bear breeding
- Thread starter foz
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Sun Wukong
Well-Known Member
In the case of Brown Bears, American/Asian black Bears and partly, Sloth Bears, the "recipe" is simply: put at least a male and a female bear together that at least tolerate each other, seperate the female after several matings, and presto! You have bear cubs. A "great" example: Bear Country, USA...
Sun and Polar Bears are a bit more tricky-even though sometimes averse husbandry conditions seem to result in more successful births and young rearing than "perfect" ones (Tierpark Berlin, Sun Bears...). All in all, the "recipe", if something like this exists at all, are bears liking each other and apt conditions, favouring successful reproduction-which also includes a good zoo staff.
Sun and Polar Bears are a bit more tricky-even though sometimes averse husbandry conditions seem to result in more successful births and young rearing than "perfect" ones (Tierpark Berlin, Sun Bears...). All in all, the "recipe", if something like this exists at all, are bears liking each other and apt conditions, favouring successful reproduction-which also includes a good zoo staff.
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The San Diego Zoo has bred sun bears in the past....
In Australia there has not been any bear births as of late....the only polar bears in Australia are at Sea World....
The sun bears in Adelaide Zoo were rescued from a restaurant in Cambodia and they all display stereotypical pacing behavior even though they have a well planted and well designed exhibit to explore.....
In Australia there has not been any bear births as of late....the only polar bears in Australia are at Sea World....
The sun bears in Adelaide Zoo were rescued from a restaurant in Cambodia and they all display stereotypical pacing behavior even though they have a well planted and well designed exhibit to explore.....
aw101, didn't Perth Zoo breed a sun bear cub last month?
The problem is not with the breeding of bears but the space required. There are numerous collections around the world which have historically and currently very good records of breeding certain species. The biggest difficulty has usually been where to house offspring. And bears live for a long period of time ~30 years. That is a long-term commitment.
Species go in and out of fashion too. Sun bears are the rage in Australasia, but only two collections have bred them. While there are very few sun bears in the UK, Spectacled bears have become popular. New polar bear exhibits are popping all over America. Sloth, Asiatic black and Eurasian brown bears are the subject of several animal charities' efforts (eg WSPA) to rehouse orphans/poorly housed/ex-pets into large naturalistic pens. While in the past (up until late 70s in modern zoos) collections kept numerous species of bear, most modern zoos are lucky to keep one species.
Bears arent really all that controversial (like apes, elephants, and cetaceans). However, like tetrapod mentioned, there became a big surplus issue with offspring because bears adapted well to captivity and have long life spans. Zoos reached a peak in their populations and have stopped breeding. Now, at least in North America, we have a very geriatric collection of bears. The AZA Bear TAG no longer reccommends breeding brown and black bears because of the large number of non-releaseable native bears that can be acquired. And foreign bears species are more threatened than our own. There is a huge peak in new bear (not just polar, but all species!) exhibits. As the demand grows, I think we will all see a healthy increase in breeding activity in at least the North American zoos.
Brown, asian and american black bears bred extremely well in zoos and even cages and circuses. Sloth, polar and sun were more difficult, that is not regularly bred in small cages and paddocks. In 1950s-1980s many zoos had several bear species and many bred 10s or over 100 bears over the years.
Since about 1980s zoos became worried about stereotyping and generally poor states of enclosures and stopped breeding. New bear enclosures are being build, and hopefully bears will become common. But bears will never be able to breed to their "full capacity", there is no space for that.
Since about 1980s zoos became worried about stereotyping and generally poor states of enclosures and stopped breeding. New bear enclosures are being build, and hopefully bears will become common. But bears will never be able to breed to their "full capacity", there is no space for that.
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Dan
Well-Known Member
My simple view is that bears that are not threatened in the wild, should not be breeded (Spelling? Is it in fact called "bread" or "bred" or something?) at all at zoos. It is a sad story with all the "new cubs of the season", press releases, naming competitions etc - and then they are killed a year or two after. I am very uncomfortable with the idea of "surplus animals". To my knowledge, all bear species live solitarily in the wild so there is no neccessary reason at all to mix males with females in zoos.
Of course, I have the same view on all non-threatened species kept at zoos.
Of course, I have the same view on all non-threatened species kept at zoos.
taun
Well-Known Member
Dan
Well-Known Member
Well, I have read about this so many times that I have, so to speak, gotten used to the fact and therefore it is not possible for me to supply you with specific internet links and such.
But, really, think about it....... some species seem to be very easily bred in captivity, even though the circumstances might be horrible. Let´s take european brown bears or lions as examples. Basically every zoo holding these species every year advertize "the new cubs" and make a big fuzz about it. Where are all these cubs couple of years later? Remember, for instance, that half of them are males.............
Again, I would welcome input from zoo professionals on this matter.
Also, since I am new to this forum, maybe I should emphasize that I don´t totally subscribe to animal rights activist´s views on zoos, but I respect them and I hope that it will be possible for me to sometimes raise critical views on the subjects that we discuss on this forum.
But, really, think about it....... some species seem to be very easily bred in captivity, even though the circumstances might be horrible. Let´s take european brown bears or lions as examples. Basically every zoo holding these species every year advertize "the new cubs" and make a big fuzz about it. Where are all these cubs couple of years later? Remember, for instance, that half of them are males.............
Again, I would welcome input from zoo professionals on this matter.
Also, since I am new to this forum, maybe I should emphasize that I don´t totally subscribe to animal rights activist´s views on zoos, but I respect them and I hope that it will be possible for me to sometimes raise critical views on the subjects that we discuss on this forum.
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zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Sorry dan but from what i`ve seen of some of your other posts on zoobeat i would say you have quite a strong leaning to the zoo anti brigade,i would like to see you name the collections that you say have abused Elephants using free contact method of keeping because i`m not aware of any in the U.K or Europe,i do know in the past some have been mis-treated in circuses but not within the last 20 years.