North American Sun Bear Population

[GFgomez]

HOHO is the oldest living sun bear in aza at 34 years old

 

[GFgomez]

Lorraine
- Audubon Zoo

 

[GFgomez]

Catocins Sun Bear is “ Emika” confirmed by the staff .

 

[Smaggledagle]

Scruffy the Sun Bear has been transfered from Cleveland to Honolulu.

(0.1) Malayan sun bear Scruffy passed away at the Honolulu Zoo in Hawaii at ~48+ years.

Honolulu Zoo on Instagram: "The Honolulu Zoo bid a fond aloha to our elderly female sun bear, Scruffy last week. Scruffy came to her retirement home in Hawaii in 2022, as she was previously housed as a solo bear at Cleveland Zoo in Ohio. Used to her solo lifestyle, Scruffy did not show any interest in becoming a full-contact companion to our male sun bear Blackie, but they provided enrichment and stimulation for each other as they lived side-by-side. Fun fact: Scruffy, Juwita (our previous female sun bear and longtime companion of Blackie), and Blackie were all housed together many, many years ago at Cleveland Zoo! While Scruffy’s actual age is unknown, she was over 48 years old, the oldest sun bear in captivity! On average, sun bears live approximately 25 years in captivity. Blackie is currently 37 years old! Enjoying their golden years, our elderly sun bears spend a lot of time resting in their comfortable hiding spots but can be seen exploring their exhibit and looking for treats, particularly in the early mornings and afternoon around 1:30 pm. Sun bears are a vulnerable species threatened with extinction mainly due to deforestation and habitat loss, as well as hunting for gall bladder harvesting due to false claims of medicinal use of bear bile. We are honored to be able to provide a safe and spacious area for these adorable bears at the Honolulu Zoo. We will miss you Scruffy. #honoluluzoo #honolulu #hawaii #sunbear"

 

[Kevin Miller]

(0.1) Malayan sun bear Scruffy passed away at the Honolulu Zoo in Hawaii at ~48+ years.

Honolulu Zoo on Instagram: "The Honolulu Zoo bid a fond aloha to our elderly female sun bear, Scruffy last week. Scruffy came to her retirement home in Hawaii in 2022, as she was previously housed as a solo bear at Cleveland Zoo in Ohio. Used to her solo lifestyle, Scruffy did not show any interest in becoming a full-contact companion to our male sun bear Blackie, but they provided enrichment and stimulation for each other as they lived side-by-side. Fun fact: Scruffy, Juwita (our previous female sun bear and longtime companion of Blackie), and Blackie were all housed together many, many years ago at Cleveland Zoo! While Scruffy’s actual age is unknown, she was over 48 years old, the oldest sun bear in captivity! On average, sun bears live approximately 25 years in captivity. Blackie is currently 37 years old! Enjoying their golden years, our elderly sun bears spend a lot of time resting in their comfortable hiding spots but can be seen exploring their exhibit and looking for treats, particularly in the early mornings and afternoon around 1:30 pm. Sun bears are a vulnerable species threatened with extinction mainly due to deforestation and habitat loss, as well as hunting for gall bladder harvesting due to false claims of medicinal use of bear bile. We are honored to be able to provide a safe and spacious area for these adorable bears at the Honolulu Zoo. We will miss you Scruffy. #honoluluzoo #honolulu #hawaii #sunbear"

Is there any records of a Sun Bear being older than Scruffy?

 

[EagleScout610]

Is there any records of a Sun Bear being older than Scruffy?

None older that I can find, recent oldest on record seemed to be Hoho at Topeka at 34.

 

[Nile Hippo Expert]

None older that I can find, recent oldest on record seemed to be Hoho at Topeka at 34.

I think the next oldest would be Blackie then! However, I greatly doubt both of their ages.

 

[Kevin Miller]

I think the next oldest would be Blackie then! However, I greatly doubt both of their ages.

Possibly a way to get a more precise age would be finding out what year Scruffy came to the US? 48+ years just seems to insane to be true, but I wouldn’t doubt low 40’s.

 

[15399]

Possibly a way to get a more precise age would be finding out what year Scruffy came to the US? 48+ years just seems to insane to be true, but I wouldn’t doubt low 40’s.

The last Sun Bear SSP report was in 2010, and in it Scruffy is listed as being 24 years old. If the SSP report is to be believed, she would be 38 years old today, not 48, which is much more believable.

 

[EagleScout610]

The last Sun Bear SSP report was in 2010, and in it Scruffy is listed as being 24 years old. If the SSP report is to be believed, she would be 38 years old today, not 48, which is much more believable.

Then 48 may be a typo. It happens to the best of us

 

[GFgomez]

Possibly a way to get a more precise age would be finding out what year Scruffy came to the US? 48+ years just seems to insane to be true, but I wouldn’t doubt low 40’s.

The last Sun Bear SSP report was in 2010, and in it Scruffy is listed as being 24 years old. If the SSP report is to be believed, she would be 38 years old today, not 48, which is much more believable.

Can you share that report with us . Was scruffy one of the 10 bears that arrived from the wild in the late 90’s . I know there was two groups of them one group in 96’ and one in the early 2000’s .

 

[GFgomez]

We are down to 11
Sun bears in North America including one non aza zoo .

 

[Kevin Miller]

The Honolulu zoo has fixed their post regarding Scruffy’s passing. Scruffy was over 39 years old and Blackie is currently 28 years of age.

23K views · 1.9K likes | Honolulu Zoo on Instagram: "The Honolulu Zoo bid a fond aloha to our elderly female sun bear, Scruffy last week. Scruffy came to her retirement home in Hawaii in 2022, as she was previously housed as a solo bear at Cleveland Zoo in Ohio. Used to her solo lifestyle, Scruffy did not show any interest in becoming a full-contact companion to our male sun bear Blackie, but they provided enrichment and stimulation for each other as they lived side-by-side. Fun fact: Scruffy, Juwita (our previous female sun bear and longtime companion of Blackie), and Blackie were all housed together many, many years ago at Cleveland Zoo! While Scruffy’s actual age is unknown, she was over 39 years old, the oldest sun bear in captivity! On average, sun bears live approximately 25 years in captivity. Blackie is currently 28 years old! Enjoying their golden years, our elderly sun bears spend a lot of time resting in their comfortable hiding spots but can be seen exploring their exhibit and looking for treats, particularly in the early mornings and afternoon around 1:30 pm. Sun bears are a vulnerable species threatened with extinction mainly due to deforestation and habitat loss, as well as hunting for gall bladder harvesting due to false claims of medicinal use of bear bile. We are honored to be able to provide a safe and spacious area for these adorable bears at the Honolulu Zoo. We will miss you Scruffy. #honoluluzoo #honolulu #hawaii #sunbear"

 

[GFgomez]

The 1996 shipment: Bandit tua, Bandit 2, kodoyon 1, Bandit 1, Blackie, Daewo, Hoigan, Juwita, Libong


2000: karika, tingting, Marcella, Fong, Blackie, Francis, Tracey, Rimba, Lorraine, Suntil


these are all the sun bears that were sent to aza zoo’s from sabah

some are still left in zoos .

 

[Mary]

A new sun bear stud book has been published recently. It was a shock to me to find out that there are in fact more Bornean bears than Malayan bears in AZA. Currently, the only four Malayans left in AZA are Kacey [Tampa], Xander and Sabah [Atlanta], and Lorraine [Audubon]. The rest of the sun bears in AZA are listed as Bornean.

I believe there is one Malayan bear outside of AZA at the Catocin Wildlife Park, but I can not find a confirmation on its subspecies.

 

[Mary]

A

A new sun bear stud book has been published recently. It was a shock to me to find out that there are in fact more Bornean bears than Malayan bears in AZA. Currently, the only four Malayans left in AZA are Kacey [Tampa], Xander and Sabah [Atlanta], and Lorraine [Audubon]. The rest of the sun bears in AZA are listed as Bornean.

I believe there is one Malayan bear outside of AZA at the Catocin Wildlife Park, but I can not find a confirmation on its subspecies.

Correcting to say there are actually 5. Ho Ho at Topeka is listed as Malayan. The count of Malayans at the top of the document says 3.1 Malayans, but there are 5 listed below it.

 

[EagleScout610]

Looks like Brookfield has Sun Bears as part of their master plan. Has there been plans to bring back Sun Bears to the US in at least some way, or is this a "Don't get your hopes up" situation?

New habitats at the former Bear Grottos will feature animals, including sloth bears, sun bears, wolverines and red pandas.

 

[GFgomez]

Looks like Brookfield has Sun Bears as part of their master plan. Has there been plans to bring back Sun Bears to the US in at least some way, or is this a "Don't get your hopes up" situation?

New habitats at the former Bear Grottos will feature animals, including sloth bears, sun bears, wolverines and red pandas.

It would be pretty amazing as they use to feature sun bears years ago .
Where is this cited from ?

 

[Jambo]

It would be pretty amazing as they use to feature sun bears years ago .
Where is this cited from ?

It's on their website:
Brookfield Zoo Chicago - Next Century Plan Key Projects

I would say it's probably more of a 'let's pray something will come it'. If they get the opportunity to acquire some, they will but with any plans, it's never a given.

In five years time the population might look in better shape via imports, or perhaps not. It would be nice if Brookfield did make some moves and reinvigorate the regional breeding program.

 

[15399]

Looks like Brookfield has Sun Bears as part of their master plan. Has there been plans to bring back Sun Bears to the US in at least some way, or is this a "Don't get your hopes up" situation?

New habitats at the former Bear Grottos will feature animals, including sloth bears, sun bears, wolverines and red pandas.

Any plans to bring more sun bears into US zoos would be completely irresponsible at current time. Sun bears and Asiatic black bears both directly compete for space with the SSP-managed sloth bear, which is in need of additional holding space as-is. The sloth bear population in US zoos has been hovering between 30-40 for around two decades now, and more space is necessary to increase that population's size to a sustainable number. Sun bears were never overly successful at breeding in US zoos anyways, and bringing them back now would only make it increasingly challenging to find new holding spaces for sloth bears. Of course, ideally there would be space for both species, but I unfortunately don't see that being possible in the near future given how many of the bear spaces in US zoos are taken up by native species.