Arctic Shores

Polar Extremes: Arctic Shores opened to the public March 2012.

Phase I of Polar Extremes is inspired by an Arctic shoreline, allowing guests to get closer to animals and nature in an naturalized environment. Harbour seals and northern fur seals can be viewed enjoying their new indoor/outdoor pool and shoreline. Arctic foxes and ground squirrels will soon move into their new habitats.

Environmental Features

As part of the City of Edmonton's commitment to the environment, the exhibit has been created with many sustainable features, including:

• Green roof to minimize storm water runoff.
• Capturing storm water and treating it on site using streams and natural wetlands.
• Treating the water in the seal/sea lion pools on site with a combination of mechanical equipment and subsurface saltwater wetland so it can be reused in the animals' aquatic home.
• Drought-tolerant planting.
• Dark-sky-compliant exterior lighting.

Life Support Building

The Life Support Building houses a state-of-the-art filtration designed to minimize energy by utilizing wetland treatment systems. Pool water is filtered naturally by plant materials within a working salt water marsh serving as a natural water treatment facility. In total 870,000 litres or 229,000 gallons of water will be circulated and filtered every 90 minutes. This is the total volume of water that the seals and sea lions will swim and splash about in their new home.

For more information:

Edmonton Valley Zoo

13315 Buena Vista Road (87th Avenue)
PO Box 2359
Edmonton, Alberta T5J 2R7

Telephone	In Edmonton: 311 Outside Edmonton: 780-442-5311
Email	attractions@edmonton.ca