Berit at Henry Vilas Zoo is not pregnant. It was confirmed ok the zoo’s Instagram today.
North American Polar Bear Population 2021
- Thread starter Valentinoamor
- Start date
In recent years, an average of less than 1. (It does happen, but fairly infrequently)
Oh, wow. I knew it wasn't a lot, but that's a lot lower than I expected. I would have thought it to be 3-5 a year.
imaginarius
Well-Known Member
Because wild bears can never contribute to the gene pool, zoos prefer to get captive-born ones whenever possible.
Although with more polar Bear Exhibits than bears, I am sure plenty of zoos would happily take a rescue Bear if they had the opportunity to. How many zoos are currently breeding bears? I know Columbus and Toledo, but what else?
The Cassowary
Well-Known Member
Memphis Zoo is trying to breed theirs, but they’ve not had any success so far.
Has AZA worked to get an amendment to the bill? Or any other organization?
Seeing that Pittsburgh and Alaska are the only non-AZA zoos keeping polar bears, it would only be the AZA concerned about this. Although other groups, notably oil interests, have tried to undermine other parts of MMPA, just not the part we don't like. And really if I had the ability to amend it, I would not necessarily want the ability to breed wildlife placements, I would want to give the AZA an exemption for the transport over the Canadian border so that it can be treated as one population.
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A new male polar bear transferred to the North Carolina Zoo from the Memphis Zoo today
N.C. Zoo hopes for love connection as it introduces new male polar bear :: WRAL.com
N.C. Zoo hopes for love connection as it introduces new male polar bear :: WRAL.com
Hopefully this breeding pairing proves successful. We need more than two zoos with breeding success if the population is to be sustained.
In the article it states that Nikita will move to the Hogle Zoo which is where Hope and Nora live so does that mean Hope and Nora are moving or will they try to breed Nikita with Hope and/or Nora.
The Cassowary
Well-Known Member
Anyone know if Memphis has plans to get a new male?
That is an excellent question! The Hogle Zoo just posted that Nora will be moving in March and more details will be posted about it later. However, I believe Hope and Nikita are half brother and sister so I don't think that pairing would make sense at all. We also know Nan, the female polar bear from Brookfield Zoo, has left Chicago so maybe she will play into the equation when her new location is revealed. However, she's getting up their in age so I don't know if she qualifies to breed.
So I think the Zoo mixed up who was moving where. This article states that Hope is leaving and then later mention that Nora's name rather than Hope. It mixes them up on Facebook as well. I am sure one will stay to breed with Nikita. I'm happy to see progress in the Polar Bear SSP.
Hogle Zoo losing Hope, will gain Nikita in polar bear switch | Gephardt Daily
Possible that Nora is returning to Oregon Zoo? I don't know what their progress is on renovating her exhibit though. Or swapping Hope to Oregon since she's half-sibling with Nikita perhaps? I'm just tossing out some speculation.
I think both are leaving since the article states Hope is departing the zoo by the end of the month, and at the end of the article it also states that Nora will be leaving the zoo at the end of February.
You are correct. But it is interesting they'd title the article 'losing Hope' rather than something about losing both Polar Bears.
I didn't read the article thoroughly before I posted yesterday. Yes, it looks like both Hope and Nora are leaving. Hope is mentioned to be starting off in the breeding program, but there's no details if Nora is as well. I am going to predict that one of them ends up breeding with Lee and perhaps a switch up will happen again at the Louisville Zoo. Males Siku (Lincoln Park Zoo) and Hudson (Brookfield Zoo) are related to both females so I don't think they will end up there and Kali (St. Louis Zoo) is banned from breeding due to be a wild caught polar bear.
According to Hogle Zoo’s Facebook live they posted earlier today, Nora is headed back to the Oregon Zoo.