Friday, August 18, 2017

Amelia Gray is a star

Amelia Gray

Nine month old Amelia Gray is in perpetual motion it seems. Her many visitors are entertained by her antics, swimming and on land. Mother Anana keeps a watchful eye, but lets her independent daughter play on her own. Since she is an only child (her twin died shortly after birth) she is a big girl, weighing 177 pounds a month ago, so she is probably up to 200 pounds now.

Something catches their attention

Amelia Gray, close up

Amelia Gray on the edge

Amelia and Anana are out in the public enclosure on alternate days, rotating with Anana's twin sister Aurora and her cub Neva and Nuniq, who are just a few days younger. Neva is quite a bit smaller than Amelia, while Nuniq is a very big boy.


Amelia Gray and her leafy snack

Amelia Gray loves playing with freshly cut branches

Lots of leaves for Amelia

Anana supervises from a distance
 
Looking into the camera lens
 Amelia is happy to play by herself, and Anana is happy to let her daughter roam. Amelia likes her toys, but she really likes to chew on leaves and branches that the keepers leave for her.


Lunchtime for the cub

Amelia Gray in a wistful mood

And a happy Amelia
 She is also a pretty good swimmer, and is already catching the live trout that swim in the deep pool.

Amelia poses for a fan underwater
 

Up, up and away, with bubbles
 There are no plans to bring the two families together. The rotation seems to be working out very well. There is a large open space with a pool behind the scenes, so whichever family is not in the public view is playing and swimming in private.

Sitting on the dock


Stretching

Just checking on a napping mom

Amelia Gray at the window
 
Waving hi!
 Nanuq, a wildborn bear, was the father of all three cubs. Sadly, he died of complications of old age shortly after they were born.

Anana checks out the old boat

Like mother, like daughter

More lunchtime

Comparing profiles
There is also news about Nora, who will be two years old this fall. Nora is the daughter of Aurora and the late Nanuq. She was handraised by keepers at the Columbus Zoo and then sent to the Oregon Zoo when she was almost a year old, so there would be room at the Columbus Zoo for the expected new cubs. Nora will soon be moving to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City, where she will be joined by her Aunt Hope of the Toledo Zoo. Hope, daughter of Aurora and Anana's parents Crystal and Marty, is also almost two years old as well, so these two young girl cubs should have a good time playing together in Salt Lake City. Those two girls were the only cubs born in the U.S. that year. The three cubs now living in Columbus are the only cubs born in the U.S this past birthing season. 

Nora in Columbus. She is in the Oregon Zoo in Portland, and will soon be moving to Salt Lake City, where she will have a playmate, her Aunt Hope. Both cubs will be two years old this fall.


Aurora and Anana's little sister Hope will be moving from Toledo
 to Salt Lake City, where she will be a great playmate for her niece Nora



Saturday, August 5, 2017

Columbus Twins keep Mom Aurora busy

Nuniq and Neva
 When Aurora gave birth to twin cubs on November 14, 2016, at the Columbus Zoo, her job was just beginning. Now that son Nuniq and daughter Neva are almost 8 months old, they are running from one end of the yard to the other, and then diving into the pool for some splashing fun. Neva is even trying to catch the trout that swim in the deep pool.

Als Aurora am 14. November 2016 Zwillinge geboren hatte, fing der Job im Columbus Zoo gerade erst an. Jetzt, wo der Sohn Nuniq und die Tochter Neva fast 8 Monate alt sind, laufen sie von einem Ende der Anlage zum anderen  Ende und tauchen dann in den Pool um etwas Wasserspaß zu haben. Neva versucht sogar, die Forelle zu fangen, die im tiefen Pool schwimmt.


Aurora joins her cubs in play on the docks

Little Sister Neva gives Brother Nuniq a talking to

Nuniq has the stick. Neva wants it.

Brother- sister quarrel

The battle continues

Meanwhile, Mom Aurora likes to float on her back, peacefully, as she meditates

Aurora has always had a penchant for hats
Aurora still has her playful moments. She has always enjoyed putting things, toys or leaves, on her head to make a "hat." And she floats around on her back. Sometimes she catches the trout swimming by.

Aurora hat noch ihre spielerischen Momente. Sie hat es schon immer genossen, Sachen, Spielzeug oder Blätter auf den Kopf zu setzen, um  sich einen "Hut" zu machen. Und sie treibt  auf dem Rücken schwimmend. Manchmal fängt sie  dabei  auch die Forelle.

Aurora relaxes with some branches

Nuniq is a big boy, at somewhere over 200 pounds. Neva is closer to 150 pounds, but that was a couple of weeks ago. Both are growing fast. It is easy to tell them apart most of the time, for brother is so much bigger, and their faces are very different.

Nuniq ist ein großer Junge, irgendwo um die  200 Pfund. Neva ist nahe an 150 Pfund, aber das war schon vor ein paar Wochen. Beide  Jungtiere wachsen schnell. Es ist leicht, sie die meiste Zeit auseinander zu halten, denn der Bruder ist so viel größer, und ihre Gesichter sind sehr verschieden.

Neva and Nuniq
 Their half-sister Amelia Gray is about 180 pounds, but the three cubs are never together. The zoo rotates the two families. One day it is Anana and her daughter, and the next it is Aurora and the twins. Sadly, the father of all three cubs, Nanuq, died a few months ago from complications from old age. The boy cub was given the name Nuniq in honor of his father, a variation on a traditional name for polar bears.

Ihre Halbschwester Amelia Grey ist etwa 180 Pfund, aber die drei Jungtiere sind nie zusammen. Der Zoo wechselt  die Anlage mit den  beiden Familien. Ein Tag ist es Anana und ihre Tochter, und am  nächsten Tag ist  es dann Aurora und die Zwillinge. Traurig, der Vater aller drei Jungen, Nanuq, starb vor ein paar Monaten wegen Komplikationen wegen des Alters. Das männliche Jungtier erhielt den Namen Nuniq zu Ehren seines Vaters, eine Variation eines traditionellen Namens für Eisbären.

Aurora plays with one of her children

Aurora

Aurora's twin sister Anana, who gave birth a few days before Aurora, just has daughter Amelia Gray to watch, but that means Mom has to be a playmate too. On the other hand, Aurora is primarily watching the two cubs play together. Still, she sometimes joins in the play.

Aurora's Zwillingsschwester Anana, die einige Tage vor Aurora geboren hatte, muss sich nur  um Tochter Amelia Grey kümmern, aber das heißt auch, dass Mama  ebenso ein Spielkamerad sein muss. Auf der anderen Seite beobachtet Aurora vor allem die beiden Jungtiere, die zusammen spielen. Dennoch kommt sie manchmal in das Spiel der beiden hinzu.
Aurora settles down to nurse her cubs
Sometimes the cubs stop for a bit to rest and to nurse, but soon they are at full charge again.


Manchmal stoppen die Jungtiere ein bisschen, um sich auszuruhen und zu pflegen, aber bald sind sie wieder voll aufgeladen.

Mother and children

After lunch, when the kids are off playing, Aurora love to munch on branches

Delicious!

Mom takes it somewhere safe

They have toys, but they seem to like playing with leaves and sticks better. A favorite game is to steal the stick from the other cub, and try to keep it. Click on the link below to see the video:

Video: twins at play


 Neva likes playing with the fish too. She is much better at catching trout than her brother.

Neva findet auch Gefallen mit dem Fisch zu spielen.Und sie ist viel geübter die Forelle zu fangen als ihr Bruder es kann.


Neva dives deep

Looking for trout

Close to the viewing glass

Watching the watchers

Although for years the keepers had been marking Aurora's paw with brown coloring to help identify which twin is which, this practice has fallen to the wayside, as the moms are now with their cubs, and never together anymore, so they can easily tell who is Aurora and who is Anana.


Obwohl die Tierpfleger Auroras Pfote mit brauner Farbe markiert hatten um die Zwillingschwestern auseinander halten zu können ist dies nun nicht mehr notwendig,da die Mütter mit ihrem Nachwuchs zusammen sind und man gut unterscheiden kann wer Aurora ist und wer  Anana ist.


Aurora and Neva

Neva still looking for trout

Getting close

There it is!

Oh, it got away!

Neva shaking off the water

Shake it off!

Nuniq watches

The twins wander over to the other side of the yard, under the boat. Nuniq finds some mud with his nose. 


Die Zwillinge sind hinüber gewandert auf die andere Seite der Anlage, unter ein Boot.Nuniq hat etwas Schlamm auf seiner Nase.

Nuniq likes mud, just like his daddy Nanuk


How about a little muddy kiss, sister?

Nuniq reflects

Cubs face off!
The adventures of Anana and her energetic daughter Amelia Gray will be shown in the next entry.

Die Abenteuer von Anana und ihrer sehr lebhaften Tochter Amelia Gray wird sich im nächsten Eintrag finden lassen.

Running off with the toy