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| Aurora on land, Lee in the water |
24 year old Lee and 17 year old Aurora are enjoying the last days of summer in the Columbus Zoo by napping, lazing around in the sun, and taking an occasion dip in their deep salt water pool.
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| Aurora napping in the late summer sun. |
Aurora is sleeping more and more, and wanting to be inside as denning season approaches. She has gained 250 pounds over the summer, now weighing in at 800 pounds. Her guy Lee returned from his stay at the Louisville Zoo in February of 2023, but no cubs resulted last winter, but baby hopes are high for this year.
My U.S. polar bear cub forecast predicts good chances for both Aurora, and also for her younger sister Suka, who lives in the Detroit Zoo with Nuka. Aurora is the mother of five cubs already, and Suka has been pregnant three times, with one successful birth and raising of twins (with help from the keepers for Laerke).
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| Lee says hello |
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| A friendly smile |
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| Lee dragging around a blanket toy |
Lee weighs in at 1100 pounds. He has been around the block a few times, born in Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester NY in 1999, and spending time in Lincoln Park in Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit and Denver, but not fathering any cubs. He came to Columbus for the first time in November of 2018, where he got along just fine with twin sisters Aurora and Anana. The arrival of Aurora's son Kulu in 2019 meant that things were getting crowded in Columbus, so he was sent to the Louisville Zoo in 2020, coming back in 2023. By that time, Anana had passed away, so it was just Aurora waiting for him.
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| Aurora and Anana in 2011. The keepers painted Aurora's paw so they could tell the girls apart. |
I talked to a docent at the zoo about the loss of Anana. He said that she had had a cold, some sort of respiratory illness. It didn't seem too severe, but it quickly turned into encephalitis, and Anana's body just couldn't fight off the infection. It was suspected she had some sort of autoimmune condition. In mid October of 2022, she died one month short of her 16th birthday.
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| Young Kulu and his Auntie Anana in 2021. They were happy playmates. |
Aurora and Lee's son Kulu now lives in the Como Zoo in St. Paul Minnesota with two elderly bears, Nan and Neil. Neil is brother of the late Icee, who was grandfather of Kulu's father Lee.
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| Elderly Neil and young Kulu in Como Zoo in 2022. |
I visited the Columbus Zoo on the first day of September, and it promised to be a hot one. Lee and Aurora had been out earlier in the morning, but had gone inside for their breakfast. At about 11:15 each morning, the bear keepers present a morning snack to either the neighboring Alaskan Brown Bears Brutus and Buckeye, or to the polar bears. This day, it was the polar bears. Lee had been playing with an indestructible blue rug, but came over to the big pool when it was time. Aurora had been napping in the sun, and she was not interested in moving.
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| Lee heads for snack time at the pool |
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| Aurora would rather sleep than snack. |
Lee had some snacks, and swam around for a bit, but was attracted to the window, possibly to a bag of strawberries that someone had left on the floor. Did Lee know that this was some delicious food on the other side of the glass? He did seem interested in that one spot.
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| Lee is curious. |
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| Lee is just checking things out. |
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| Ah, something yummy... |
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| Sad. Lee can't get to the strawberries through the window. |
Finally Aurora decided to wake up and come check things out.
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| Aurora thinks about coming into the pool while Lee flirts with a little girl. |
She watched Lee play with the folks at the window, and then swam for a bit, playing with a plastic lid.
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| The lid makes a great toy. |
By this time, Lee was napping on a rock, half in the water and half out.
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| Good way for Lee to keep cool during his nap. |
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| Aurora scratches her back on some rocks. |
After some water play, Aurora shook off the drops and headed for her den, where she would probably nap in air conditioned comfort for the afternoon. When I left, Lee was still sleeping in the shallow water.
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| Aurora heads for the den. |
Aurora has always had her cubs in November, so we will wait and see. She is already mother to Nora, who lives in the Portland Zoo, twins Nuniq (now in Kansas City) and Neva (now in Salt Lake City), and young Kulu in Como Zoo. The father of Nora, Nuniq and Neva was the late Nanuq.
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| Aurora's cubs - a poster on the wall. |
Family connections
Aurora and her twin sister were born in the Toledo Zoo in 2006, the offspring of Belgium born Crystal and the late Marty. Those parents went on to produce Siku, twins Suka and Sakari, Hope and Bo, and after Marty died, Crystal's new guy was Nuka from Detroit, and they had twins Kallik and Kallu almost two years ago.
Crystal's sister in Belgium, Blanche, was mother of Nanuk of Skandinavisk Dyrepark in Denmark, where he fathered Danish Siku, twins Nanu and Nuno, and Nuno now has twin cubs, so Aurora has cousins in Denmark.
Lee is the son of the late Aurora and Yukon of Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester NY. His siblings are twin sister Anana of North Carolina, Haley of Memphis and Anoki, now back at home in Rochester. Aurora was sister of the late Denali, who went to Japan and fathered eight cubs there, so Lee is related to many Japanese bears.
Lee's mother Aurora (many bears have been named Aurora and Anana) was half sister Kiska of ABQ Biopark, and of the late Anana, mother of Luna. Lee's great grandfather Bruno was father of CW, who went to Europe and was mother and grandmother of many cubs there, so Lee has European cousins. Lee's father Yukon and his twin sister Berlin were the only polar bear cubs born and raised in the Cincinnati Zoo. Yukon and Berlin's father Icee was brother to Neil, now living in the Como Zoo with his great nephew Kulu.
