The Week Junior UK - Issue 189, 27 July 2019

Ahuge storm in 1850revealed

the astonishingremains of

ancient buildings on the largest

Orkney island, Mainland.

Dating back 5,000 years, this

prehistoric village is older than

Stonehenge and the Egyptian

pyramids, with some of the

best-preserved structures of

the period in Europe.Today,

visitorscanexplorenine

houses with original stone

furniturebuilt into their

walls. Thereisalsoacomplete

replicahome to show what life

wasoncelikeatthe site.

Findoutmoreatt inyurl.com/TWJ-skarabrae

Atimecapsule has been buried to

commemorate the opening of Bear

Wood. The steel boxcontains a

painted model bear,environmental

documentsreflecting the world in

2019,aphoto ofSwedish climate

change activist Greta Thunberg, and a

selection of wishesforthe futurefrom

staff and visitors at the Wild Place

Project. Itwaslowered into the ground

byalocalfamily.Kumar Sultanah and

her children, Zainab,Zain, Aminah,

Zaraand Zia werechosen byaBristol

charitycalled Imayla, which helps

young people in the inner city get

involved with the natural world.

motherandcubs.Abrownbear Bear Wood time capsule

Animals and the environment

TheWeekJunior•27July

Bearsand wolves

returntoUK forests

10

PLACEOFTHEWEEK

SkaraBrae,Orkney

T

housands of years ago,bears and wolves

roamed the an

woodlands of the

Brown bears have

the UK for at least

however,and the

died out in the 17

Now,thanksto

new project, they

return to the wilds

ancient woodland

BearWood, a

is anexample of w

be likeinthe UK. The woodland habitat

(whichwasdue to open on 25 July,afterThe

Week Juniorwent to press) is part of Bristol

ociety’sWild PlaceProject

conservation park on the

rts of the city that is

ady home to many African

mals.Four types of

mmal that wereonce

mmon in the UK arebeing

roduced to the habitat,

visitors will be able to

h them fromawalkway

verhead.

ew arrivals include four

European brown bears, five European

grey wolves, two Eurasian lynx (a type of

wildcat) and two wolverines (the largest member of

the weaselfamily). The beasts will eventually be free

to roam the site together,but to begin with they will

be kept in separate sections of the wood. This will

give them time to get used to their new home.

Keepersexpect the species will live alongside

each other without clashing. “These animals would

coex ist in the wild. This is their habitat,”said Dr Justin

Morris, the chiefexecutive of BristolZoological

Society.The animals will mostly be fed bykeepers,

but the bears will almostcertainly forage for leaves

and berries too.“It will be the first time the two species

have been together in ancient British woodland for

morethan 1,000 years,”said Morris. “We’reexcited to

see them together in the same space.”

g , olves

cient forests and

British I es.

een extinct in

1,000 years,

last wolves

th centu.

nextraordinar

areset to

sonceagain in

near Bristol.

7.5-acrewoodland,

what forests used to

he dl dhab

Zoological So

–a e

outski

alrea

ani

ma

com

intr

an

watc

high ov

The ne

b

Spectacular

seaviews.

Buryin gthe

timecapsule.

Europeangrey

wolves.

BIG BE

ASTS

European br

own

bearsca

ngrowtom

ore

than tw

ometres

tall

andwe

igh up

to

385 kilograms.