North American Sun Bear Population

Corangurilla said:
Jeez, who isn’t phasing out sun bears these days? I thought Australasia wasn’t phasing them out because they looked like the most available bear species (geographically anyways).
Maybe some day, in the far flung future, sun bears will be phased back in because they’ll be the hot new thing on the endangered list, but that’s no guarantee.
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They were the designated bear species for the region but failure in successful breeding (partly due to the fact that majority of the population are rescues) has seemed to make them rethink this decision. Only a single zoo in Australasia currently holds a breeding pair, but they haven’t successfully produced a cub in more than a decade now.

It’s a shame as they’re such an iconic species; and like the US, will possibly be replaced by more easily sourced and more easily breed able bear species like the Sloth Bear and Andean Bear.
 
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Corangurilla said:
Jeez, who isn’t phasing out sun bears these days? I thought Australasia wasn’t phasing them out because they looked like the most available bear species (geographically anyways).
Maybe some day, in the far flung future, sun bears will be phased back in because they’ll be the hot new thing on the endangered list, but that’s no guarantee.
Click to expand...

Australasia are phasing out for a number of reasons including a lack of success in breeding this species and a lack of available males - both regionally and in Europe. Three zoos successfully bred this species - but now one only has a female; one hasn’t got the space to breed; and the other has tried unsuccessfully to repeat breed from their pair for some time.

Personally, I believe the future of Australasia is in Sloth bears - but it’ll be some time before any decisions are made. The youngest sun bears are 14 years old and will be around for a while yet.
 
EsserWarrior said:
Oakland and San Diego have Bornean. All of the others have Malayan. (I believe.)
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Was Bulan and Pagi's late father, Dibu, a pure Bornean sun bear? I have the same question but about Ting Ting.

Are all of the sun bears that are Malayan really pure, or are there some who have Bornean genes?
 
wild boar said:
Was Bulan and Pagi's late father, Dibu, a pure Bornean sun bear? I have the same question but about Ting Ting.

Are all of the sun bears that are Malayan really pure, or are there some who have Bornean genes?
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Dibu was a pure Bornean. Not sure about Ting Ting, but I believe she was a full Bornean too; she was wild born.

Afaik, the rest of of the population is full Malayan.
 
Zoofan15 said:
It is indeed a great shame. They such a charismatic species and I’ll be similarly sad to see them disappear from Australasia’s zoos (we’re also phasing out this species).

I saw there was a discussion on North American facilities that have bred sun bears and thought you’d be interested to know Miami Metro Zoo (now Zoo Miami) successfully bred twins 02/08/1988. The female cub (Chomel) was exported to Wellington Zoo (along with a male born 1989 at San Diego Zoo) and became Australasia’s most successful breeding female - producing six litters of cubs.
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the male cub born in SDZ was born in 1986 and known as liberty . Is he now overseas ?
 
Does any one know when Marcella was born . Saw her at SDZ .
I keep hearing she had 4 cubs but I only recall three ?
 
GFgomez said:
the male cub born in SDZ was born in 1986 and known as liberty . Is he now overseas ?
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You’re talking about different bears. Stanley was born at San Diego Zoo August 1989. He was exported to Wellington Zoo in 1992, where he died in 2001.

Liberty was an earlier cub - who made his debut in 1986, along with his mother, Sugar Bear. There’s a video about him here, which mentions he was San Diego Zoo’s first cub in 46 years:

GFgomez said:
Does any one know when Marcella was born . Saw her at SDZ .
I keep hearing she had 4 cubs but I only recall three ?
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Marcela was listed as 20 years old in a 2015 article (born approx 1995).

Marcela had four cubs across three litters:

Litter One:

1.0 Danum (2004)

Litter Two:

0.1 Bulan (2006)

Litter Three:

1.0 Palu (2008)
0.1 Pagi (2008)
 
Zoofan15 said:
You’re talking about different bears. Stanley was born at San Diego Zoo August 1989. He was exported to Wellington Zoo in 1992, where he died in 2001.

Liberty was an earlier cub - who made his debut in 1986, along with his mother, Sugar Bear. There’s a video about him here, which mentions he was San Diego Zoo’s first cub in 46 years:



Marcela was listed as 20 years old in a 2015 article (born approx 1995).

Marcela had four cubs across three litters:

Litter One:

1.0 Danum (2004)

Litter Two:

0.1 Bulan (2006)

Litter Three:

1.0 Palu (2008)
0.1 Pagi (2008)
Click to expand...


Thank you for the reply and clarification.


Glad to know
Marcela’s back story


Any known info on sugar bear or liberty ?
 
Zoofan15 said:
You’re talking about different bears. Stanley was born at San Diego Zoo August 1989. He was exported to Wellington Zoo in 1992, where he died in 2001.

Liberty was an earlier cub - who made his debut in 1986, along with his mother, Sugar Bear. There’s a video about him here, which mentions he was San Diego Zoo’s first cub in 46 years:



Marcela was listed as 20 years old in a 2015 article (born approx 1995).

Marcela had four cubs across three litters:

Litter One:

1.0 Danum (2004)

Litter Two:

0.1 Bulan (2006)

Litter Three:

1.0 Palu (2008)
0.1 Pagi (2008)
Click to expand...
I believe liberty was at metro zoo with Kayla . I can’t confirm when they passed away . Does any one know ?
 
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