Hello! I was looking at polar bear habitats in real life zoos for inspiration and I took some approximate measurements to get and idea of their size. I know this thread won't change Frontier's mind about the polar bear space requirements, but I don't lose anything for trying once again.
This is Tallinn Zoo, they built a new great habitat a couple years ago. It houses 2 bears, including the one in my profile pic. It's one of the largest habitats and is about 6100 sq meters, including backstage and viewing areas for visitors. So the real size for the bears is smaller.
I'm not going to put all the screenshots, but if you want any in particular I can put it here too. My measurements are always larger than the real dimensions and most of the times include paths, visitor areas and backstage buildings.
Ranua Zoo in Finland has 5600 sq meters
Copenhagen Zoo has 4500 sq meters, but I think I've also included the brown bear habitat, so it is actually smaller.
Berlin Tierpark has 4000 sq meters.
Berlin Zoo has a smaller habitat of 2800 sq meters.
Vienna Zoo is the same size approx, 2750 sq meters.
Hamburg Zoo has 4700 sq meters.
Hannover Zoo has 5100 sq meters.
Rotterdam Zoo has 5900 sq meters, one of the largest too.
Moscow Zoo has 2300 sq meters.
Saint Petersburg has one of the smallest with 1600 sq meters (and I was too generous when measuring).
Prague Zoo was difficult to measure, so I added extra space to be sure. It's between 2000 - 3000 sq meters.
In Australia, Sea World has 4300 sq meters (probably much less since I've added all the backstage buildings).
Singapore Zoo has a big building of 5600 sq meters, but there are other animals such as wolverines and foxes too.
Ueno Zoo in Tokyo has only 1600 sq meters.
Let's move to America
Toronto Zoo has 4800 sq meters.
Detroit Zoo has the largest habitat I've found so far with 8200 sq meters, but again including paths, backstage and a seal habitat, if I'm not mistaken.
Alaska Zoo has a surprisingly small habitat of 1300 sq meters.
Brookfield Zoo has 5800 sq meters, but there might be other bears there too.
Buffalo Zoo has 3100 sq meters.
Cincinnati Zoo was hard to see because of the trees. It seems a small habitat of 1300 sq meters.
Colombus Zoo has 5900 sq meters.
Lincoln Zoo in Chicago has 2800 sq meters.
Maryland Zoo has 4200 sq meters.
Memphis Zoo has 4500 sq meters.
North Carolina Zoo has 3900 sq meters.
Rio Grande Zoo has 2300 sq meters.
San Diego Zoo has 4600 sq meters, but I've been generous because the view it is not very clear.
SeaWorld in San Diego has 4000 sq meters, but the building also houses belugas and seals, so it must be much smaller for the bears (although I think they don't have anymore)
Toledo Zoo has 4200 sq meters.
Utah Zoo has 4500 sq meters, but there are many paths, so it will be much smaller.
Now let's go back to the game:
This simple habitat for 2 bears has 10017 sq meters (7276 sq meters of land + 2741 sq meters of water). Because of the traversable area, which is quite unobstructed, the real space for the bears is 6601 sq meters of land (I lose 600 sq meters) and 2224 sq meters of water (I lose 500 sq meters), which makes a total of 8825 sq meters. The game requirements are 6500+2125 sq meters, so when I have cubs, the habitat won't be large enough again.
I haven't found any single zoo close to that requirement of real traversable space for the bears. I that hope Frontier ends up realising that it is not realistic at all and that the traversable area makes it even worse. If Frontier want to prove that they do take justified feedback into account, this should be fixed when they add the diving animation to the polar bear.
Sorry for the long post.
This is Tallinn Zoo, they built a new great habitat a couple years ago. It houses 2 bears, including the one in my profile pic. It's one of the largest habitats and is about 6100 sq meters, including backstage and viewing areas for visitors. So the real size for the bears is smaller.
I'm not going to put all the screenshots, but if you want any in particular I can put it here too. My measurements are always larger than the real dimensions and most of the times include paths, visitor areas and backstage buildings.
Ranua Zoo in Finland has 5600 sq meters
Copenhagen Zoo has 4500 sq meters, but I think I've also included the brown bear habitat, so it is actually smaller.
Berlin Tierpark has 4000 sq meters.
Berlin Zoo has a smaller habitat of 2800 sq meters.
Vienna Zoo is the same size approx, 2750 sq meters.
Hamburg Zoo has 4700 sq meters.
Hannover Zoo has 5100 sq meters.
Rotterdam Zoo has 5900 sq meters, one of the largest too.
Moscow Zoo has 2300 sq meters.
Saint Petersburg has one of the smallest with 1600 sq meters (and I was too generous when measuring).
Prague Zoo was difficult to measure, so I added extra space to be sure. It's between 2000 - 3000 sq meters.
In Australia, Sea World has 4300 sq meters (probably much less since I've added all the backstage buildings).
Singapore Zoo has a big building of 5600 sq meters, but there are other animals such as wolverines and foxes too.
Ueno Zoo in Tokyo has only 1600 sq meters.
Let's move to America
Toronto Zoo has 4800 sq meters.
Detroit Zoo has the largest habitat I've found so far with 8200 sq meters, but again including paths, backstage and a seal habitat, if I'm not mistaken.
Alaska Zoo has a surprisingly small habitat of 1300 sq meters.
Brookfield Zoo has 5800 sq meters, but there might be other bears there too.
Buffalo Zoo has 3100 sq meters.
Cincinnati Zoo was hard to see because of the trees. It seems a small habitat of 1300 sq meters.
Colombus Zoo has 5900 sq meters.
Lincoln Zoo in Chicago has 2800 sq meters.
Maryland Zoo has 4200 sq meters.
Memphis Zoo has 4500 sq meters.
North Carolina Zoo has 3900 sq meters.
Rio Grande Zoo has 2300 sq meters.
San Diego Zoo has 4600 sq meters, but I've been generous because the view it is not very clear.
SeaWorld in San Diego has 4000 sq meters, but the building also houses belugas and seals, so it must be much smaller for the bears (although I think they don't have anymore)
Toledo Zoo has 4200 sq meters.
Utah Zoo has 4500 sq meters, but there are many paths, so it will be much smaller.
Now let's go back to the game:
This simple habitat for 2 bears has 10017 sq meters (7276 sq meters of land + 2741 sq meters of water). Because of the traversable area, which is quite unobstructed, the real space for the bears is 6601 sq meters of land (I lose 600 sq meters) and 2224 sq meters of water (I lose 500 sq meters), which makes a total of 8825 sq meters. The game requirements are 6500+2125 sq meters, so when I have cubs, the habitat won't be large enough again.
I haven't found any single zoo close to that requirement of real traversable space for the bears. I that hope Frontier ends up realising that it is not realistic at all and that the traversable area makes it even worse. If Frontier want to prove that they do take justified feedback into account, this should be fixed when they add the diving animation to the polar bear.
Sorry for the long post.
