Alaska Zoo Polar Bear Webcam – Cranbeary and Kova

The Alaska Zoo Polar Bear Webcam looks into the polar bear habitat at the Alaska Zoo in south Anchorage, where two female bears, Cranbeary and Kova, share an enclosure built into boreal forest off O’Malley Road. The camera looks across shaped rock and poured concrete, with a pool in one corner, a fence along the back and enrichment items scattered over open ground. Polar bears in care are rarely still. They pace the water’s edge, roll onto their backs, shove those items around the yard and then vanish behind the rocks for stretches at a time. What is on screen shifts with the hour and the season, from the long light of a July evening to the short blue afternoons of December. The feed is powered and streamed by Borealis Broadband.

About the Alaska Zoo Polar Bear Habitat

The zoo sits at 4731 O’Malley Road in south Anchorage, on the inland side of the city where the flats give way to forest and then to mountains. O’Malley Peak, the Chugach summit the road is named for, reaches 1,570 meters (5,150 feet) and stands about 19 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of downtown Anchorage. That position matters to the view: the habitat is a built yard of shaped rock and open ground, a very different backdrop from the coastal ice most people picture behind a polar bear.

Two bears live here now. Cranbeary is 23 and Kova is 3, and the zoo introduced them to each other in April 2024. The pair formed what the zoo describes as a very special bond, which is why both often appear in frame together rather than at opposite ends of the yard. Size difference alone makes them easy to tell apart on the stream once you have watched for a few minutes.

Polar bears have a long history at this address. The zoo was incorporated on 28 March 1968 as the Alaska Children’s Zoo, opened to the public in 1969 and took its present name in June 1980. Its best known resident was Binky, a male polar bear born in 1975 and brought in as an orphan from near Cape Beaufort on the Chukchi Sea coast. Binky became internationally famous after two incidents with visitors in 1994 and died on 20 July 1995 of sarcocystis, a parasitic disease. Around 100 animals of roughly 50 species live at the zoo today, many of them orphaned or injured arrivals, and the collection leans hard toward northern wildlife.

Weather and Climate in Anchorage

Anchorage has cool, mostly cloudy summers and long, freezing, snowy winters, and average temperatures across the year swing between about minus 10.5 C (13.1 F) and 16.6 C (61.9 F). July is the warmest month, with average daytime readings around 18.5 C (65.3 F), and that is when the bears spend the most time in the water. January is the cold end of the scale, averaging a low of minus 11.7 C (11 F) and a high of minus 5 C (23 F) at the city’s airport. Snow cover through those months turns the enclosure white and makes a cream colored bear surprisingly hard to pick out at first glance.

Daylight is the other thing that changes the Alaska Zoo Polar Bear Webcam completely. At this latitude the longest day runs 19 hours and 21 minutes and the shortest only 5 hours and 28 minutes, so a midsummer camera has usable light late into the evening while a December camera has a narrow window either side of noon. June and July peak at about 11.7 hours of actual sunshine a day. Spring and autumn sit between the extremes, with breakup in April turning the ground to mud and slush, and September bringing yellow birch and the first hard frosts.

Things to Do Near the Alaska Zoo

The obvious visit is the zoo itself, reached by taking the New Seward Highway south from downtown to O’Malley Road and turning east, with the entrance about a mile along on the right. Walking the trails between enclosures shows the polar bear habitat from angles the fixed camera never covers, and the same loop passes the musk oxen, the Dall sheep and the brown bears. Because so many residents arrived as rescues, the signage reads more like a rehabilitation record than a standard zoo label.

Beyond the gate, the Chugach Mountains begin almost immediately east of O’Malley Road, and the ridges and summits above the zoo, O’Malley Peak among them, are the reason the neighborhood smells of spruce rather than salt water. That peak rises 19 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of downtown Anchorage, and the zoo itself is about a 15 minute drive from the city center, which puts the museums, restaurants and the coastal trail within easy reach. Lake Hood, on the far side of the city, is a working floatplane base where takeoffs from the water run through the day in summer.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

If the bears have wandered out of frame, these cameras cover related ground.

• Cape Churchill Webcam
• Katmai National Park Webcam
• Lake Hood Seaplane Base Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the Alaska Zoo located?

The zoo is at 4731 O’Malley Road in south Anchorage, Alaska, in the United States. It sits below the Chugach Mountains on the inland edge of the city, roughly a 15 minute drive from the city center.

What can you see on the Alaska Zoo Polar Bear Webcam?

The camera covers the polar bear habitat: shaped rock, open ground, a pool and a perimeter fence, with enrichment items left out for the bears. The two residents move in and out of frame through the day, swimming, digging, sleeping and pushing those items around.

Which polar bears live at the Alaska Zoo?

Two females: Cranbeary, aged 23, and Kova, aged 3. They were introduced to one another in April 2024 and now share the habitat.

What is the weather like in Anchorage?

Summers are cool and cloudy, with July averaging about 18.5 C (65.3 F) in the daytime. Winters are long and snowy, and January averages run from minus 11.7 C (11 F) to minus 5 C (23 F).

Why is the Alaska Zoo Polar Bear Webcam dark in the middle of the day?

Anchorage loses daylight fast in late autumn, and the shortest day of the year gives only 5 hours and 28 minutes of it. Through December and January the picture is dim or dark for most of a 24 hour cycle, then recovers as the days lengthen again.

When did the Alaska Zoo open?

It was incorporated on 28 March 1968 as the Alaska Children’s Zoo and opened to the public in 1969. The name changed to the Alaska Zoo in June 1980.

Who provides the Alaska Zoo polar bear stream?

The Alaska Zoo runs the camera, and the feed is powered and streamed by Borealis Broadband, a local internet provider.

What other animals does the Alaska Zoo keep?

Roughly 100 animals of about 50 species, weighted toward northern wildlife. Caribou, musk oxen, Dall sheep, lynx, wolverines, river otters, harbor seals, moose, ermine, bald eagles, tundra swans and both black and brown bears are among them.

Source: The Alaska Zoo