Oh my darling Clementine!

 

Clementine gets an ice treat, age 2 1/2. 

Little Bornean Orangutan Clementine made news with her birth 2 1/2 years ago, as the first orangutan born in the Columbus Zoo in 60 years. Named because she is small and sweet and also orange, Clementine is the daughter of Khali and Sulango. Her doting "auntie" (unrelated) Dumplin just turned an amazing 52 years old this month.

Clementine at 7 months, climbing the wall.
Her mother lets her explore but is close by. 

Clementine was born November 28, 2023 to first time mom Khali. Since young orangutans stay with their mothers for seven or eight years, a female orangutan will only have three or four children in her lifetime.  They have the longest childhood dependence of any animal except for humans.

Mama Khali guarding the baby so she doesn't fall. 

Orangutan mothers are nurturing and protective of their young, but other family members do help with raising the youngsters once they are past infancy. Auntie Dumplin is especially fond of baby Clementine and while it is good for Clementine to have such a good babysitter, it is also good for Dumplin, as the keepers say it has given the old lady a new lease on life. 

Baby Clementine in arms at 7 months.
They drink their mother's milk for up to eight years.

Clementine at 7 months, just starting to explore

 

Seven month old Clementine, curious but stays close to mom.

Now, in the summer of 2026, Clementine is a confident toddler, ready to take on the world, although she still runs back to Mom Khali on occasion. 

                                      Clementine and her mom now

A few weeks ago, the orangutans were given ice treats with apples frozen inside. Clementine scampered about, gathering up her snowballs. 

                                                Clementine and her treat

                Treat time for all. There were two ice balls for each.

At one point, Mom Khali came over to try to steal one of her daughter's ice treats, but Clementine would have none of that!

                                                Clementine guards her ice treats

                                   She notices an airplane overhead. Curious!

                                          

                                                       What does mom have?

                                                             Plenty for everyone

                                             Playtime for Clementine

Auntie Dumplin just turned 52 years old in July.  She helps tend to Clementine, but is also known for her weaving skills. The keepers give Dumplin strips of cloth to make works of art.

The Bornean Orangutans are found in the Australia / Islands part of the Columbus Zoo. 

Bear Switcheroo

 

Aurora on the polar bear side.

The Columbus Zoo, home to Aurora and Lee Polar Bears, and Brutus and Buckeye Alaskan Brown Bears, has two glorious bear habitats adjacent. This summer, the zoo is experimenting with switching out the polar bears and the brown bears for enrichment purposes, as this will give each pair a kind of "vacation" to visit an area unfamiliar and interesting.  So far they have switched the bears twice, each time for just a day, to give the bears a chance to experience how the other half lives, so to speak.

Brutus (or Buckeye) sleeping on the brown bear side.

Both spacious habitats kind of face each other, with a central visitors' center in between, and a wall at the end in common behind which are the "bedrooms" of the bears. It is fairly easy to route the bears to the opposite side and the unfamiliar enclosure, so that is what the staff has done on several occasion, with hopes to continue this fun activity for all four of the bears.

Lee rubbing his scent onto the wood, after the brown bears were there the day previous.

I was at the Columbus Zoo the day after the old switcheroo, so I saw how the polar bears reacted when they were back in their familiar territory after the "invaders" had left.

Lee makes sure the furniture smells like polar bears.

Lee was quite intent on making sure his scent was on various spots around the enclosure where the brown bears had rubbed their scent. 

Aurora rubbing her scent on a large log, where the brown bears had rubbed the day before.

Aurora rubs on the  logs around the enclosure, lending her scent
to the spots the brown bears had visited. 

Aurora, too, spent a lot of time rubbing on the rocks where the brown bears had marked. 

Brown bear napping in the brown bear area.

The brown bears, however, didn't seem to care as much as whether some other bears had rubbed their scent onto logs in their side the previous day. One of the bears was inside, sleeping, and the other was slumbering in the sun, not really caring who had been there the day before.

A view of the brown bear swimming area, a shallow pool, where Lee enjoyed showing off his skills.

I gathered that on the previous day, the day of the habitat exchange, the polar bears were quite curious, smelling everything, investigating the new area. They were a great deal more active than usual. The large fish in the brown bear area had been removed to save them from being eaten by the polar bears. Lee liked swimming in the brown bear pool, which has a different orientation, not below the visitors but right in front of them, and Lee liked exhibiting his swimming skills with this new exposure, standing up for the guests even, in the shallow pool, batting around a red ball. 

The brown bears, on the other hand, enjoyed visiting the deeper pool on the polar bear side, and were quite playful, in spite of their 22 years. Usually, the brown bears are pretty quiet, but on the day of the exchange, they couldn't get enough of playing. Maybe that is why they were so quiet the next day, exhausted from all the frolicking.

Aurora in the pool, with the misting machine wafting cooling water drops over her. 

Aurora un-misted.

Aurora at her own pool,
with a crystal clear reflection. 

Lee was tired on the day after the exchange, and spent a great deal of his time napping, but taking a break to roll around on the grass, making sure it all smelled like polar bears again. 

Lee rolling his scent onto the grass

Also itching some spots.

Rolling in the grass feels so good. 

Aurora found her own sort of play, with cardboard boxes. She has figured out how to juggle the smashed pieces. 

Aurora noses the pieces of cardboard

Tossing the cardboard into the air

Making sure the cardboard smells like polar bear

More juggling with the paws

Aurora inspects the pickle, which had been put away the day before so the grizzly bears couldn't get to it. 

The grizzly bear brothers are very destructive, so all polar bear toys like the pickles had to be hidden away from the visitors. There is a display of the damage that Brutus and Buckeye did to the heavy duty window frame in their exhibit when they were younger.

What is left of the window frame from Brutus and Buckeyes' enclosure when the cubs first moved in.

On the day I visited, Lee did not swim and did not interact with Aurora, but Aurora enjoyed the pool quite a bit. 

 

Aurora poses for a picture.

Aurora lazing in the pool 

Aurora has a young fan.

Aurora and her late twin sister Anana were born in Toledo to Crystal (born in Belgium) and Marty(born in Brookfield) in 2006, so Aurora is 19 years old. She is the mother of four cubs: Nora, Nuniq, Neva and Kulu.

Lee and his twin sister Anana were born in Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester NY in 1999 to Aurora, born in Hogle Zoo and Yukon, born in the Cincinnati Zoo. He is 26 years old. Lee is the father of Aurora's son Kulu. 

Alaskan Brown Bears Brutus and Buckeye were orphaned in the wilds of Alaska and rescued in 2004 at just a couple of months old. They have spent almost their entire lives at the Columbus Zoo.   

Aurora climbed the big perching rock over the pool and took a nap. 

Rotating enclosures is employed at several other zoos. Brookfield Zoo in Chicago has three bear enclosures, and up until recently when they lost their brown bears, the polar bears and brown bears could be seen in any of the three habitats.

The Henry Vilas Zoo has two bear habitats, and when the grizzly sisters were hibernating, the polar bears were allowed to explore the neighboring habitat. 

The Louisville Zoo, where Lee lived for several years, has a bear habitat designed for rotating polar and brown bears, so Lee knows how this goes. Currently, grizzly bear Otis rotates with polar bears Qannik and Bo, between the big meadow area with the deep pool, and the smaller polar bear alley with a truck to climb into, stairs for exercise, pools of ice and piles of hay, across the way. 

Giving the animals a change of scene, with different layout, play opportunities and interesting scents, is a great form of enrichment.  

Lee in Polar Bear Alley in Louisville. 

Happy Mother's Day to Crystal

Crystal nibbles some watermelon at Kallik and Kallu's
 birthday party last November 11 at the Toledo Zoo.

Happy Mother's Day to Supermom Crystal, who is the mother or grandmother of just about every young polar bear in the U.S. (a problem when it comes to finding mates for them, but at least we have young polar bears).

Crystal is the mother of nine cubs, eight of whom are still living, and all born at the Toledo Zoo.

                             Crystal in September of 2022 - carrying twins

About a month ago, Crystal said goodbye to her twin boys Kallik and Kallu, and hello to a new suitor, the wildborn Kali.  The polar bear habitat in Toledo is undergoing renovations, so Crystal and Kali have spent their time behind the scenes, getting to know each other.

Kali was rescued as a cub in Alaska in early 2013 after a hunter shot his mother, thinking she was a male as she was such a large bear. The hunter realized there was a cub somewhere and followed the mother's tracks to her den where Kali was alone.

Kalli in the Buffalo Zoo as a fluffy cub

After a snowmobile ride to safety, Kali lived in the Alaska Zoo for a few months, then was brought to the Buffalo Zoo to be companion and playmate to young Luna of the same age, whose mother would not care for her, so Luna was raised by keepers. Luna and Kali helped each other grow up. They had so much fun together.

Kali and Luna in the Buffalo Zoo.

When they were older, Kali was sent to the St. Louis Zoo, where he had lived alone ever since, until recently coming to Toledo. Kali is a very large bear.

Kali in St. Louis

 Looking back to her 26th birthday last November, Crystal had her own party but had to share the spotlight with her two year old twins, who had their own party the next day. 

One of the cubs (Kallu?) with a birthday sign for Crystal.

Kallu, Kallik and Crystal enjoy the goodies at one of the parties.

Crystal is the mother or grandmother of almost all the younger generation of polar bears in the US. If we didn't have Crystal, we would only have a handful of aging polar bears in this country. Since 2008, a federal law has prohibited the import of polar bears from other countries. Crystal has done her best to fill that gap.

Crystal swimming in 2011

She was born in Monde Sauvage Safari Parc in Aywaille, Belgium in 1998, where she had an older sister, Blanche. Crystal came to Toledo when she was about a year and a half, in the spring of 2000, just as the fine new polar bear habitat at the Arctic Encounter was opening. A young male polar bear named Marty was waiting for her. Another female bear, wildborn Nanuyaak, usually called Nan, arrived in 2001.

Marty and Nan in 2014

Aurora and Anana

Twins Aurora and Anana were born to Crystal in 2006, and at the same time, Nan gave birth to Nikita, so there were three cubs at the Toledo Zoo. This was to be Nan's only offspring. Marty went to another zoo for a time to give his two little families room, but came back in 2008. Aurora and Anana moved to a gorgeous roomy new polar bear meadow at the Columbus Zoo and Nikita moved to the newly opened and very fine polar bear habitat at the Kansas City Zoo.

Aurora and Anana in 2011 in Columbus

Nikita now lives at Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City with Crystal's granddaughter Neva.

Crystal and Siku in 2010

Siku

Next was Siku, born in 2009. Crystal did a fine job of mothering him, and in the fall of 2011 he moved to the Louisville Zoo where his grandmother Arki had retired from Brookfield Zoo. Siku currently lives in Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago with Talini.

Siku in Louisville in 2016

Suka and Sakari

In 2012 boy and girl twins Sakari and Suka were born.

Crystal, with kids Suka and Sakari bickering behind her.

Crystal nursing Sakari and Suka.

Sakari grew large quickly, but Suka was scrappy and always got her share.

Sakari and Suka in Toledo.

 When they were ready to leave, they moved to Como Zoo in Minnesota for awhile, where they lived with older gentlemen brothers Neil and Buzz. 

Suka and Sakari at Como Zoo in December 2014

Then, when their new place was ready, they moved to a brand new grassy habitat at Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison Wisconsin.

Sakari and Suka in the meadow at Henry Vilas.
 That is a restaurant behind them.

After Sakari left Henry Vilas to move to Buffalo, old lady Berit of the Cincinnati Zoo moved in and she and Suka became best friends.

Berit and Suka at Henry Vilas Zoo in 2017.

Sakari now lives in the Buffalo Zoo with Luna, and Suka lives in the Detroit Zoo with Nuka, who is the father of Crystal's last set of twins Kallik and Kallu, as well as Suka's twins Laerke and Astra. 

Hope

Hope was born in 2015. She moved to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City where she played with Aurora's daughter Nora. Hope now lives in Brookfield Zoo in Chicago with Hudson, brother of Marty.

                                                  Hope as a cub in Toledo.

                                                    Hope in Hogle Zoo.

Borealis

Borealis, usually called Bo, was born in 2018. Since he was a single cub, Crystal was designated playmate.  Mother and son spent a lot of time in the pool. 

                                               Bo and one of his many toys

Bo was probably the silliest of Crystal's cubs. He always had to be playing a game, tossing a toy, investigating a mystery. A very busy playful cub. Bo loves his toys.

                                                 Crystal nursing Baby Bo

In 2020 Bo moved to Henry Vilas to play with Berit.

                                         Bo and Berit at Henry Vilas

 Just this year, Bo moved to Louisville Zoo, where he hopes to mate with wildborn Qannik, who has just gotten permission from Fish and Wildlife to associate with boy bears.

Marty died in late 2021. Since Crystal's daughter Suka had given birth to twins in nearby Detroit, Suka's mate Nuka was on his own, so he was brought to Toledo, where he and Crystal got along very well.

Kallik and Kallu

Twin boys Kallik and Kallu were born in late 2022. Nuka had returned to Detroit, so it was just Crystal and her cubs. She took excellent care of the babies, but probably was happy they were twins and could entertain each other while she rested and watched. She looked worn out.

          
                                                        Kallik and Kallu

Kallik was much smaller, and also more independent. Kallu always had to be near mama, while little Kallik was off happily playing by himself.

Crystal nursing her twins in the den

Kallik and Kallu have just moved to the St. Louis Zoo, changing places with Kali, who just moved to Toledo to be with Crystal.

Grandchildren

Nora

Wildborn Nanuq arrived in 2012 in Columbus. Twins Aurora and Anana loved this big hunk, who was also father of Luna in Buffalo. Aurora gave birth to Nora in Columbus in 2015 but something was wrong, and Aurora lost interest in the cub, so the keepers raised her. Nora did have some medical issues, and bone development problems, but has done very well. Nora moved to the Oregon Zoo, then to Hogle Zoo where she played with her Aunt Hope for a few years.

Hope (up) and Nora in Hogle Zoo

Nora also broke her leg while in Salt Lake City, and had to have some serious surgery with metal pins and all. Nora is now back at the Oregon Zoo with her sister/cousin Amelia Gray.

Amelia Gray, Nuniq and Neva

Amelia Gray was born in the Columbus Zoo in 2016 to Anana and Nanuq. At the same time, Anana's sister Aurora was next door giving birth to twins Nuniq and Neva.

Anana and Amelia Gray in Columbus

 The zoo rotated the two families, so the three cubs never did play together. Old Nanuk, father of Nora, Amelia Gray, Nuniq and Neva, died the spring following the cubs' births.

Nuniq and Neva in Columbus

Neva, Nuniq and Aurora in Columbus

Amelia Gray and Neva moved to the Maryland Zoo for a time, then Amelia Gray moved to the Portland Zoo to live with Nora. Neva moved to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City, while Nuniq went to Henry Vilas Zoo to play with older lady Berit. He then moved to the Kansas City Zoo, where he lives today by himself. 

Kulu

Kulu was born to Aurora and to the new male polar bear in Columbus, Lee, in 2019. Lee moved to Louisville in the meantime, but has since returned to Columbus.

Kulu and his mom Aurora, Crystal's daughter

Kulu moved to Como Zoo in St. Paul Minnesota where he lives with the two oldest polar bears in the country, his mother's old friend Nan, and  old Neil, who doesn't seem to mind playing with the youngster. Nan is quite grandmotherly, and likes to watch them play.

Neil, Nan and Kulu in Como Zoo

Astra and Laerke

Suka gave birth to twin girls in Detroit in November of 2020, with Nuka as the father. Astra was strong and healthy, but Laerke needed medical intervention, and was taken away to be raised by keepers. Laerke grew at a slower pace, and will probably always be small but she is doing well. 

Laerke and Jebbie play

A young grizzly bear orphan named Jebbie was brought in to be a playmate, and great fun followed. Eventually, Jebbie grew to be too much larger and stronger than Laerke, so they were separated. Jebbie has gone to a wildlife sanctuary in Colorado.

                 Sisters Astra (far) and Laerke (close) separated by a moat.

When Astra was ready to leave her mom, the twins were reunited, and then they moved to Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma Washington, where they continue to develop their sisterly love.

The future

The story may continue this fall with possible expected births by Suka and Nuka in Detroit, and by Aurora and Lee in Columbus.

There is also an outside chance that Crystal will have cubs this fall after the arrival of new mate Kali. No word on how they are getting along, but Crystal will be 27 years old in November, and the oldest bear to give birth that I know of was Uslada in St. Petersburg, who had her 16th cub when she was 26 years old.

As for the future, there is a young  girl polar bear Kava, who was rescued and lives in the Alaska Zoo. If Fish and Wildlife would agree, she would be a good mate (unrelated) for Kallik or Kallu eventually.

I hear by the grapevine that there are some interesting moves planned soon, to make some new bear pairs. 

In Memoriam - We can't forget Crystal's longtime mate Marty, father of seven of her nine cubs.

    
                                                                   Marty

For those wondering about Crystal's overseas relatives, her sister Blanche died last year, but her daughter Qannik still lives in Monde Sauvage. Blanche's son Nanok lives in Skandinavisk Dyrepark in Denmark, and there he has a son Siku and a daughter Nuno, who also has twin daughters, Nivi and Anori.  Nanok's son Nanu lives in France.  

Happy Mother's Day, Crystal.