End of an Era at Marineland

The sign in the parking lot of Marineland in 2017

This week it was announced by Marineland in Antibes, France,  that Flocke and her triplets had already moved to Yorkshire Wildlife Park, and the polar bear habitat on the French Riviera would become home to penguins. The French aqua park would no longer have polar bears. Marineland had been closed for a time because of the Coronavirus pandemic, and was announcing that it would reopen to the public on June 11.

Marineland was home to polar bears for 11 years, from April of 2010 to June of 2021.

In the old days, at Marineland, Flocke rests on top of the stone arch,
 while Raspi waits for her to come down. Raspi always wanted to be with Flocke. Flocke sometimes wanted a break.

Marineland had been closed in the spring of 2020, but did reopen for a time in the summer and fall, then closed again. 

Flocke and Raspi together in 2018, after daughter Hope left for Sweden

The rare birth of polar bear triplets made it even sadder that the park was closed for so many months, but some European visitors were lucky enough to see the cubs. I, being in Ohio, missed that experience, but my friend Ralph from Oxford, England, went for a week in August of 2020, when the cubs were still rather small.

My friend Ralph traveled to France to visit Flocke and her cubs,
and gave me permission to use this photo of the little family.
 Raspi had already moved to YWP

The triplets' father, Raspi, had moved to Yorkshire Wildlife Park shortly after the cubs were born, so Flocke could raise the kids in peace and quiet. For ten months, Raspi lived in YWP, separated and at a distance from the other four bachelor polar bears, from the end of January to mid November 2020, at which time he moved to Tallinn, Estonia as a companion to female bear Friida.

At Marineland in 2018, Flocke swims and Raspi waits for her.

Flocke was born to Vera and Felix in Tierpark Nuremburg in 2007, where she was raised by four keepers. Rasputin, or Raspi, born in Moscow to Murma and Untai, came to Nuremburg when he was 11 months old, about the same age as Flocke, as a companion for Flocke and they grew up together. In 2010, they moved to Marineland, the first and only polar bears to live in this aquatic theme park in Antibes on the French Riviera. 

Flocke with Hope, who was born in 2014 in Marineland

There in Marineland, Flocke and Raspi enjoyed three spacious enclosures. The top two enclosures feature large pools, rocky areas and grass, while the lower enclosure was built for mother and cubs, with a shallow pool, babbling brook, and a grassy meadow, as well as a snow cave. There is also a snow cave in one of the top areas. The bears could enjoy cooling breezes from the Mediterranean Sea, just  down the hill, or if they prefer, the air conditioning inside.  The keepers have taken wonderful care of the bears. 

Raspi and Flocke's first cub Hope was born in 2014.

Little Hope in Spring of 2015

Hope and Flocke in the ice grotto.

It is a shame that this state of the art facility for polar bears is now empty, but it will still be of use, for the Marineland penguins. 

Flocke and her tree at Marineland

So why did Marineland decide to send the polar bears away? Animal rights organizations have been protesting the park, marching around near the entrance with signs, mostly about the Orcas, but others have criticized them for keeping polar bears in a Mediterranean climate, even though the temperature there right on the edge of the sea is not much different than in other European cities that keep polar bears. A British tabloid did a slanted story about the polar bears at Marineland, full of inaccuracies and intended to rile people up. The people who own the park decided to pick their battles, I suppose.

Raspi, behind the gate, could come down and visit his
daughter Hope in the lower enclosure.

Hope is entranced with a visitor on stilts.
The Marineland bears loved to see who was coming to visit.

After Raspi left YWP for Tallinn, the remote enclosure where he lived at YWP, with rolling grassy meadow, climbing structure, foliage and a lovely pond in which to swim, was empty. It seemed to make sense for Flocke, along with her 18 month old cubs, to make the move to the UK. 

The entrance to Project Polar at YWP
where the bachelor group of four young males lives.
Flocke's home is across the park.

So now there are eight polar bears at YWP. Flocke and her cubs are some distance from Project Polar, where the young boy bears (Nobby, Hamish, Sisu and Luka) live, rotating through three spacious enclosures, each with a big pond. Polar bears have very sensitive noses, so the boys might smell a female, but it would be faint, not dissimilar to Highland Wildlife Park in Scotland, where Victoria lives alone, on the other side of the park from Arktos and Walker except during breeding season.

There will be a settling in period, where Flocke's family will have time to adjust to their new home without visitors watching them.

I visited Marineland many times, always staying for four or five days at a time, at the Bastide de la Brague across the road from Marineland.  The bears had much to keep them busy, with toys and other enrichment. Raspi always liked to swim his laps, unless he could be with his Flocke.

Raspi swimming his laps at Marineland

Flocke and Hope, swimming and playing

Flocke, who had been raised by humans, amazed everyone with her great mothering skills with daughter Hope, and is doing a great job of raising triplets.

So, after the initial period without the public, the folks at YWP will have fun getting to know Flocke and her cubs, the boys Yuma and Indiana, and daughter Tala, also called Rasputina by some because she is so like her father.

Flocke was all dirty, and Raspi didn't care. He always thought she was beautiful.

I will miss my beautiful days on the French Riviera, and all the lovely people I have met there. It was an idyllic place for polar bears to live and play. I am sad that those magical days are over. 

The naming of polar bear cubs

Mother Malik with one of her two cubs at Aalborg Zoo
Photo by Jeanette Johnsen

We have had quite a population explosion of polar bear cubs this season, and they have been making their public debuts, maybe a little late due to the corona virus, and getting names. I have counted a dozen cubs in Europe, and one in the USA. I think there were two born in Russia as well.

I thought it would be a good idea to list the new cubs with their names, in the order of their birth. There are four boys and nine girls.

Three of the cubs were fathered by the Russian bear Nord. In Copenhagen, he fathered Imaq last year. This year he fathered Noel's daughter Inuvik in Copenhagen, then moved on to Aalborg Zoo where he lingered long enough to father twin girls with Malik, and now he is living in Skandinavisk Dyrepark. Maybe more Nord cubs next year? 

Since I haven't been able to travel, I rely on photos from my polar bear friends, and the facebook pages of the zoos.

Finja. Photo from the  Zoo Vienna Schönbrunn facebook page

Finja
(1) The first cub of the season was born to Nora and Ranzo in Zoo Schoenberg in Vienna, on November 9, 2019. She has been named Finja (pronounced Feenya). An American connection: Ranzo's grandmother was CW, born in the Memphis Zoo. CW was sister of Chinook, mother of Seneca Park Zoo's Aurora; Anana of the Cincinnati Zoo, now in Detroit; and Denali in Japan.

***
Nana
(2) Milana in Hannover had a cub with Sprinter as the father on November 20, 2019. The little girl has been named Nana. An American connection: Sprinter's mother is Freedom, grandaughter of CW, born at the Memphis Zoo. Again, some American cousins.

***

Yuka, the boy, and Yura, the girl, at Ouwehands.
Photo from the zoo's facebook page

Yuka and Yura
(3-4) November 27,  2019, Freedom had twins with the Russian born Wolodja at Ouwehands in lthe Netherlands. Yuka is the boy, Yura is the girl. American connection: Freedom's grandmother was CW, born at the Memphis Zoo.  More American cousins.

***

Kulu and his mom Aurora at the Columbus Zoo.
 From the Columbus Zoo facebook page

Kulu
(5) In the U.S.A, the only cub born this season is Kulu, son of Aurora and Lee, in the Columbus Zoo, on November 28, 2019. This is a fourth cub for Aurora, a first for Lee.

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Imaq and Inuk at Aalborg Zoo. Photo by Jeanette Johnsen

Inuk and Imaq
(6-7) Malik had triplets on December 5, 2019, but lost one, so now it is twin girls in Aalborg, with father Nord. They now have names Inuk and Imaq. This may end up being rather confusing, as Nord fathered a daughter named Imaq with Lynn in Copenhagen the previous year. 


***

Mother Noel and baby Inuvik, on her first day out.
Photo by the Copenhagen Zoo

Inuvik
(8) Noel gave birth to another of Nord's daughters on December 6. The little white bundle has been named Inuvik. She is quite the handful for mother Noel and the keepers. 

***

Elsa and Anna at Zoo am Meer. Photo by Birgit Born.

Anna and Elsa
(9-10) In Zoo Am Meer in Bremerhaven, Germany, Valeska and Lloyd had twins on December 8, 2019. They have gotten wonderful names for little ice princess sisters, Elsa and Anna from the movie Frozen.

***

Flocke's triplets. Photo from Marineland's facebook page

Indiana, Yuma and Tala
(11-12-13) Sometime between Christmas and New Year's Day, Flocke and Raspi had triplets in Marineland, Antibes, France.  The two boys are Indiana and Yuma, and the girl is Tala. Father Rasputin has relocated at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in the UK.

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Choosing names

I believe that every cub should be given a unique name, and that is often the case. Sometimes zoos don't think beyond their own facility, and don't worry about duplicating names, but we all know that almost every cub born in a zoo will move on to another zoo. It's nice if they each have their own unique name, since each bear is special. But it also prevents confusion. What if bears with the same name end up living at the same zoo?

In the USA, with a population of just 44 bears, there are three polar bears with the name of Anana, and people struggle sometimes to keep them straight.  

In my files, I find seven Snowballs, five Olafs and four Olgas, although all are gone now. There have been seven Auroras, with two in Canada and one in Columbus is still around. In fact the Aurora in Columbus is the mother of the only zoo cub we have this year in the Western Hemisphere.

There is an American Siku, born in Toledo Ohio, whose Belgium born mother Crystal is sister of Blanche, grandmother to Danish Siku, so these two Sikus, although on different continents, are close cousins. 

A third Siku was born in Ouwehands in the Netherlands with twin sister Sesi, but when he moved to France, his name was changed to Taiko, maybe so he would have his very own name.

Another overused name is Nanuk, Nanuq or Nanook, used for both male and female bears. I have counted at least 13 Nanuqs and variants of that name. 

A few years ago, the American wildborn Nanuq fathered twins in the Columbus Zoo, and the son was name Nuniq, as a variation and a tribute to his father, but still an original name.

Over the years, some bears are named after their fathers, as in Herman, and Herman II.

When Huggies had triplets in Ouwehands, the cubs were named Henk, Ewa and Jelle after the three keepers, which is a lovely tribute.

A few years ago, Frimas gave birth to twins, who were thought to be boys, and they were named after a popular Dutch singing duo, Nick and Simon. When the cubs turned out to be girls after all, their names were changed slightly, the Nicky and Simona.


There have been some instances of names being given in response to a business sponsorship, as with Kimberly Clark sponsoring the rescue of Huggies, the car company Mercedes sponsoring the rescue of problem Canadian bear Mercedes and her relocation to Scotland, and little soccer playing Hertha in Berlin. And  Kometa in Zoo Brno, in honor of their local soccer team.

In a touching tribute, Little Charlotte of Nuremberg (Hannover, now Karlsruhe) was named in honor of a devoted polar bear fan who had passed away. 

Zoos often run contests to name the cubs, with the choices narrowed down for voting. And zoos often have a celebration to announce the name, with big colorful banners and treats for the mother and cub(s). 


The bears have their public names, recorded in the studbook with unique numbers, and every bear gets a microchip so they won't get the bears mixed up.

I have also heard tell that keepers have their own secret names for the bears so they can get the bears' attention, and the public doesn't know these special names.



All the zoos with new cubs have already opened or will do so by the end of June. Those months of quietly playing and growing without fans are mostly over. Due to the pandemic, I cannot visit the European cubs for awhile, but very soon I will check up on Kulu in Columbus, not far away at all.