Old man Neil of Como Zoo

Neil, almost 31, gets only slightly into the pool at Como Zoo

 I paid a visit last week to Neil, who is the oldest male polar  bear in the US. Neil, who will be 31 years old in November, is one of four polar bears living at Como Zoo in St. Paul Minnesota, where they get a good deal of snow and cold winter weather, perfect for polar bears.

Neil smiles for the camera. Or is it a sneer?

Neil thinks he is too old for toys.

He is in fairly good health, but does take arthritis medication. He has been trained to give blood samples with a specially designed sleeve for bears, as long as he is distracted with goodies like his favorite lard, so keepers and vets can detect any changes in his health.

These days, Neil shares space with young Kulu, at left, and old Nan.

Neil still occasionally takes a swim, but it is seldom these days, because it is difficult to get out of the water. So he is rather dirty. 

Neil takes his time. 

When I was there visiting him a week or so ago, he lumbered around the pool, looking for some of the treats the keepers leave, carrots, lettuce, polar bear chow. He didn't interact with young Kulu, who was also out at the time. 

Neil barely steps in, then back out of the pool. 

He did put his front paws into the freshwater pool, but just to take a drink. No swimming that day. 

                                                    Just a little drink...

Neil and Nan in 2025

                                                          Nan and Neil, 2025

Since the death of his twin brother Buzz, Neil's companion in his old age has been wildborn Nan, who is a year older, and who came from the Toledo Zoo. I did not see her on my recent visit to Como Zoo. She and Buzz come out more seldom than they used to, and I have been told that afternoon nap time is sacred. She may come out in the morning, but both oldsters take a nap after lunchtime.

Neil emerges through the canvas straps of the door,
 designed to keep out the wind.
He reminds me of the Panzerbjorn of the Golden Compass stories.

                          Kulu and Neil the Panzerbjorn (Armored Bear)

Neil, behind him is the polar bear inspired climbing rock.
 Photo from last week's visit.

Happier days. Neil and his twin brother Buzz in 2016.

Neil and Buzz were born December 9, 1995 in Louisville to Skeena and Irsinak. The boys were named for the astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. They moved to the San Diego Zoo for several years, and then to Como Zoo in St. Paul. They made a move to Detroit in 2008 when their Como habitat was being upgraded. While in Detroit, they became popular playmates with cub Talini, then returned to St. Paul in 2010. They have shared their habitat with several guests, including their older niece Berlin when her zoo was flooded, and then twins Suka and Sakari, while they waited for Henry Vilas to finish their new habitat. Buzz died in 2020. 

Neil, Nan and Kulu in 2022

                            Neil and Kulu frolic in the water in 2022


When young Kulu arrived in 2022, Neil was re-energized and was happy to play with the youngster in the water. He and Nan played the part of nurturing grandparents to the cub. Kulu is still at Como, and also young Astra as a mate for Kulu. Neil is now getting too old to play. 

     These days, Neil on the left, too old to play with Kulu, on the right. 

A look at polar bears of extreme age

The oldest male polar bear currently is probably UD, who will be 35 years old in November. He lives at the Seversk Zoo in Russia. UD was born at the Kazan Zoological and Botanical Garden on November 29, 1991, to mother Diksa and father Umka. His name came from his the initials of his parents. UD arrived at the Seversk Zoo in 1994 and has lived there ever since. His favorite treat is carrots, and he gets ice cream once a year on his birthday.

In Japan, old male bear Yukimaru just died a few days ago, on October 1, in Yokohama. He was born in 1992 in the wilderness, so was thought to be almost 34 years old.

Ballyba of Ehime Japan was born in Aalborg Zoo December 17, 1990, so is about to turn 36 years old. She came to Japan when she was about two years old. Ballyba has a younger sister Malik who still lives in Aalborg. Ballyba is most likely the oldest polar bear in the world. She has a daughter, Peace.

In 2018, old Boris, the retired Circus Bear in Point Defiance Zoo.

Boris the rescued circus bear, son of Churchill, born in Rostock Germany, died in 2020 at age 35 at Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma Washington. He performed in the East German Circus, and with other polar bears was sold to a Mexican Circus after the Berlin Wall fell. He and the other polar bears, who were living in terrible conditions with the Suarez Bros. Circus, were rescued by the feds when the circus wintered in US territory Puerto Rico and brought to Point Defiance Zoo in 2002.

Katjuscha in Berlin Zoo in 2018.

Katjuscha was born in Karlsruhe in 1984 and died in the Berlin Zoo at age 37, in 2021. Her companions were Tosca, Nancy, Lars, and also the famous Knut. She was sister of famous dwarf polar bear Antonia.

Famous Antonia, sassy little dwarf polar bear

Katie's sister Antonia, the famous dwarf polar bear, also born in Karlsruhe, died in 2025 at almost 36 years of age, in Gelsenkirchen.

Aika in Tierpark Berlin

Aika, grandmother and great grandmother to many bears including Flocke, was born in 1980 and died in 2016 in Tierpark Berlin at the age of 36.

Debby was born in the Russian Arctic in 1966, rescued as a cub and taken to Assiniboine Zoo in Winnipeg Canada, where she had six cubs, all of whom lived to an extended age. She died in 2008, at the age of 41 years old, verified by the Guinness Book of World Records (although she may have been 42, having been born in the wild and her actual birthday unsure at the time of rescue.)

Debby's daughter Winnie, who was born in Winnipeg in 1984, moved to Sendai Japan and lived to be 36 years old.

Spectacular tunnels for underwater polar bear viewing

The view in Columbus, atop the underwater viewing porch,
 2014. Nanuq looking down upon us. 

Many aquariums and some zoos have made good use of the development of modern acrylic underwater viewing tunnels, usually showcasing colorful fish, sometimes sharks and other aquatic animals. 

The Tunnel in the Arctic Ring of Life in Detroit,
with male polar bear Kali on top of the tube. July 2026.

Astra and her mother Suka swim, 2021 in Detroit.

Most zoos housing polar bears offer 2 dimensional underwater viewing, usually giving visitors a chance to see the bears swimming on the other side of tall wide windows.

The Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat in Canada even offers a kiddie paddle pool right at the polar bear viewing window, so it almost seems that you are swimming with the polar bears, except for the thick sheet of glass in between.  

The three bears, Chinook, Kalluk and Tatqiq, 
 in 2015 at the San Diego Zoo,
 play-fighting in front of a giant viewing window.

I have been able to discover only five zoos that offer the incredible experience of viewing polar bears from underneath, from the dry comfort of a viewing tunnel, or in the case of the Columbus Zoo, an underwater "porch" where the bears can swim overhead and on three sides.

Viewing tunnels for polar bears can be found:

The Detroit Zoo in Michigan

The Pittsburgh Zoo in Pennsylvania

The Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg Canada

The Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark. 

Also the Columbus Zoo in Columbus Ohio has an underwater viewing "porch"

Aurora and the late Nanuq in 2014 Columbus.

The Columbus Zoo has an underwater viewing area in the Polar Frontier where visitors descend, either by stairs or by long ramp trail into an abandoned "mine shaft" to 16 feet below the upper viewing level. Polar Bears swim through a 167,000 gallon saltwater pool, in front, to the sides and above seen through thick acrylic windows in this 30 foot long alcove.

This bear in Columbus is actually standing

 on the roof of the underwater viewing alcove. 

Mother Aurora and her son Kulu in 2021, the Columbus Zoo, 

playing with a hose on top of the viewing alcove. 

Here's a video that shows the ramp down into the mine, and all the action in the underwater viewing area of the Columbus Zoo polar bear home. 

 

Watching polar bear cub Nora catch fish overhead in 2016, from the underwater veranda at the Columbus Zoo. 

Anana and her cub Amelia Gray in Columbus in 2017.

Columbus Zoo, 2014, a good view
 of the underwater viewing area.
 There are visitors at the window above, too, looking down. 

 

One of the cubs, Nuniq or Neva, at the Columbus Zoo in 2018. 

Young cub Neva and the fish,

 from the underwater viewing alcove at the Columbus Zoo. 

Current residents of the Columbus Zoo are Aurora and Lee. 

In 2018, cubs Nuniq and Neva have a play battle atop the roof of the viewing alcove in the Columbus Zoo, quite a sight to see. 

And now on to Detroit!

The transparent underwater viewing tube at the Detroit Zoo is a marvel. The 70 foot long tunnel within the 300,000 gallon chilled saltwater pool, the Frederick and Barbara Erb Polar Passage, is unparalleled in any other zoo that I have visited.

The tunnel was built for two species to "share," with an invisible division to keep them separate. For many years, the bears shared their pool with seals, but now sea otters are the polar bears' neighbors.

I also appreciate that the Detroit viewing tunnel has seating along both sides, so it is easy to just relax and spend lot of time there.

Current residents in Detroit are male Kali and females Suka and Haley.

In 2015, female polar bear Talini "hunts" for seals,
 as her mother taught her. Detroit Zoo.  

When the seals were in residence, rescued East German circus bear Bärle taught her daughter Talini how to "hunt" the seals, and the seals learned how much fun it was to play hunt with Talini.

Talini and the seal, in 2015 in Detroit.
 Talini now lives in Lincoln Park Zoo.

The seal teases and plays "hunt' with Talini in 2015.
They are separated by highly engineered acrylic walls in the tunnel. 

When the seals lived there, the water was crystal clear in both habitats, the polar bears and the seals, and visitors enjoyed watching the interaction between predator and prey, although the prey (seals) knew they were perfectly safe.  And yet, they were phased out, seals sent to other zoos around 2020, because some felt they were stressed out by being "hunted." 

The new neighbors, the Southern Sea Otters, cannot have chlorine in the water, for their fur is more sensitive, so now there is more algae in the water, and it is harder to see them in the tunnel viewing area. I was told by Rick the polar bear keeper, however, that Haley does see the otters and keeps and eye on them, which the otters are not happy about.

So now visitors can pretty much only see the polar bears in the viewing tunnel, and the sea otter section is too clouded to see  the swimming residents. You can see the sea otters in the surface viewing area, just past the exit of the viewing tunnel.

In 2022, cub Laerke swims by the viewing room
overlooking the Pack Ice at the Detroit Zoo. 

Near the tunnel in the Detroit Zoo s a special viewing room where you can also watch the bears swim underwater, with a large window to see the pool and the Pack Ice area above. 

Two of the three sea otters in Detroit.
Kit is the oldest and used to serving as a surrogate mother to young pups, so she treats Monte and Finn as babies, much to their dismay. 

Haley, who lived in Memphis for most of her life where there isn't a deep pool, really appreciates the fantastic saltwater pool in Detroit and spends a lot of time swimming there. Photo July 2026.

The acrylic tunnel in the Arctic Ring of Life in Detroit is four inches thick, but is perfectly clear. It is engineered to hold back the pressure of the 300,000 gallon saltwater pool, and the impact of the half ton (plus) polar bears pushing off from it or sitting atop the tunnel. Visitors get a clear 270 degree look at the swimming bears. 

In Detroit, Haley swimming toward the tunnel, July 2026.
The dark areas below and behind her are windows
 into the Southern Sea Otter pool. Haley does watch the otters,
which the otters are not happy about. 

It's a thrill to look up and see a huge male polar bear, in this case Kali, standing on the tunnel over your head at the Detroit Zoo, July 2026.  What a great way to see just how big are their paws. 

Boris/Ivan, in Copenhagen Zoo in 2013, swims over the tunnel
 to the delight of visitors. 

In Europe, underwater tunnel polar bear viewing is available only in Copenhagen.

 In the Arctic Ring of the Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark, polar bears can swim over and around a 360 degree circular acrylic tunnel with a glass floor. You must first descend down a long spiraling ramp into an underground complex to get to the tunnel, which you will pass through as you continue down the spiral to a dead end with various displays about other arctic animals and birds. It is hard to know when a bear might be swimming nearby, since it is isolated from the above ground viewing. I was fortunate to see Ivan/Boris swimming around the tunnel on one of my visits.

In Copenhagen, the glass tunnel floor is also a 

through walkway to the rest of the underground complex

so it can get very crowded when no one wants to move. 

Since you must walk through the tunnel to continue down the underground path, it can create a bottleneck on the path if there is a lot of swimming action. 

Be prepared for a lot of walking to get to the underwater viewing tunnel in Copenhagen, but it is amazing if you are lucky enough to see a bear swimming there.

Currently, two lady bears, Lynn and Noel, are the residents. 

Boris/Ivan sits atop the tunnel
 in the Copenhagen Zoo new polar bear habitat in 2013.

Boris/Ivan swims down the side of the tunnel,
with the reflections of the visitors. Copenhagen Zoo. 

The Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium has a spectacular marine complex called Waters Edge with underwater viewing for polar bears, but the only resident Snowflake is elderly, will be 31 years old this fall, and does not often venture out these days. You probably won't see her in the tunnel area. I have visited Snowflake in SeaWorld San Diego, but have yet to get to the Pittsburgh Zoo. 

This is a 2019 video the Pittsburgh Zoo created, where you can see Snowflake and her companion Koda, who is now in Memphis, swimming above the tunnel. 

In 2018 at the Columbus Zoo, Mother Aurora
with her cubs Nuniq and Neva, atop the acrylic viewing "tunnel"

Boris/Ivan overhead in Copenhagen.
He now lives in Skandinavisk Dyrepark in Denmark.

In the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg, Canada, a zoo I have not visited yet, the polar bear habitat is part of the 10 acre Journey to Churchill area, and the viewing tunnel is called the Sea Ice Passage. The tunnel is 70 feet long, and includes an area for seals, separated by an invisible barrier from the polar bears, so here, you can still see the bears "hunt" the seals.  

The bears here have all been rescued as orphans from the wild. They are females Kaska, Nanuq, Star and Willow, and males Storm and York. A new youngster, who was found by his dead mother in Churchill, has just arrived and does not yet have a name.   

Below is a video from 11 years ago, that shows the underwater viewing in Assiniboine Park Zoo for the polar bears.

Click on the photo to see the video 

of Abssiniboine Park Zoo bears.

In 2021, at the Detroit Zoo,
 cub Astra and her mother Suka having some swimming fun
 over the tunnel.

The experience of seeing polar bears from this extraordinary perspective is rare and quite wonderful, but of course these acrylic tunnels, a modern engineering marvel, are expensive. I never get tired of seeing polar bears swim over my head. 

Suka and Haley, the Ladies of Detroit

 

                    Suka and Haley looking for snacks in the Tundra area.

                      Hey Suka, there's an apple in the crack in the wall. 

We have three polar bears at the Detroit Zoo these days: the male Kali, and the girls, Suka and Haley. 

Haley and Suka on the Pack Ice side of the Arctic Ring of Life.

Haley with a carrot, in the underwater tunnel viewing area.

Haley and Suka are about the same size, and similar fur.

Haley's paws are spotty and mostly pink. 

 You can tell them apart when they are in the viewing tunnel, for Haley has lack of pigment in her paw pads. 

Haley swims laps in the left hand corner
of the underwater viewing area.

 Haley also swims a particular recognizable lap, that Suka 

does not. Plus, if you see one of the girls approaching Kali, it is probably Haley. 

Suka in the right hand corner of the underwater viewing area.

Suka has been there the longest, since. 2018. She was born on November 21, 2012, in the Toledo Zoo, along with her twin brother Sakari, who is now in Buffalo. Their parents are Crystal and the late Marty. 

Suka and Sakari as cubs in Toledo.

The twins moved to Como Zoo in St. Paul in 2014 for about six months, while the new polar bear enclosure in Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison Wisconsin was being finished.

Suka (front) and Sakari in 2015 in Henry Vilas. 

Sakari moved out first, going to Buffalo as a mate for Luna (same Luna Kali lived with as a cub), but Suka stayed at Henry Vilas for three years, sharing space with older lady Berit for a time. In 2018 Suka moved to Detroit, and in 2020 she gave birth to twin girls, Astra and Laerke. 

Astra and Suka in 2021

Nuka across the way, with Suka and Astra in 2021 in Detroit.

Grizzly cub Jebbie came to Detroit as companion for Laerke,
who was being raised by keepers.

Nuka, now in Toledo, is father of the twin girls born in Detroit. Their mother Suka will be 14 years old this fall.

Haley in 2012 in Memphis.

Haley was born in Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester NY to Aurora and Yukon, on November 15, 2002, the last of their four cubs.  In 2005 she moved to Brookfield Zoo to become acquainted with Peyton, a young male there, and together they moved to Memphis in 2006, but never did produce cubs. She moved to Detroit in March of 2025. She will be 24 years old this fall, a little old to be having her first cubs, but we remain hopeful.

Kali, the current male at the Detroit Zoo, was rescued as an orphan in Alaska, and spent his first two years at the Buffalo Zoo being companion to Luna of the same age.

Kali as a just rescued Alaskan cub in the Buffalo Zoo in 2015.

Kali lived alone in St. Louis for a decade before coming to the Toledo Zoo for a short stay and very little romance, and then to the Detroit Zoo where it is hoped he will be more successful with these two lady bears.

Kali in 2016 in the St. Louis Zoo. 

Kali in Detroit

Suka's mother Crystal, the older lady bear in Toledo, did not like 12 year old unsocialized Kali. Everyone knew she liked Nuka very well, as they had lived happily together and produced twin cubs, so the two male bears, Nuka and Kali,  traded places at the beginning of 2026.

Haley in her corner, Kali watches her from atop the tube in the underwater viewing area. 

At first it was a rocky relationship between the two Detroit girls and the new guy, as Kali had not spent a great deal of time with other bears. He had grown up with Luna in the Buffalo Zoo at the beginning, that was a long time ago, and after he moved to the St. Louis Zoo,  he was all alone for over a decade so as an adult, he had not known another bear. Kali didn't know how to live together with the girls. 

There was some breeding going on early in the year with both lady bears during breeding season, but Kali was definitely an amateur, and needed more practice. It is doubtful that either Suka or Haley is pregnant, but we can hope. Next year, he will know better what he is doing. In any case, the Detroit Zoo is currently building a second den for Haley. Both girls will be denned up this fall, just in case.

In July, Haley in front, Kali at a distance.
She tries to make friends with him. 

After breeding season, Suka has been doing her best to avoid Kali. Haley has made him her project, however, trying to socialize him. 

Suka and Haley in the Tundra area of the Arctic Ring of Life in Detroit.

Haley and Suka in the Pack Ice part of the 4 acre polar bear habitat.

Haley wearing the tube. Note her paw coloration. 

The girls swim their underwater ballet together,
using a tube for even more fun.

Haley loves to swim in the Detroit pool.
 In Memphis, she did not have a deep pool with all the
 caves and pillars for hiding. This is great fun for her. 

Suka went diving and found a piece of melon.

We will be watching to see how Kali's social skills improve as Haley teaches him how to be a successful male bear in a relationship with two lady bears.

We will also be watching to see if the outside chance for a cub in Detroit comes true this spring.