Antonia was unique in all the polar bear world

 

The famous Antonia

Today we heard the sad news that little old Antonia, the rare dwarf polar bear of Gelsenkirchen ZOOM, had reached her end. She had enjoyed some active days recently, but then her elderly body suddenly showed signs of failing due to old age, just as I saw last week with my 19 years old cat Pumpkin. When the body has run its course, there is nothing to be done to fix it.

Antonia was known for her big personality.

She was born November 24, 1989, in Karlsruhe Zoo, to Nadine and Willie, the same year that her half brother Anton was born there.  Antonia and Anton, along with two other cubs, were moved before their first birthday to nearby Stuttgart, in the Wilhelma. Antonia's stunted growth was obvious by her first birthday, and even so she was more aggressive and playful than the other cubs.  She was removed from the group for her own safety, and by the time she was three years old, sent to Gelsenkirchen, where she occupied a barren platform surrounded by a moat, near the entrance, for a time. Eventually, Gelsenkirchen ZOOM built the new Alaska habitat, and designed an enclosure just for Antonia.

Antonia by her personal little pond.

Despite her size, she was feisty, and keepers knew that for her safety she could not be kept with other adult polar bears. She loved to play with her keepers, though, and they would throw balls and rings back and forth. 

Antonia in her usual spot, at the edge of her pond

Antonia's dwarfism is a mystery. Her parents and siblings were all normal size. Her sister Katyusha, who lived in Berlin, reached her 37th birthday, so good genes may explain Antonia's long life, but certainly being small meant less stress and strain on bones and circulation for the little bear, less arthritis, less heart disease.

Antonia liked to admire her own beautiful reflection

Visitors often thought she was a cub, exclaiming, "kleines Eisbärbaby!" A sign was erected to explain Antonia's condition and size differences, although it is a little misleading because female polar bears usually weigh 500 to 700 pounds.. 

I have translated the sign for pounds and inches.

Length - normal bear a little over 7 feet  - Antonia 4.43 feet

Shoulder - normal bear 60 inches - Antonia 27 inches

Weight - normal bear 900 pounds - Antonia 287 pounds 

                                   Little Antonia on the big cliff 

                             

Antonia sometimes was able to experience one of the larger enclosures. When old Fanny (Hamburg's Victoria's mother) became infirm due to old age, she was given Antonia's smaller enclosure, and Antonia was given the big meadow, where she enjoyed digging at old logs.

Digging at an old log, looking for bugs, in the big enclosure.

When she was in her regular enclosure, Antonia liked to sit at the edge of the pond and gaze at her visitors.

Antonia and her reflection

Of course Antonia never did have cubs, living away from other polar bears, but her half brother Anton was father of the late Wilbär, who in turn was father of  Hope's sons in Peak Wildlife Park, and of Otis in Eindhoven. 

Wldflowers in her custom enclosure at Gelsenkirchen ZOOM.

With the recent departure of Lara for Bremerhaven Zoo Am Meer, the only polar bear in Gelsenkirchen (which has three enclosures) is Bill.

Antonia on the prowl

Antonia was the most famous resident of Gelsenkirchen, and she will be greatly missed.

Farewell, little Antonia. We were so happy to have met you.

Toledo Twins!

 

Crystal and her twins December 9 - dencam photo

Although the polar bear birthing season is not quite over, and rarely is one born in January, as far as I can see, the only cubs born and surviving in a zoo this year are Crystal and Nuka's twins in Toledo. This includes the zoos in Europe, Russia, Japan and the USA, although we get very little news from China.

There were twins born in Japan, but they only lived three days. Triplets born in Estonia did not stay, sadly. These are the only publicly announced births, besides Crystal, but sometimes zoos wait awhile before announcing, so it is possible there are cubs somewhere.

The European zoos have seen a good birthrate for their polar bears in recent years, and are now being careful not to overbreed, and thus have intentionally moved many polar bears to all-boy or all-girl groupings. With the closing of Orsa Bear Park in Sweden in October, homes are still needed for Ewa and her two year old daughter Miki, and Hope and her one year old twins.

Russia seems to be concentrating on using their valuable zoo space for orphaned or injured polar bears, and have announced no births this year. In the past, they have sent polar bear cubs to China, but this is thought to not be a good option. Very little is ever heard about these bears, once they go to China.

Canada also seems to be concentrating on their rescued orphan bears, and saw no births this year.

Japan saw two births two years ago, and another a year ago. 

Zoos in the US would love to see more polar bear births, but the population is shrinking and becoming more closely related. There were no cubs born in a US zoo last year, and only the Detroit cubs the year before. The Alaska Zoo has just announced that they are taking care of a rescued yearling orphan male bear.

Crystal is an experienced mother, having already given us twins Aurora and Anana, Siku, twins Suka and Sakari, Hope, and Bo. Her daughters Aurora, the late Anana and also Suka have all produced cubs.

Crystal nursing Sakari and Suka in 2013

 Nuka is the father of the two year old girls in Detroit, Astra and Laerke.

Nuka with Mother Suka and her daughter Astra in Detroit

The small but mighty Laerke, only 290 pounds.

Polar bear cubs have a high rate of mortality, estimated at 50 percent in the wild and in zoos, for they are quite immature and fragile at birth. I found this chart at Gelsenkirchen ZOOM in Germany, which shows zoo births for polar bear cubs worldwide 2001 through 2016.

 These Toledo twins have made it through the riskiest time, the first two weeks, and have settled into a routine of eating and sleeping and sometimes crawling around.

A dencam photo on Dec 11

I estimate that Crystal's twins were born around the middle of November. They will not be on public display until spring, but meanwhile, everyone is invited to watch the twins grow via webcam: Toledo cub dencam

Twins are quite common in polar bear births, but triplets are rare, occurring maybe once a decade in a zoo. Although polar bear twins are usually about the same size, Crystal's cubs are not. The big chubby one seems to be about three times the size of the small one, but both are active and seem to be doing well. Her last set of twins, Sakari the male and Suka the female, differed in size although not to the same degree as these twins.

Suka and Sakari.

The sad story of Swimmer

There was one other pair of polar bear cubs that were very different in size. Walker and Swimmer were  born in December 2008 in Ouwehands Zoo in the Netherlands to Huggies and Victor. A dencam had been set up to film their birth and early days for Sir David Attenborough's Frozen Planet series, for it would be folly to try to film a wild mother bear. Huggies' rescue as an orphan cub had been sponsored by Kimberly Clark, thus her name, and Walker and Swimmer were named after types of their diapers.

The Ouwehands twins emerged from the den in mid-March 2009, and won the hearts of all.  Less than a week later, Swimmer was dead. His mother had been teaching him to swim, and a later autopsy showed that a blood vessel in his chest had burst from the exertion, and he drowned. It is not known if this condition was related to his small size. Huggies and Walker mourned for lost little Swimmer for a long time, as the public watched. It was a very sad scene. Walker went on to become a fine healthy polar bear and now lives in Highland Wildlife Park. 

This link goes to a newspaper's series of photos from the first day the twins emerged and happily played: Walker and Swimmer pics

I will never forget little Swimmer. He was here for such a short time, but touched so many.

Nuka's daughters

Nuka's daughters in Detroit, Astra and Laerke, also differ greatly in weight. When they were about a year old, Astra weighed 200 pounds, and Laerke weighed half that. But Laerke had been very fragile at birth and had to be handraised in order to survive. It is possible that medication she needed as a baby might have held back her growth. In any case, she is doing well, although will never be much bigger than she is now at about 300 pounds.

This also brings to mind another small but mighty bear, the formidable Miss Antonia of Gelsenkirchen Zoom. She was thought to be small but normal at birth, in Karlsruhe, but failed to grow like the other bears. She is a dwarf bear, weighing only about 300 pounds, but she is a feisty little thing, and is now, at age 32, is the oldest polar bear in the world (in a zoo, but wild bears don't live nearly as long as zoo bears so it is assumed she is the oldest).

Antonia of Gelsenkirchen ZOOM, at 300 pounds,
the oldest polar bear in the world

We all hope that both of Crystal's cubs grow up strong and healthy. When they come out to greet their public, I will visit as often as I can and watch these unusual twins grow and thrive. I am lucky that I live so near the only zoo with polar bear cubs in the world this year.

Crystal in September, just before denning up.
She was eating her vegetables.

Yes, Crystal, you must eat those vegetables.

Farewell to Katjuscha

 

Katjuscha

Katjuscha

It is the end of an era. The Berlin Zoo polar bear habitat's probably final resident, 37 year old Katjuscha, has passed away. She had been suffering from a heart ailment for some time, and had been treated for it, but now, the oldest polar bear in the world had come to the end of her days. She was found by her keepers, in her den, on Christmas Eve morning, it was announced today. She had peacefully died in her sleep.

Kati, during her afternoon walk. 

She had turned 37 years old November 16, and she was given a small party with a treat.

She was known for her beauty and grace. Visitors would often see her just sitting in the doorway, watching the world go by.

Katjuscha, watching the world go by

Last year, there were two other lady polar bears in the world who had reached the age of 36: Snow Lily in Milwaukee, and Winnie in Japan, both just several weeks younger than Katjuscha. Now all three are all gone.

Kati at teatime, in 2014.

Katjuscha was born in 1984 in Zoo Karlsruhe, the daughter of Nadine and Willie. Nadine and Willie were also the parents, five years later, of Antonia, the famous dwarf polar bear. Also in 1989, Willie became the father of Nancy, one of Katjuscha's lifelong companions in the Berlin Zoo, and also Anton, father of Wilbär.

Tosca in front, Katjuscha in the middle,
 and Nancy, top, sleeping, in 2014.

 

Katjuscha came to Berlin when she was almost a year old, and remained there all her life. At one time, she was part of Lars' harem, the three ladies of the Berlin Zoo: Nancy, Tosca and Kati. The four bears made for quite a sight for Berlin Zoo visitors.

Katjuscha in 2014, the fluffy one.

Tosca and Lars' son, the famous Knut, was part of the group for a short time too, after Lars left, until  young Knut died from a brain disease which tragically caused him to fall into the water and drown.

Katjuscha watching Nancy and Tosca from her doorway.

After that sad event, it was just the three ladies of  the Berlin Zoo. Tosca and Nancy seemed to be best friends, and Katjuscha was on her own. We lost Tosca and Nancy a few years ago, but Kati continued on, well past the expected age of a polar bear.

Katjuscha in her kingdom in 2019

Now she is gone too, and the polar bear area is empty, save for the nearby memorial sculpture of Knut. 

It is truly the end of an era.

Rest in Peace, sweet lady.

The beautiful Katjuscha is 36 today

 

It is rare for a polar bear to reach the age of 36, but Katjuscha of the Berlin Zoo is celebrating that milestone today. She is the oldest polar bear in a European zoo. I don't know of any polar bears in the world who are older. There is a lady bear in the Milwaukee County Zoo in the U.S., Snow Lily, who is two weeks younger than Katjuscha.

Katjuscha does have a younger sister, born in 1989, Antonia the famous dwarf polar bear who now lives in Gelsenkirchen. Their parents were mother Nadine of Karlsruhe, and father Willie, who lived in the Berlin Zoo but would come to Karlsruhe during breeding season to visit the girls. 

Most of these photos are from my last visit with Katjuscha, in May of 2019. She was active, roaming around her enclosure at the Berlin Zoo and having a fine time on a lovely Spring day. She often takes a swim, but she did not during my most recent visit. When I came back in the afternoon to check on her, she was sleeping.

My friend Ralph visited her in September, just two months ago, and reported that she spent much of her time swimming. Here is a link to his report in Knuti's Weekly. 

Ralph visits Katjuscha in Berlin

Kati does like to roam around and patrol her enclosure, check things out. She has some arthritis, but it doesn't stop her from being a very active senior bear.

Katjuscha tends to wander in and out of her door, and sometimes naps there. She has lived alone for a few years now, since the death of Tosca and then Nancy. She seems to like being on her own. Nancy and Tosca had always teamed up as best friends, and Katjuscha was left out anyway.

When I visited Berlin in 2014, Katjuscha invited me to a tea party at the enclosure, with bread rolls served daintily upon her paw.

Back in 2014, Tosca and Katjuscha's sister Nancy would play together, and even lick ears. Katjuscha was left on her own. She has always liked to sit in the door and watch the rest of the world go by.

Tosca, Katjuscha and Nancy in Berlin in 2014.

During my visit in 2015, Kati went into the water and played with a blue ball. She had a great time, just like a cub.

Kati gets a snack of some meat and fish. She does like her snacks. This was in 2015.

Happy Birthday Katjuscha!

 I hope you get some good snacks today!