What's with all the flippin polar bears?!

[Dayna]

Their on a jungle island! What are polar bears doing there?!

[Qtyled]

In Season 2's "Orientation" we get the best answer so far:

Spoiler:

Dr Candle: "...imagined a large-scale communal research compound, where scientists and free thinkers from around the globe could pursue research in meteorology, psychology, parapsychology, zoology (they show a picture of two polar bears fighting), electromagnetism and utopian social-"

So there are 6 stations on the island. At the moment they are in Station 3: The Swan, which I assume is the electromacnatism station. There must be another station on the island that was researching zoology, and the polar bears escaped.

[Kensterman]

But are they really polar bears though? I can't recall...I know the cast calls them that. I was surprised to see the black stallion in the last episode - it's almost as if this island is an amusement park where the person's thoughts/past comes alive. Not a new concept though: originally was in Star Trek (ep: shore leave), and there's also an SG episode from season 1 as well. Lots evolve from the original ST in today's shows.

[leaper]

So...its a massive Holodeck?

[Qasim]

Nope no holodeck the bears are real

[Naonak]

Aren't the stations all over the world?

[Kensterman]

All too real and that's what makes it puzzling....it's not really sci-fi where you can guess it's probably a holodeck, but in this case, it's more real life, so that's what makes you wonder what the heck is that doing there.

I like to see what else they come up with in the new season

Nope no holodeck the bears are real

[Qtyled]

Aren't the stations all over the world?

No. This season we saw that the tail-end survivors were in another bunker. This is probably another one of the stations, as it had the dharma symbol, execept with an arrow.
ie.
Station 3: The Swan
Station ?: The Arrow

The Arrow symbol was also on the shark in Ep 2. So... all the stations are on the island.