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| Nan, age 30, and Neil, age 29. |
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| Neil drools a bit in his old age. |
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| Neil |
Como Zoo in St. Paul Minnesota is home to three polar bears, two of whom are age related record holders. While Nan is the oldest female polar bear in the US, Neil is the oldest male polar bear in human care.
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| Nan on rock, Neil and Kulu |
Neil, named for astronaut Neil Armstrong, and his twin brother Buzz (the namesake of Buzz Aldrin), were born in the Louisville Zoo on December 9, 1995. Their father was Irsinaki. Their mother Skeena was half sister of Arki (mother of Marty). Neil and Buzz had an older brother, Icee, who lived at the Cincinnati Zoo where he fathered twins Berlin (who later lived with Neil and Buzz) and Yukon (father of Lee and others). Neil and Buzz's older sister Ulu became the mother of Berit of the Cincinnati Zoo, now living in Henry Vilas. Irsinaki and Skeena were also the parents of triplets born in the Louisville Zoo in 1992, one of these triplets was Aquila.
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| Neil and Buzz's mother Skeena with her triplets. |
Neil and Buzz moved to San Diego in 1997, and lived there for five years, before moving to Como Zoo in 2001.
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| Neil on top of the viewer tunnel, Detroit 2009 |
Because of planned renovations at Como, the twins lived in Detroit for two years from 2008 to 2010, where they played with young Talini, Barle's cub. They then returned to Como, where they lived happily together at their Polar Bear Odyssey until Buzz died in 2020.
During that time, they played host to three grizzly bears in 2011 whose zoo home in Minot, North Dakota Zoo was flooded out, until their enclosure could be rebuilt.
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| Berlin, right, in Como Zoo in 2012. One of the brothers watches in the doorway. (Photo by daughter Corinna) |
Then they welcomed their older niece Berlin, whose enclosure at the Duluth Zoo was consumed by a river flood in 2012. She stayed for six months, and enjoyed bossing around her younger uncles before moving to the Kansas City Zoo, where she lived well into old age.
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| Neil and Buzz in the center area, while the kids play in the deep pool - |
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| Suka and Sakari play in the big pool while Neil and Buzz watch, top photo. - 2014 - (photo by daughter Corinna) |
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| Neil, playing on the shallow pool side, while the youngsters had the deep pool in 2014 |
In 2014, those crazy two year old twins Suka and Sakari moved in from Toledo, waiting for their new home at Henry Vilas to be completed. The young twins stayed for seven months! Their father Marty was nephew of Neil and Buzz's mom Skeena.
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| Neil and Buzz - 2016 |
After that, Neil and Buzz closed their Bear B&B and it was just the brothers together until Buzz passed away in 2020. Neil struggled being alone, so older lady Nan came to Como Zoo in 2021. A few months later, two year old Kulu arrived from the Columbus Zoo. Kulu is the son of Crystal and Marty's daughter Aurora, and Yukon's son Lee.
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| Nan, Kulu and Neil at keeper talk time - treat time. |
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| Neil's food is ground up and put in a paper cup. |
Neil is related to Kulu through both his mother and his father. Neil's brother Icee was father of Yukon, grandfather of Lee, and great grandfather of Kulu. Neil's mother Skeena was sister of Arki, who was mother of Marty, grandmother of Aurora, and great grandmother of Kulu.
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| Neil and Kulu playing in 2022, back when Neil felt better. |
Nan, being wildborn, is not related to Kulu or Neil, but she did live for many years in Toledo with Crystal, who is Kulu's grandmother.
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| Neil and Kulu in 2022 |
Polar Bear Odyssey has a great set up for polar bears. Since 2010, the bears have enjoyed two lovely enclosures of 13,140 square feet outdoor space with saltwater pools and grass and shrubbery, and a central training area. Their favorite side is the right, with the 16 foot deep diving pool, sometimes stocked with live fish. But the left side, with the shallower pool that Neil favors, is where the snacks are placed for the daily keeper talk, and this year, this enclosure has turned into a wildflower meadow, towered over by a polar bear shaped jutting rock. There is also a digging pit, so that's fun too.
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| Nan and Neil in the wildflowers, July 2025 |
Neil, at age 29, has lost most of his teeth, which is why his mouth seems to be foaming when he eats, and often drools. His keepers mash up his food to help him out. Neil weighs 1000 pounds, now, which is a little less than when he was in his prime, but the lighter weight is easier on his bones, so the keepers try to keep it about there.
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| Neil in the wildflowers - July 2025 |
Nan weighs 650 pounds. Kulu weighs 1300 pounds.
Neil has arthritis, which makes it hard to get in and out of even the shallow pool, which is why he looks so dirty. Still, he does manage a bath every few weeks. I did see him wander out into the wildflowers, and he even attempted to climb the polar bear rock.
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| Neil by the shallow pool - July 2025 |
When Kulu first arrived in 2021, Neil would often play with the youngster. But Neil is slowing down. Kulu still wants him to play, but most of the time Neil just can't. So Kulu plays with grandma Nan, who is happy to spend time with the young bear.
During the keeper talk, Keeper Allison pointed out that in the wild, a bear like Neil would be lucky to live to be 15.
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| Neil in 2013. |
Neil and the other bears are trained to take part in their own medical check ups, and a specially designed "sleeve" even allows blood to be drawn, a technique that Neil helped to test out and pioneer in its usage some years ago.
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| Kulu asks Neil to come play in the water. Neil is too tired. |
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| Handsome Neil. Hang in there, big boy. |
