This afternoon at the Zoo the keepers were persuading the haughty flamingoes to take up residence in their pond at the foot of the new Mappin terraces. All this week the animals will be walking two by two from their cages to the semi-liberty of the terraces. About a dozen bears are already there, sniffing about the concrete hillocks, but the bears in the rather dark and confined cages under the old terrace walk have yet to be shifted. Their removal will be the toughest job, for the keepers tell you that you never know when you have a bear. The removal of the goats and other rock-climbing creatures that will inhabit the three mountains at the back will be easy.
Sam and Barbara, the two Polar bears, have been in their compartment since Christmas, and are as happy in it as if they had never lived anywhere else. They have never done anything so foolish as to try and cross the twelve-foot ditch that divides them from the gazers on the terrace. They have a good deep pond at the back, and behind the terraces there is a little window through which you can watch them actually swimming under water. It is a queer sensation to stand there and see Sam's eyes in the great white head gazing at you through the pane. Seen through the green water his body looks enormous as he slowly moves about. Sam can stop under water for three minutes, but Barbara beats him as a diver. One imagines that the concrete floor and walls must get unpleasantly hot in summer weather, but the keepers say this is not so. During the recent spell of heat the bears spent most of their time in the water, and rarely visited the cool caves constructed in the concrete at the back. The black Malaysian bears and the sloths were turned in a few days ago and are settling down happily.
