My Polar Bear Friends and Friends of Polar Bears: Henk

Showing posts with label Henk. Show all posts

Saturday, June 20, 2020

Happy Father's Day to Victor

Victor

Happy Father's Day to Victor.

Victor was born in 1998 in Zoo Rostock to Churchill and Vienna. His brother Vitus has been proven sterile. His sisters Vilma, Valeska, Venus and Victoria have produced cubs, but Victor has outdone them all, with 13 offspring. He is now retired comfortably at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in the UK, where he lives with his grandson Pixel, and three other male polar bears: Nissan, Nobby and Raspi.

His first son Rocky was born in Ouwehands Zoo in the Netherlands in 2002, when Victor was just four years old. The mother was a wildborn bear named Vera. Rocky now lives in Belgium. He is the father of a daughter named Qannik.

Huggies

Henk

In 2005, triplets were born in Ouwehands to Huggies. Henk is now in Nuenen, and has fathered three sets of twins there. Ewa lives in Sweden in Orsa Bear Park, but has no cubs. Jelle lives in St. Felicien in Canada, where he fathered two cubs, Shouka and Kinuk, with two different mothers, Milak and Aisaqvak, in 2018.

Sprinter

Victor's son Sprinter, who looks a lot like his grandfather Churchill, was born to Huggies' daughter Freedom in Ouwehands in 2007. Sprinter is a new father in the zoo in Hannover. Milana gave birth to a daughter, Nana.

Walker, on the right, with his friend Arktos at Highlands Wildlife Park

In 2008, It was Huggies' turn again to have Victor's cubs. She gave birth to Walker and Swimmer, named for diapers. The cubs' birth was filmed and used in a famous TV documentary. Swimmer was much smaller than Walker, but seemed fine. However, only a week after their public debut, in Mid-March, Swimmer had a medical emergency. Something had burst, and he died in the pool. This condition may be why he had been so small, about a third the size of Walker. Huggies and Walker grieved for a long time.

Sesi with daughter Nanuq

Another set of Victor's twins, Sesi and Siku (now Taiko), were born in 2010 to mother Freedom, Huggies' daughter. Sesi now lives in Mulhouse France, where she had a daughter Nanuq in 2017. Taiko also lives in France.

Lynn with Imaq in Copenhagen

Luka in Wuppertal

Victor's twins Lynn and Luka were born in 2011 in Ouwehands to Mother Huggies again. Lynn now lives in Copenhagen and had a daughter Imaq last year. Luka lives with Anori in Wuppertal.

Akiak and Sura as cubs

Freedom with cubs Sura and Akiak

Victor's last cubs, Akiak and Sura, were born to Freedom in 2014. Akiak now lives in Rostock's newly rebuilt polar bear habitat. Sura still lives in Ouwehands.

Victor's grandson Pixel lives with his grandpa at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, which has just reopened

Victor is king at Yorkshire Wildlife Park

Happy Father's Day to a great dad and grandpa.

Saturday, August 31, 2019

The polar bear cubs of 2018-19

Frimas with her daughters Elva and Nivi

This past season, there were nine polar bear cubs born and surviving in zoos around the world, of which we are aware. (There are polar bears in zoos in China and there may have been cubs but we haven't heard.)

Here is a rundown of the cubs

U.S. - Borealis (Bo)
Netherlands - twins Elva and Nivi
Germany - Hertha
Copenhagen - Imaq
Canada - Kinuk and Shouka (different mothers)
Russia - twins Shauna and Nordi

I did travel to Europe in May and June to see the four European cubs, and to Toledo in August to see Bo.

European cubbies

Nivi and Elva

In the Netherlands, we have a set of twin girls named Nivi and Elva at Dierenrijk in Nuenen. Mother is wildborn Frimas and Father is Henk, who was one of Huggies' and Victor's triplets back in 2005 in Ouwehands. Frimas and Henk had twins (Pixel and Noordje) in 2012 and another set of twin girls (Nicki and Simona) in 2015.

Hertha of Tierpark Berlin

In Tierpark Berlin in Germany, Russian bears Tonja and Wolodja finally had a cub who survived, after two years of heartbreak. Little Hertha, named after the Berlin soccer franchise, was born on December 1, 2018. By the time Hertha was born, Father Wolodja had already moved to the Berlin Zoo, and then to Ouwehands Zoo, and finally to Rotterdam Zoo.

This is the first surviving cub at Tierpark Berlin in decades. Tonja's first cub Fritz two years ago died at the age of three months. She lost a daughter at nearly month old last year.

Of course Berlin Zoo had Knut im 2006, but that was a different zoo, although in the same city.

Imaq of Copenhagen Zoo

Lynn and a Russian bear named Nord produced their first cub in the Copenhagen Zoo. Imaq was born December 1, 2018, the first cub born in the Copenhagen Zoo in decades. Lynn is the daughter of Victor and Huggies in Ouwehands Zoo.

Bo of the Toledo Zoo

Canadian cuties

Up North in St. Felicien Zoo in Quebec, two unrelated mother bears gave birth to little boy cubs, with the same father.

Wildborn Aisaqvak gave birth to Kinuk on November 27, 2018. She is an experienced mother, having raised several cubs before.

Milak in Aalborg

Milak, who had been born in Aalborg Zoo in Denmark, gave birth to her first cub, a boy named Shouka December 10, 2018.

I was very happy to hear that Milak was now a mother. I watched her as a tiny newborn on dencam with her mother Victoria, and visited her many times in Aalborg as she was growing up.

The father of both Canadian cubs is Jelle, also one of Huggies and Victor's triplets.

This means that Huggies and Victor are grandparents of FIVE of the nine cubs born in zoos worldwide this year.

Huggies, who is mother to seven cubs, already grandmother to five, and great grandmother to one, is grandmother to five more cubs this year.

And Victor is also grandfather to five more cubs this year. Victor now lives in Yorkshire Wildlife Park with one of his grandsons, Pixel.

Russian twins

Too far to go to visit, but I have seen some adorable videos and photos of the twins in Novosibirsk. The mom is Gerda, and the father is Krassin. A girl Shauna and a boy Nordi. Click on the link below to see some lovely photos of the twins.

Knuti's Weekly story on Shauna and Nordi

Gerda is an experienced mother, having had several cubs before. Shilka, who now lives in Japan, is much admired by her fans. Gerda's last cub, Rostik, was sent to China, much to the dismay of those who adore him and want to keep track of him.

In the U.S. - our one cub this year

Borealis was born at the Toledo Zoo on December 9, 2018. His mother Crystal, who was born in Belgium, and his father Marty, born in Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, have produced seven cubs: twins Aurora and Anana, boy Siku, twins Suka (girl) and Sakari (boy), Hope and now Bo.

Marty is also the father of Nikita in the North Carolina Zoo, with Nan as the mother.

Twins Aurora and Anana, between them have produced four cubs - Nora, Amelia Gray, and twins Nuniq (boy) and Nela, all with the late Nanuq for a father.

Thus, of the most recent 13 cubs born in the U.S. zoos, twelve are the children or grandchildren of Marty. The only other cub is six year old Luna, born to Anana in Buffalo, and Luna's father was the late Nanuq. Yes, the same Nanuq who fathered Aurora and Anana's cubs.

We do have two Alaskan orphan cubs in our zoos, but they are property of the Fish and Wildlife Service, which says they cannot be part of the breeding program, so Kali in St. Louis and Qannik in the Louisville Zoo are not eligible to contribute their genes.

Qannik of the Louisville Zoo

Kali of the St. Louis Zoo

Polar bears are born very unfinished, and sadly, their mortality rate in the wild and in zoos is about fifty percent. The cubs are often stillborn, or live only a few days. Quite often there are twins, or even triplets rarely, and only one might survive. Or none. These nine cubs from this year are the ones we know of, those who survived.

Here is an interesting graphic posted at the Gelsenkirchen Zoom in Germany. It shows the number of cubs born in zoos, and those who actually survived. For example, in 2016, there were twenty cubs born, and twelve survived.

The last part of the German explanation says that only five cubs
were born in 2017 and survived their first month, including Nanook at the Gelsenkirchen Zoo, making her rare indeed.

Baby Hertha and Mother Tonja in Tierpark Berlin

The females most likely to give birth any given season are those who have given birth in the past. Once they start having cubs, they often continue to produce little polar bears. The more years a female doesn't get pregnant, the less likely it will ever happen.

Mother polar bears, like Tonja here, use toys, food and everyday situations to teach and train their cubs for survival skills.

Hertha really wants that strap toy.

There are a small number of female bears in the U.S. who were given birth control back in the early 2000's and it seems that it became permanent.

In Toledo, young Bo plays with his mother Crystal in the salt water pool.

A very unhelpful law which was passed in the U.S., maybe around 2012, does not permit bears to be brought into this country, and that includes polar bears for zoos, so there cannot be anymore trading around of polar bears until this law is repealed.

Thus the cubs that are being born in the U.S. are mostly from the same family, which will create problems down the road in finding unrelated mates for them.
Looking ahead to the next year in the U.S.

In the U.S. we only had one cub this year, precious Bo. What can we look forward to this fall?

Hopes are also high that Detroit will have a cub, as young Suka delivered this past year, but the cubs did not survive.

This coming year, maybe Cincinnati Anana will again give birth, this time to a cub fathered by Little One, whose genes are not represented anywhere else. Since this Anana has given birth to a cub before, she has a better chance than most of the female bears.

Twin sisters Aurora and Anana in Columbus have enjoyed the company of Lee this year, and since both have raised cubs, there are good chances there too.

Nan at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, who is living with Marty's brother Hudson, is also a one time mother, who may give birth this year.

Cub are born usually in November and December, so it is almost time!

Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Loaves and Fishies for Frimas' twins

Big loaves of bread make great floating toys in their pool,
and then you can eat the bread.

One of the girls with a delicious fish

Nivi and Elva are adorable and active little polar bear cubs, and they want to play. Here they are, six months old. Their Dutch zoo does not believe in giving them buckets and balls and barrels and traffic cones with which to play, so they have their fun with their food.

Frimas is a great mom. This is her third set of twins

Their mother Frimas, now raising her third set of twins in Dierenrijk in Nuenen, the Netherlands, was born in the Canadian wilds in 2002, and rescued as an orphaned cub. She lived in zoos in Quebec and Calgary in those early months, then Zoo Sauvage in St. Felicien for seven years. Frimas flew across the ocean in 2011 and came to Nuenen, where she met Henk. A year later she gave birth to Pixel and Noordje in November of 2012. Pixel is now at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Great Britain, where he lives with his grandfather Victor and two other young male bears. Noordje is in Emmen in the Netherlands with three other young female bears.

Frimas with Nicky and Simona in 2016

Three years later, Frimas gave birth to Nicky and Simona, first thought to be twin boys, and even named after a famous Dutch singing duo, but later deemed to be girls. These sisters now live together in Hermival-les0Vaux zoo in Normandy, France.

Now she is raising Nivi and Elva, who are definitely tested and chipped as girls.

Frimas with Nivi and Elva

Henk, the father of all three sets of twins, was born in November of 2005 in Ouwehands Zoo in Rhenen, the Netherlands, not far from Nuenen. He was one of a rare set of triplets, born to Huggies and Victor. His sister Ewa lives in Sweden now, and his brother Jelle lives in St. Felicien, Canada, and has just fathered two cubs himself with two different mothers. Cousins!

Father Henk. He has a nice big enclosure next door, with a big pond.

Mother polar bears have great patience

The announcement of names

Nivi and Elva are so similar,
they cannot be told apart except by the chip reader

Nivi and Elva spend their time nursing, napping and playing

Unlike most zoos, Dierenrijk does not allow toys because they see plastic objects as unnatural. The girls have themselves to play with, plus sticks and swimming. Thus when food is presented, it is seen as a toy as well, for cubs love to play with it, for they need to play.

Still napping, almost ready to play

Time to wake up

Here we go, chasing around the meadow

In most zoos, mother polar bears use toys as tools to teach their children about being a predator, about hunting. Toys and interesting objects are provided as enrichment for the bears, who are intelligent and very curious. By playing with toys in the water, the cub learns stealth, to sneak up on prey, to attack, to destroy, and problem solving. They love puzzles. It may look like they are having fun, but play is serious work for a polar bear cub. They practice their ice floe pouncing. They pretend to attack their sibling or their mom, and in most zoos, toys.

Ready to pounce

In the wild, polar bear mothers can teach their cubs about hunting prey by actual hunting, by showing them and letting them experiment.

Playtime

In Nuenen, without toys, the cubs play with each other or with their mom. They wrestle, they throw around sticks and clumps of grass.

Playing with clumps of grass

And they play with their food.

Lunch has arrived. Fish, vegetables and lots of bread loaves

The view from the main window, over the pond.

You can see the polar bear family through the main window, which oversees the pond and meadow. The other view window is across the way, as you can see in the photo, but because of construction of the new Rhino habitat to the right, the normal path to the right is closed off, and it is a long detour to the left to get from one polar bear viewing window to the other.

One of the many Snowy Owls

The third viewing window is currently inaccessible because of Rhino construction. It is still nice to walk down to where the path ends, though, because when you walk through the magical owl tunnel, where you are surrounded by a lush habitat occupied by over a dozen owls, mostly snowy owls.