Designated M1973 by the US Army, the Akatsiya is armed with a 152 mm howitzer based on the Soviet D-20 howitzer and is sometimes confused with the M109 self-propelled howitzer. The official Soviet designation was SO-152, but it is more known as the 2S3 Akatsiya. The factory designation of the gun is D-22 and is also known as the 2A33 (GRAU designation). Driver's and engine-transmission compartments are located in a front part of a hull, fighting compartment with rotatory turret - in middle and rear parts of the hull. The armour is welded rolled steel. Howitzer is equipped with R-123 radio set, R-124 intercom, automatic NBC system with filtration unit and fire-fighting equipment. The V-59 12-cylinder four stroke water-cooled diesel engine connects with a mechanical twin gear transmission, a gear box is in one block with a planetary steering gear. 2S3 has self-entrenching equipment which allows to prepare a trench within 20-40 min. The crew consists of 4-6 men: a driver, a gunner, a loader, a commander, and two ammunition bearers, which are positioned to the rear of the vehicle feeding rounds through two hatches in the hull rear when in masked firing position.

It would seem strange to have Polar Bears in Queensland - what with our steaming summers but Seaworld have 2 orphaned cubs they adopted and they seem to thrive in the conditions - admittedly this involves high powered water filtration and refrigeration for the water but apparently it can get very hot in their natural habitats in summer anyway. At any rate theyre very cool animals, the size of them is to behold but the size of the paws gets me - you can easily see how much damage they could do based on that alone. This cub was shaking himself right below me :)