Highland polar bears go global on webcam
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
THE Highlands’ famous polar bears, Walker and Arktos, can now be watched live via a webcam which has been installed at their wildlife park home.
The webcam went live today (Monday) at the Highland Wildlife Park, allowing people to watch the antics of playful Walker and Arktos, the UK’s only polar bears in a public collection, from anywhere in the world.
Due to the park’s remote setting in the heart of Cairngorms National Park, the camera is powered by a solar panel and a mini wind turbine, and uses satellite broadband internet – the same technology that’s used by the military in isolated areas.
Jon-Paul Orsi, digital manager for the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), said: "Following the popularity of our penguin and panda webcams at Edinburgh Zoo, we wanted to provide our online visitors with the opportunity to watch the UK’s only polar bears up at Highland Wildlife Park too.
"They are great candidates for a webcam as they regularly get up to mischief. Both Walker and Arktos are very boisterous young bears and love to wrestle or dunk each other in the pond. Their playful nature has made them a real favourite with visitors and I suspect it will be the same for the web cam viewers!"
Mr Orsi said: "Due to the challenges of the enclosure’s remote location, we didn’t think that such a webcam would be possible. However thanks to recent technological advancements it became feasible. As a result Polar Bear Cam is one of the most advanced installations we’ve created at either park, running completely on green energy and satellite broadband.
"A 12-volt solar panel system provides the main source of power for the camera, while a 12-volt mini wind turbine acts as a supplement during overcast days. Currently, the camera focusses on the enclosure’s large pond, which means watchers will now be able to see Walker and Arktos splash and play."
The streaming for Polar Bear Cam is handled by Camvista, who also run Edinburgh Zoo’s popular Panda, Penguin and Squirrel Monkey Cams.
Camvista MD Alex Kilgour said: "We have worked with RZSS on many animal cams, such as Edinburgh Zoo’s penguin cams, which have proven to be immensely popular. Polar bear cam is the first time we – or anyone else we know – have used satellite broadband for streaming a webcam of this nature.
"By combining renewable resources with satellite broadband to run a web cam, we have potentially come up with a solution for remotely watching wildlife without the need of constantly changing batteries or waiting to watch the footage later. Footage filmed by the cams can be watched in live time from anywhere in the world, which could have an enormous benefit to environmental research."
• Polar Bear Cam will stream live from 9.30am to 2.30pm, with pre-recorded footage then replayed outside of live streaming hours.
It can be watched via http://www.highlandwildlifepark.org.uk/polar-bear-webcam.
