Bear breeding in the Uk

F

foz

Well-Known Member
I was going to name this thread 'bear cubs' but i thought it would get too many hopes up.

When was the last bear cubs in the UK? and which collections are currently trying to breed bear species? Jersey? Woburn? Finally are there any plans to bring new bears to the UK?

Just realised I answered my own question with edinburgh gaining Giant pandas (or want to anyway) and mercedes (the polar bear at edinburgh zoo) moving to highland wildlife park.

Thanks In advance.
 
Would the last bears bred in the UK, have been the European brown bears at Whipsnade?
 
Are RSCC trying to breed their sun bears or are they too young right now?
 
Or the Spectacled Bears at Jersey? I am not sure if the existing pair have ever bred there, but the previous pair had several litters though that is a long time back now.
 
RSCC plan to breed them, they're too young at the moment though. Probably London? We'd all have heard about any other bear cubs as they'd be big news.
I'm hoping sun bears become a sort of "trend" seeing as they're pretty common in Europe. Britain is in a pretty sorry state when it comes to bears really.
 
Think Belfast may have been the last with their Spectacled Bears but not sure what year that was,may be Al or somebody else from Belfast can tell us.
 
Our last cub was around 14 years ago now! at that point the female was put on an implant as there wasn't a massive demand for the species. Like jerseys spectacled bears ares are in retirement! perhaps when our old pair die we can import females for our younger male! :) though probably by this time he will be past it too!

Sun bears will become more common in the UK mark my words! I know of a couple of zoos that will get them!
 
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Al said:
Sun bears will become more common in the UK mark my words! I know of a couple of zoos that will get them!
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This makes me happy :D
 
I think the youngest of the 2 sloth bears bred at London would be the most recent bear breeding. I guess Jersey/Belfast spectacled bears were before that, and further back towards the early nineties you had whipsnade breeding brown bears and Flamingoland breeding polar bears.

I don't know when the last North American black bears were bred at Woburn. Not for some years.

Himalayan black bears have not been bred in the UK for a long time.

Sun bears - the Belfast animals have never bred, the RSCC ones are too young.
 
Does anyone know why the Belfast sun bears never bred? Are they too old or did it just never happen?
 
ashley-h said:
Does anyone know why the Belfast sun bears never bred? Are they too old or did it just never happen?
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Unlike most bears, Sun Bears are not an easy species to breed. Belfast's were very overweight for a long time which might have impeded breeding too.
 
Thanks, didn't realise they were hard to breed. Germany does well then lol.
 
Al said:
Our last cub was around 14 years ago now! at that point the female was put on an implant as there wasn't a massive demand for the species. Like jerseys spectacled bears ares are in retirement! perhaps when our old pair die we can import females for our younger male! :) though probably by this time he will be past it too!
Click to expand...

Its a bit ironic that our zoos aren't making more effort with Spectacled Bears though I can understand why if there is a lack of demand as zoos that breed them can't keep the cubs longterm.

We have four UK zoos with this species as follows;

Belfast. 2.1. No breeding.
Jersey 1.1. No breeding.
South Lakes. 1.4. No current breeding( exact status uncertain)
Chester. 1.0 -expecting 0.1. presumably intending to breed.
 
ashley-h said:
Thanks, didn't realise they were hard to breed. Germany does well then lol.
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Wellington Zoo in NZ breeds them at intervals too. Seems there is some luck(or knack?) involved in establishing a good breeding pair with Sun Bears.
 
I guess it might just be down to the individuals. Bearded dragons are a piece of cake to breed yet my female hated my male and bullied him all the time. He was too scared to mate her, so I had to sell her. I know they're not bears but it just shows that it's probably just luck that the two will get on well.
 
With most bears a compatable male and female will breed. With Sun bears it seems to be a bit more complex than that. Not a lot is known about their behaviour in the wild, even now.
 
Have they still got their bear? Do you think they'll continue with the species?
 
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