GFgomez
Well-Known Member
Yes I was inquiring because they did have a asiatic bear named samone and a sun bear named Kelang Kacey went to zoo Tampa
Bears in Major American Zoos
- Thread starter snowleopard
- Start date
GFgomez
Well-Known Member
There’s 8 species and they never had asiactic / moon bears either .
I was going to ask a question about which zoos still had the most bears, and then went back to the first post and re-organized the data to answer it.
With the exception of Saint Louis, I am still going off the first post. It looks to me like Cleveland and Cincinnati have gone through some major changes as well but I'm not fully up to date. I also marked the former panda holders since three of them seem to have a chance to continue or return to their programs.
Three or More Bears
Brookfield – polar & brown & sloth
Cleveland – brown, black & Andean & sloth & sun
Columbus – brown & black & polar & sloth
Memphis – polar & brown & black (formerly panda)
North Carolina – polar & brown & black
Oakland – brown & black & sun
Toledo – polar & brown & Andean
San Diego Zoo – polar & brown & Andean & sloth & sun (formerly panda)
Saint Louis – polar & brown & sun (formerly Andean)
There are around nine zoos with three or more kinds of bear, two of which held four very recently. I think it's interesting to point out that almost every single one of these holds polar and brown among the list. I personally hope this number can increase a little bit. I have to admit it's interesting to know Brookfield is one of such few facilities. I know Cleveland has renovated recently, where do they fall today?
Two Bears
Atlanta – giant panda & sun
Audubon – black & sun
Cheyenne Mountain – brown & Asiatic black
Detroit – polar & brown
Gladys Porter – black & Andean
Great Plains – brown & black
Henry Vilas – polar & brown
Lincoln Park – polar & black
Little Rock – brown & sloth
Louisville – polar & brown
Minnesota – brown & black
Oklahoma City – brown & black
Oregon – polar & black
Philadelphia – Andean & sloth
Reid Park – brown & Andean
San Antonio – black & Andean
San Francisco – brown & black
Sedgwick County – brown & black
Smithsonian’s National Zoo – Andean & sloth (formerly pandas)
Tampa – black & sun
Topeka – black & sun
Utah’s Hogle – polar & brown
Virginia – Asiatic black & sun
Woodland Park – brown & sloth
Atlanta has the most unique combination on this list, specializing in two bear species that are fairly rare. The National Zoo currently has two species but may return to three if the panda program resumes. Brown bears and black bears was the most common combination, but noticeably polar bear facilities usually also hold brown bears, with Oregon the main exception. As a result of these preferences, brown bears are almost always held alongside black and polar bears, with Little Rock, Reid Park, and Woodland being the exceptions, while black bears appearing alongside tropical species seems slightly more common. Philadelphi and Smithsonian National both focus on tropical species.
Single Bear
ABQ BioPark – polar
Akron – brown
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum – black
Binder Park – black
Birmingham – black
Bronx – brown
Buffalo – polar
Caldwell – black
Cameron Park – black
Central Park – brown
Cincinnati – Andean
Como Park – polar
Denver – brown
El Paso – sun
Fort Worth – black
Fresno Chaffee – sloth
Honolulu – sun
Houston – black
Indianapolis – brown
Jacksonville – black
John Ball – brown
Kansas City – polar
Knoxville – black
Los Angeles – black
Maryland – brown
Miami – sloth
Milwaukee County – brown
Montgomery – black
Nashville – Andean
Omaha – sloth
Phoenix – Andean
Pittsburgh – polar
Point Defiance – polar
Riverbanks – brown
Roger Williams Park – Asiatic black
Rosamond Gifford – Andean
Tulsa – brown
Wildlife World – black
Not a very helpful comment here, but Denver and Milwaukee County were once famous for their bears and both held four species of bear more than five years ago but are now down to a single species. I really hope these two facilities are eventually able to construct new exhibits and expand their holdings for this group. I believe Cincinnati's renovations will soon welcome back a second bear species?
With the exception of Saint Louis, I am still going off the first post. It looks to me like Cleveland and Cincinnati have gone through some major changes as well but I'm not fully up to date. I also marked the former panda holders since three of them seem to have a chance to continue or return to their programs.
Three or More Bears
Brookfield – polar & brown & sloth
Cleveland – brown, black & Andean & sloth & sun
Columbus – brown & black & polar & sloth
Memphis – polar & brown & black (formerly panda)
North Carolina – polar & brown & black
Oakland – brown & black & sun
Toledo – polar & brown & Andean
San Diego Zoo – polar & brown & Andean & sloth & sun (formerly panda)
Saint Louis – polar & brown & sun (formerly Andean)
There are around nine zoos with three or more kinds of bear, two of which held four very recently. I think it's interesting to point out that almost every single one of these holds polar and brown among the list. I personally hope this number can increase a little bit. I have to admit it's interesting to know Brookfield is one of such few facilities. I know Cleveland has renovated recently, where do they fall today?
Two Bears
Atlanta – giant panda & sun
Audubon – black & sun
Cheyenne Mountain – brown & Asiatic black
Detroit – polar & brown
Gladys Porter – black & Andean
Great Plains – brown & black
Henry Vilas – polar & brown
Lincoln Park – polar & black
Little Rock – brown & sloth
Louisville – polar & brown
Minnesota – brown & black
Oklahoma City – brown & black
Oregon – polar & black
Philadelphia – Andean & sloth
Reid Park – brown & Andean
San Antonio – black & Andean
San Francisco – brown & black
Sedgwick County – brown & black
Smithsonian’s National Zoo – Andean & sloth (formerly pandas)
Tampa – black & sun
Topeka – black & sun
Utah’s Hogle – polar & brown
Virginia – Asiatic black & sun
Woodland Park – brown & sloth
Atlanta has the most unique combination on this list, specializing in two bear species that are fairly rare. The National Zoo currently has two species but may return to three if the panda program resumes. Brown bears and black bears was the most common combination, but noticeably polar bear facilities usually also hold brown bears, with Oregon the main exception. As a result of these preferences, brown bears are almost always held alongside black and polar bears, with Little Rock, Reid Park, and Woodland being the exceptions, while black bears appearing alongside tropical species seems slightly more common. Philadelphi and Smithsonian National both focus on tropical species.
Single Bear
ABQ BioPark – polar
Akron – brown
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum – black
Binder Park – black
Birmingham – black
Bronx – brown
Buffalo – polar
Caldwell – black
Cameron Park – black
Central Park – brown
Cincinnati – Andean
Como Park – polar
Denver – brown
El Paso – sun
Fort Worth – black
Fresno Chaffee – sloth
Honolulu – sun
Houston – black
Indianapolis – brown
Jacksonville – black
John Ball – brown
Kansas City – polar
Knoxville – black
Los Angeles – black
Maryland – brown
Miami – sloth
Milwaukee County – brown
Montgomery – black
Nashville – Andean
Omaha – sloth
Phoenix – Andean
Pittsburgh – polar
Point Defiance – polar
Riverbanks – brown
Roger Williams Park – Asiatic black
Rosamond Gifford – Andean
Tulsa – brown
Wildlife World – black
Not a very helpful comment here, but Denver and Milwaukee County were once famous for their bears and both held four species of bear more than five years ago but are now down to a single species. I really hope these two facilities are eventually able to construct new exhibits and expand their holdings for this group. I believe Cincinnati's renovations will soon welcome back a second bear species?
TheGytrash
Well-Known Member
It's interesting that the Philly zoo focuses on more tropical species of bears but also used to have polar bears until 2018.
There's that whole corridor of major mid-Atlantic east coast zoos that used to display polar bears and stopped within the past 5 or so years from Baltimore to Bronx with Philly smack dab in the middle. Interestingly, the Smithsonian National Zoo had polar bears until the mid 80's. Apparently their enclosure was poorly situated and would absorb a lot of sunlight and became too hot for them. But DC isn't a measurably warmer climate than Baltimore or Philadelphia, so it's interesting that the gap between their polar bear displays was so long.(Also, I believe North Carolina still has the species?)
There's that whole corridor of major mid-Atlantic east coast zoos that used to display polar bears and stopped within the past 5 or so years from Baltimore to Bronx with Philly smack dab in the middle. Interestingly, the Smithsonian National Zoo had polar bears until the mid 80's. Apparently their enclosure was poorly situated and would absorb a lot of sunlight and became too hot for them. But DC isn't a measurably warmer climate than Baltimore or Philadelphia, so it's interesting that the gap between their polar bear displays was so long.(Also, I believe North Carolina still has the species?)
Technology has obviously changed a lot since the 1980s though- North Carolina's exhibit today is going to be a lot better suited to keep the bears cool than any exhibits in the 1980s would simply because we now have the ability to add so many more cooling elements into exhibits.
Tampa formerly held sloth bears prior to the sun bear, producing some cubs in the time.
KiwiBirb
Well-Known Member
Did the St. Louis Sun Bear die or get transferred? Couldn’t find it being gone on the news thread, and it was still there as of September 22nd.
Not sure. I checked the animal list on their website and sun bears weren’t listed.
GFgomez
Well-Known Member
Rimba is the sun bear at St.Louis
To be honest, it still blows my mind polar bears are as rare as they are today; as a child I often thought of them as one of the most standard zoo species there were, and seeing brown and tropical bears actually felt slightly more special. I know the story though.
Thanks to everyone for the updates. I knew there had been multiple changes of sun bears but I wasn't sure if Cleveland dropped anything else.
I saw Rimba in September and hope nothing has happened to him.
GFgomez
Well-Known Member
St.Louis still has Malayan sun bear named Rimba
LA no longer has bears, we lost Ranger the black bear about 1-2 years ago 
GFgomez
Well-Known Member
Miss ranger and his brother Ashby . Los Angeles zoo once had 6 species of bears .LA no longer has bears, we lost Ranger the black bear about 1-2 years ago
- grizzly
- polar
- black bear
- Andean
- Malayan sun bear ( in the late 60’s)
- sloth bear
Now they have none . In the master plan they have black and grizzly . It would be great to add a sloth bear to there Asian area .
We can now add Detroit Zoo to the 3+ species club as they recently acquired a sloth bear.
USZOOfan42
Well-Known Member
Now that I’m thinking about it, it’s crazy to think they once had 4 species (last 10 years!) Hopefully one day we can see something similar with another group of animals that is lacking in diversity at the zoo, like rodents, primates or even birds.
Toledo Zoo Guide
Well-Known Member
Toledo Zoos bears in 2025
Arctic Encounter
Polar Bear
The Toledo Zoo has had a very good Polar bear exhibit for years, even though it is starting to show its age, I don’t think anything is to concerning yet. In my opinion they should expand the polar bear exhibit in the future but as I said it’s not a problem yet.
Kodiak Ridge
Grizzly Bear
Kodiak Bear
The Grizzly and Kodiak exhibit was terrible for displaying bears, but thankfully the new expansion has left that all behind. It’s an average exhibit by today’s standards and has a lack of hiding space but has plenty of enrichment opportunities.
Hopefully with the new tiger exhibit being built they will give the old one to the bears as it is directly adjacent already.
Arctic Encounter
Polar Bear
The Toledo Zoo has had a very good Polar bear exhibit for years, even though it is starting to show its age, I don’t think anything is to concerning yet. In my opinion they should expand the polar bear exhibit in the future but as I said it’s not a problem yet.
Kodiak Ridge
Grizzly Bear
Kodiak Bear
The Grizzly and Kodiak exhibit was terrible for displaying bears, but thankfully the new expansion has left that all behind. It’s an average exhibit by today’s standards and has a lack of hiding space but has plenty of enrichment opportunities.
Hopefully with the new tiger exhibit being built they will give the old one to the bears as it is directly adjacent already.