Remembering Huggies

Huggies

Huggies was an iconic mother polar bear. A legend. Stories about her will be told for a long time. Her life held triumph and tragedy, and even stardom,  a long life surrounded by family,  keepers and fans who loved her. 

Huggies by the pool.

She was the mother of eight cubs: Freedom, triplets Jelle, Henk and Ewa,  twins Walker and the late Swimmer, and twins Lynn and Luka. 

Huggies in the old enclosure

Sadly, we lost Huggies this week, at the age of 32. It's a life that would not have been, if not for the brave fishermen who rescued her as a little cub alone on an ice floe near Russia's Wrangel Island back the spring of 1994. The young bear was brought to safety, and her further rescue was sponsored by diaper company Kimberly Clark, so she was named Huggies, after their signature diaper.

Sign at the Bear Forest - about Huggies companion of her youth.

Because she was just a cub, only a few months old and all alone, her new home Ouwehands Zoo in the Netherlands, brought in a brown bear cub of the same age, Björna, to be her companion and they could teach each other how to be bears. Björna, now an old bear too, is still there, across the way in the magnificent bear forest of the zoo.

Nuuk Nordman, in Skandinavisk Dyrepark.
 Father of Freedom while Huggies lived in Sweden.
Nuuk has since passed away. 

Huggies lived in Ouwehands for four years, then went to Kolmarden in Sweden, where she met Nordman (Nuuk), and gave birth to a daughter, Freedom, in 2001. Huggies and the cub moved to Ouwehands in March of 2002, when the cub was just a few months old.

Freedom's grandmother, Nordman's mother, was American born CW, who came from the Memphis Zoo. Nordman later moved to Skandinavisk Dyrepark in Denmark with his twin sister Ilka in 2006 when Kolmarden gave up polar bear keeping. So all of Freedom's cubs have American cousins.

Victor in retirement at Yorkshire Wildlife Park.
 Victor has since passed away.

Young male bear Victor arrived in Ouwehands in 2000, while Huggies was away in Sweden, but moved to Amsterdam in late 2002, after Huggies' return, so Huggies could have room to raise her daughter. He returned in late 2003, and all the rest of Huggies' children were fathered by Victor, as well as most of Freedom's cubs.

Henk, one of Huggies' triplets, when he was in Eindhoven.

In November of 2005, Huggies gave birth to rare triplets, named Jelle, Ewa and Henk. The babies were named after the zookeepers of the time. The triplets went their separate ways, Jelle eventually ending up in Canada, where he now lives in Calgary. Jelle is the father of Shouka and Kinuk. Ewa went to Sweden where she had Miki, now deceased, and now lives in the UK. Henk went on to father six cubs in Eindhoven in the Netherlands and now lives in France. Henk is the father of twins Pixel and Nordje, twins Nickie and Simona, and twins Nivi and Elva.

Huggies' grandson Sprinter, in Hannover.

Huggies daughter Freedom gave birth to Sprinter in fall of 2007, fathered by Victor. Young Sprinter stayed in Ouwehands for three years, so he was present in Ouwehands when Huggies gave birth to her next set of twins, Walker and Swimmer, in 2008. Sprinter is now in Hannover Germany.

Huggies' son Walker (on the right),
 in Highland Wildlife Park,
with his friend Arktos.

Twins Walker and Swimmer were born in December of 2008. Walker and Swimmer were famous from the start, for their birth was filmed and featured in the David Attenborough BBC television series, "Frozen Planet,"  as it would be impossible to film such a birth in the wild. Walker and little twin brother Swimmer (both named after Kimberly Clark diapers, the rescue sponsor of their mother Huggies) made their public debut in March, and tiny Swimmer captured many hearts, for he was about one third the size of his brother, quite lively and scampering about. About a week later, poor Swimmer died during a swimming lesson, as some inborn weakness caused something to burst. Huggies and Walker were seen grieving for hours. It happened on a Sunday, with many families there to see the new twins, families who witnessed the tragedy and the great sadness of a mother crying over her tiny lost child, with bewildered young Walker there, grieving as well.  Walker now lives in Highland Wildlife Park in Scotland.

By summer of 2010, it was just Victor, Huggies and Freedom at Ouwehands. 

Huggies' granddaughter Sesi in Mulhouse Zoo in France,
 with first child Nanook, now in Munich.
Sesi has had another since then, Kara is now in Sweden. 

But then in November, 2010 Freedom gave birth to Sesi and Siku (later Taiko).  The next year it was Huggies' turn.

Lynn, now in the Copenhagen Zoo.

In December 2011 Huggies had twins, Lynn and Luka. At this point, the two moms, mother and daughter, were dealing with four cubs, Sesi and Siku (later Taiko), and Lynn and Luka, between them, and it seemed to work to raise them together in the large enclosure with that wonderful deep pool. These were amazing days, with Freedom and her older cubs, and Huggies and her younger cubs, splashing and playing for the visitors and on the Explore webcam broadcast around the world.  Two moms and four cubs all living together.

Luka in Wuppertal. He now lives in Yorkshire.

Eventually, these four cubs grew up and went  their separate ways. Sesi moved to Mulhouse in France and Siku became Taiko and went to LaFleche in France. Lynn moved to Vienna and then to Copenhagen.  Luka went to Wuppertal in Germany. He's now in YWP.

In August of 2014, Victor retired to YWP in Doncaster in the UK but not before adding to his legacy. In November 2014, a few months after Victor left, Akiak and Sura were born to Freedom.

Akiak and Sura, born to Freedom.

Once again, Ouwehands Zoo decided to mix the generations. They determined that the twins should meet their Grandmother Huggies in May of 2015, so Freedom and her kids went through some tense times. The several generations tried to meld, as they did previously when Huggies and Freedom raised their children together.  I was there to witness the attempted meetings.

Huggies keeps her distance from Freedom and the cubs.

Cubs Akiak and Sura don't trust the stranger,
 who is actually their grandmother Huggies.

There were days of confrontations, as the young cubs hid behind their mother, afraid of this older polar bear coming into their territory. The was a lot of huffing and chuffing going on.

It's okay kids, it's just grandma.

Huggies went about her business,
while Freedom and cubs kept an eye on her.

The apprehensive cubs stayed near their mother
 for protection from the "stranger."

                                     One brave cub tries getting a little

                                                 closer to Grandma.

Eventually, harmony returned, and Grandma Huggies, Mother Freedom and young twins Akiak and Sura learned to live together as a family. 

Huggies' grandson Akiak in Rostock

Akiak grew up and moved on to Rostock, where he fathered a set of twins, Kaja and Skadi, with Sizzel, and now lives in France. But Sister Sura remained in Ouwehands. 

Felix did not work out well with Huggies.
He was too enthusiastic.

A handsome long legged male bear named Felix came to visit in late 2015. He was already the father of the Famous Flocke, of Milak and the late Augo of Aalborg, of Gregor and Aleut and Charlotte of Nuremberg.  Previously, Felix had a reputation for being gentle, a real gentleman with the ladies. But in Ouwehands, he became over-zealous in his pursuit of  Huggies. Freedom was still grouped with her young twins. It was an uncomfortable situation. Felix left in July for another zoo in the Netherlands, and there were no cubs from that visit. 

Wolodja in the old enclosure at Ouwehands.

More success came a few years later. A Russian bear named Wolodja came from Tierpark Berlin in the Spring of 2019, just for the breeding season before moving on to Rotterdam. The result of that visit was another set of twins for Freedom, a girl named Yura and a boy named Yuka. 

Huggies finds joy in a flower

The zoo again tried to integrate the different generations of bears. Wolodja was gone, so it was just Grandma Huggies, older and much bigger sister Sura, Freedom and her twins. 

Tragic history repeated itself on that sad day, June 11, 2020, when young Yura, only 7 months old, was the object of rough play in the pool by her older sister Sura, who had no idea how fragile cubs can be since Sura had never been a mother herself.

Seven month old Yura died of internal bleeding from the playfight in the water with the much larger Sura.

The pool, where cubs played, but also a place of tragedy.

It was Deja Vu for Huggies, as she pulled her granddaughter from the pool, and sat in the same spot where she had mourned Swimmer years earlier, to mourn another tragically lost cub, sweet Yura, her granddaughter. 

A report from the zoo:

“Mother Freedom and her two cubs Yura and Yuka had been living with Grandma Huggies (Freedom’s mother) and Sura for several weeks. Sura is five years old and weighs almost 300 kg. In our extensive experience with breeding polar bears, we’ve had similar combinations of older and younger animals and it was never a problem.  Sura and the cub played together regularly, always under the watchful eye of their mother and grandma.

“Once all the polar bears were together, Mother Freedom protected her cub more intensively than before. We didn’t know she was like that. In retrospect, this was already a sign something was wrong. However, when Sura started playing roughly with the much smaller Yura (65 kg) – we don’t think it was a deliberate attack – Mother Freedom stayed on the side-lines. She no longer defended her cub.

“We believe the autopsy results explain this behaviour. It shows that Yura had been suffering from a respiratory infection, but that she didn’t yet appear to have had any symptoms. Based on Mother Freedom’s behaviour, we suspect that she “knew”. It’s common knowledge that mothers sometimes don’t take care of newborn cubs if they know something is wrong. In this case, Freedom let “nature” run its course.”

It is my belief, however, that since Sura had never been a mother, she played too roughly with her baby sister, not realizing how much smaller and more vulnerable Yura was. Huggies, having been a mother, had a protective attitude toward Freedom's cubs, something Sura had never learned. She only knew how to play.

In fact, I think Huggies was more on the alert that day for trouble than Freedom was, but just did not get there in time to save Yura. 

Brother Yuka, now six years old, is still in Ouwehands, along with big sister Sura, now 11 years old, and mother Freedom. 

Huggies

Time for a nap. 

 

Huggies swims in the old enclosure, and Freedom watches from a distance.

A life that started with a dramatic rescue, Huggies grew up with a brown bear companion who was still her neighbor, then traveled to the far north. She returned with her infant daughter, took care of a growing family, endured heartache and tragedy, but also knew joy and friendship. People came from all over the world to meet her. She even had a starring role in a groundbreaking David Attenborough documentary. Throughout most of her life, she had her daughter Freedom by her side, and her other children and grandchildren scattered throughout Europe and even Canada. Quite a legacy for a little orphaned bear rescued from an ice floe.