “The ARCTIC. A Polar World in Transition”, which runs until 22 September 2024. Thanks to its excellence in craftsmanship and artistic skill, the NHM’s main zoological taxidermy department has transformed the female polar bear into a lifelike exhibit.
 
The polar bear was born at Tallinn Zoo in Estonia in 2013 and came to Schönbrunn Zoo in 2017, where she gave birth to a cub in 2019. She had to be euthanised in the fall of 2022, when it soon became clear that the bear would be given a second life as a museum specimen at the Natural History Museum and act as an ambassador for her endangered species in the special exhibition.
 
Taxidermy as a museum exhibition piece
When preparing animals for exhibition, the chief difficulty is recreating how the original animal typically looked and carried itself. For the Schönbrunn polar bear, a PU foam body had to be made precisely to measure before the skin and fur could be prepared on the body. After drying, remnants of polar bear fur from the NHM Vienna’s scientific mammal collection were used to fill in the shaved areas of skin – the animal had received intensive veterinary care prior to euthanisation – and finally “make-up” was applied to the prepared bear to add colour.
 
Will polar bears only exist in museums 100 years from now?
Global warming is causing the polar bears’ habitat to disappear faster and faster. Polar bears need closed pack ice areas to hunt seals, their main food source, where they wait at breathing holes for the animals to emerge. Climate change means that the sea ice freezes later in the year and is also less thick, making hunting and finding mates more difficult.
People often ask whether polar bears will still be around 100 years from now. At the same time, this very justified concern proves that living creatures are sometimes capable of astonishing adaptability to change. Crossbreeding between polar bears and grizzlies has become increasingly common in recent years. The light brown bears (“cappuccino bears”) show characteristics of both species, can continue to reproduce successfully and perhaps establish a bear population that can cope better with climate change than polar bears
 
The NHM Vienna plans to use the exhibition “The ARCTIC. A Polar World in Transition” to highlight the beauty and vulnerability of the Arctic and its biotic communities, as well as the threats they face. Information on climate change is intended not only to educate, but also to inspire further thought and action. The NHM Vienna takes its socio-political responsibility seriously.
 
Lecture on March 6 at the NHM Vienna
Dr. Folko Balfanz, zoological curator at Schönbrunn Zoo, will explain how difficult it is for polar bears to adapt to these changes in an NHM lecture held on Wednesday, 6 March 2024. The keeping and breeding of polar bears at Schönbrunn Zoo is a tradition, but the zoo has also kept up with the science. The zoo works together with the non-governmental organisation Polar Bears International (PBI), finances projects in the wild, conducts research and raises awareness as an “Arctic Ambassador Centre”.
A valid admission ticket is required; admission to the lecture is free.
The lecture will take place in the NHM lecture hall. No registration is required.
https://www.nhm-wien.ac.at/veranstaltungsprogramm/tiergarten_schoenbrunn_als_arctic_ambassador_center
 
Archive of the Future, a new film by Joerg Burger
The preparation of the Schönbrunn polar bear also inspired Joerg Burger, who created a small monument to her in his new film about the Natural History Museum “Archive of the Future”. The film will be shown in Austrian cinemas from 15 March 2024.
 
https://filminstitut.at/filme/archiv-der-zukunft
 
https://www.nhm-wien.ac.at/jart/prj3/nhm-resp/data/uploads/ArchivderZukunftFilm_2024-01-18_1301300.pdf