I saw six of the seven
cubs on my springtime tour of polar bear cubs in Europe. Here is a
little look at the families I met.
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Hope, daughter of Flocke and Rasputin, at Marineland, Antibes, France
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Hope
Tiny Hope is the new
princess at Marineland in Antibes, France. She is the daughter of
Flocke and Raspi, and was born November 26, 2014.
She is a tiny little ball
of energy, always playing and swimming and running. She is a lot like
her father Raspi.
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Hope and her mirror toy |
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Hope in the ice cave |
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Hope finds a funny stick |
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Flocke and her daughter Hope |
Freedom's twins
The lively cubs live in
Ouwehands Dierenpark in Rhenen, Netherlands. Their father Victor now
lives in England. Grandmother Huggies has recently joined her
daughter Freedom and her grandchildren in the big enclosure. I am
pretty sure the twins are a boy and a girl. They have no names yet.
They were born November 22, 2014. You can watch them on Explore.com
webcam, daily.
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Freedom and her cubs at Ouwehands Dyrepark in the Netherlands |
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Freedom plays and the cubs watch. My guess is a boy (left) and a girl (center) |
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Freedom and her cubs |
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Freedom and her cubs |
Olinka's twins
In Rotterdam Zoo
(Diergaarde Blijdorp) you will find Olinka and her two children, born
December 2, 2014. Their father Eric died in February, much too
young. The twins make good use of the tremendous diving pool at the
zoo. I think we have a boy and a girl here too, but it is only my
guess. The have no names yet.
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Cubs in Rotterdam Zoo |
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Olinka nurses her cubs |
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Little boy and little girl in Rotterdam? |
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Rotterdam Zoo has a tremendous diving pool |
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Mama Olinka gets some love |
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Mama Olinka and the cubs |
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Olinka and one of her twins |
Charlotte
Vera and Felix have a
lovely daughter named Charlotte, in the Nuremburg Tiergarten. Father
Felix has moved to Wilhelma in Stuttgart, so Charlotte and Mother
Vera have the use of both large enclosures. Charlotte is quite round,
and loves to eat. She is the sister of the famous Flocke, and also
Gregor and Aleut. She was born November 21, 2014.
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Charlotte of Nuremburg Tiergarten |
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Charlotte and her mother Vera |
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Like mother, like daughter. Charlotte and Vera |
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Charlotte and her crazy egg |
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Charlotte gets some lunch |
I will have separate reports on these cubs as time goes on. This is just a sneak peak.
Unfortunately, because of the DB rail strike while I was in Germany, I was unable to go to Rostock to see Fiete, who was born December 3, 2014. I will see him and his mother Vilma on my next visit.