Featured Image Credit: Detroit Zoo Facebook
By: Sarah Sharkey
The Detroit Zoo is hoping that love is in the air this year for Nuka, a 13-year-old male. The recent arrival of Suka, a 5-year-old female polar bear, has everyone hoping for sparks to fly.
So far Nuka has been unlucky in his love life. He was unable to conceive with his last mate, Talini, after 6 years together. Talini has moved to the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. It is hoped she will be happy with her potential new mate, Siku.
In the wild, females only mate once every three years. Typically, there are three males per every female, but in a zoo setting, so many bears might not be possible. However, the caretakers are doing everything in their power to create successful unions.
The deputy chief life sciences officer of the Detroit Zoological Society had this to say about the polar bears, “It’s hoped that the change of setting and partners may help these bears breed successfully.”
Everyone is working hard to ensure successful partnerships between polar bears for a variety of reasons. The dwindling wild polar bear population has experts worried, zoos and aquariums are taking action to ensure that these beautiful bears are not wiped off the face of the planet.
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