Please bear with us: Como Zoo upgrades exhibit

Talk about comforts for creatures.

Native plantings, saltwater pools and rocky outcroppings await Buzz and Neil, the Como Zoo's twin polar bears who have been hanging out in Detroit while their home is renovated.

The not-yet-open Polar Bear Odyssey exhibit is quite an upgrade from their former concrete-laden home.

It's about six months from opening, but major construction is complete. Already, the facility has been getting rave reviews from polar bear preservationists and advocacy groups.

Zoo curator John Dee said the attention to details and efforts to provide an enjoyable experience for both human and animal puts Como in a position to welcome new bears, rescued cubs and breeding bear couples.

In total, it's about a $15 million project. About $10 million has come from the state and city. Como Friends, the nonprofit that contributes to programs and projects at the St. Paul zoo and conservatory, will help raise the remaining $5.2 million in private money.

The exhibit is four times the size of the old one and is intended to mimic a Hudson Bay ecosystem.

There are two outside exhibit areas, which meet at an indoor structure with a maze of concrete holding pens and training areas.

An indoor room provides views of all three areas through thick glass. There will be various interactive education stations, and visitors will be able to watch zookeepers do training exercises with the bears.

Outside, a visitor looking at one side of the outdoor spaces will see a flat area similar to the tundra -- it's not a vast expanse, but it gives that feeling. It's a good spot for pictures, with no fencing in the way. The other outdoor area has fencing around the viewing areas and is framed by evergreen trees.

The bears will get a view of their bison neighbors and a nearby golf course. (They like to watch things.)

Felled trees -- including one with a root ball on the end -- scrub brush and concrete rocks are throughout. The ground is covered with soil, grass or gravel.

There's a stream and three saltwater pools, one of which has a controllable depth so it can be made shallow for cubs learning how to swim.

A prized feature of the outdoor exhibit is a 260-square-foot "dig pit," an area that will be filled with rocks and dirt. Treats will be buried to give the bears something to paw for.

"It inspires natural behaviors," said zookeeper Becky Heitzman.

A knotty pine lodge, which can be rented for meetings and events, borders one of the outdoor areas. If a bear was so inclined, its nose would touch the glass of the lodge windows. New outdoor bathrooms are also connected.

There are several opportunities to get nose-to-nose with the bears, from the glass giving a view into the pools to what will be known as "the den." For humans, there's an outside alcove with steps leading to a window. For the bears there's a rocky overhang. The thought is that in summer cold air will blow on both sides, giving both person and animal a chance to cool off and say hello.

Education is a major part of the exhibit, and there will be a focus on the changing environment affecting polar bears.

Polar bears are the largest land predators in the world and live in areas around the Arctic. In Manitoba, Canada, bears gather on the western shore of Hudson Bay in the fall to wait for the ice to come so they can hunt ringed seals. The bears hunt and eat during winter and generally live off their stores of fat in a state of "walking hibernation" during warmer months.

But the winters have been getting shorter, ice is melting faster and bears are going hungry sooner. There's a growing problem of cubs being abandoned by mothers who hadn't gotten enough food to be able to nurse them, Dee said.

It's a real-life example of global warming, advocates say, and the Como exhibit will try to educate people on positive things they can do to reduce carbon emissions.

"As a public institution, our job isn't to force political views on people, but we will provide data on what's happening," zookeeper Sara Courteau said.

Chris Havens • 612-673-4148