- Overview
- Into the Wild TV Show
- Speaking Tour
- Polar Frontier
- Partnership Video
- Your Zoo View
Introducing the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium's New Polar Bears
Meet Aurora and Anana, 3-year-old polar bear sisters. They're the stars of Polar Frontier, the newest habitat at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. The Nationwide Insurance Foundation partnered with the zoo and other donors to create the exhibit. Video: go behind the scenes and meet the bears
Nationwide Insurance Foundation President Chad Jester says, "The Nationwide Insurance Foundation was formed 51 years ago. During that time, we've been making philanthropic investments here in the Columbus market to organizations like the Columbus Zoo and throughout the United States. So we're very excited for the opportunity through our philanthropy to benefit one of the top cultural attractions in our community."
Polar Frontier represents a long-abandoned mining town in the Arctic Circle, connecting visitors to polar bears, brown bears and arctic foxes, animals that live in some of the coldest climates in the world.
It's been two decades since the Columbus Zoo housed polar bears. The new exhibit features a 167,000-gallon pool that visitors will be able to walk under to see the bears swim above their heads.
Assistant Director of Living Collections, Doug Warmolts, says, "Polar bears in just the last couple of years have been listed as threatened and likely are going to be an endangered species in the near future, so this is an opportunity to talk about how our everyday lives impact the survival of species in places as far away as the Arctic Circle."
Nationwide has a long and robust relationship with the zoo.
