Sadness at the Como Zoo - Buzz died

Buzz plays

Today the sad news came that one of the Como Zoo twin brothers had died. At only the age of 24, Buzz's health had deteriorated to the point that he had no quality of life. I had not been expecting this news.

Buzz and the bucket

Neil and Buzz were born in the Louisville Zoo December 9, 1995, named for the first men to walk on the moon. Their parents were Skeena and Irsinaki. Their brother Ulu became the father of Berit, longtime resident of the Cincinnati Zoo. Another brother Icee already was father of Berlin and Yukon born in the Cincinnati Zoo. 

The decision was made to neuter them, so the twins could stay together year round. At that time, there were a lot more polar bears in zoos, and everyone thought their genes were well represented. 

Buzz gets into a milk carton

Thus the twins have been together all their lives. They lived in the San Diego Zoo from 1997 to 2001, then came to the Como Zoo in St. Paul Minnesota, where they have enjoyed nice snowy winters. In order for their enclosures to be renovated and expanded, Neil and Buzz moved to the Detroit Zoo for two years, returning to Como in 2010. While in Detroit, they especially enjoyed playing with Talini, the young daughter of circus polar bear Bärle. 

Buzz was a silly boy

Their home in Como now has a center training area, a big area to the right with live trout to catch in the pool, and another big area to the left with a swimming pool, grass and trees, and a lots of dirt piles and a trench.

Buzz on land, Neil swimming. It seemed like it was that way a lot.

Buzz and the Blue Ball

Neil in back, Buzz in front

Buzz on land

Their niece Berlin came to stay for six months in the summer of 2012 when a flash flood wrecked her home in Duluth. Buzz got along very well with the bossy old lady. Berlin is the daughter of their late older brother Icee. Berlin moved on to the Kansas City Zoo. 

Buzz greets his niece Berlin, who came to live with them for awhile after she escaped from her flooded zoo enclosure in Duluth. She was older, the daughter of their brother, so Neil and Buzz were her uncles.
Photo by my daughter, Corinna Troth

The twins also had some grizzly bears take over their right hand enclosure for a couple of years, due to a flood in Minot ND, and polar bear cubs Suka and Sakari also took over that spot for awhile. So it seemed that someone was always coming or going, with lots to do.

Play Ball, or what is left of it.

 Buzz was always the brother in charge, and Neil went along with whatever Buzz said. Buzz also seemed to be more interested in doing things, playing with toys, digging in the trenches, while Neil mostly wanted to swim. 

Buzz with yet another toy

Both brothers were involved with a revolution in medical methods, having been the second and third polar bears to be trained to put their paws into a metal sleeve for blood draws. This eliminates the need to anesthetize the bear. 

More fun toys

It will be hard for Neil with his brother gone. He always looked up to Buzz to lead the way. I am afraid he will be a little bit lost.

Buzz loved to get dirty. And now it is time for a nap. Sleep well, beautiful boy.

Anana heads to Detroit

Anana

 It has been announced to the public that Anana of the Cincinnati Zoo will be moving very soon to the Detroit Zoo, to the Arctic Ring of Life. This weekend is the last chance to see her before she goes north.

Anana in the pool, with Little One strolling by

In Detroit, Anana will meet up with 7 year old female Suka and 15 year old male Nuka. For the past two breeding seasons, Suka has gotten pregnant and delivered cubs, but the cubs were stillborn or lived only a day. This shows that Nuka can father cubs, in any case, so it was thought that Anana would have a good chance of having a cub if she moves to Detroit. At age 20, her biological clock is ticking. The only other male polar bears in the U.S. who have fathered cubs and are still living are Suka's father Marty, and now Lee of the Columbus Zoo, with a new cub just born.  

Suka was born at the Toledo Zoo. Her twin brother Sakari is the mate of Anana's daughter Luna in Buffalo. Suka lived for a time in Madison Wisconsin, first with her brother Sakari, and then with Berit, longtime resident of the Cincinnati Zoo.

Nuka was born in Denver. His twin brother Koda is in Pittsburgh and his sister Cranbearry is in Anchorage Alaska. Nuka is the nephew of the late Rizzo, who lived at the Cincinnati Zoo for many years with Little One and Berit.

Anana being sassy

Anana in the water with her ball, while Little One does a little more srolling

 With Anana leaving Cincinnati, Little One, age 30, will be in retirement, which is rather sad, especially because he has no living relatives in the U.S., and has never fathered a cub. He does have a sister Satuki who lives in Japan, and she has never had cubs either.

Rescued circus bear Bärle spent happy years at the Detroit Zoo,
loving the grassy area especially.

Detroit Zoo's Arctic Ring of Life has two large areas that can be separated if need be, so Anana can be on her own on one side while she gets accustomed to her new place.

There is a rolling meadow so big that you can't see it all at once, only by walking along a trail to get to the other side. It has caves, a lovely pool, and wildflowers. 

The Arctic Ring of Life in Detroit has a Tundra area,
 which looks like a frozen landscape.

The Tundra area offers a large diving pool with a marvelous view tunnel for visitors, and the sea lions are right there, seeming to share the pool but in fact separated by an invisible barrier. Talini's mother Bärle taught her to hunt sea lions there at the zoo, and Talini would make a game of it. The sea lions loved to tease her. Maybe Anana will learn the seal hunt game too.

Talini in her seal hunting days at the Detroit Zoo. She is in Chicago now.

The viewing tunnel in Detroit

 

Suka, left, lived in Madison Wisconsin for a time with Berit,
 formerly of the Cincinnati Zoo.

Suka's favorite game is basketball. She will spend hours tossing a ball about, diving down to get it, and balancing the ball.

Suka playing underwater ball, her favorite game, in Detroit

Nuka is a private bear. He often stays inside, and you are lucky if he comes out to greet you. He doesn't spend much time playing in the pool. 

Nuka

The Detroit Zoo has a great staff of volunteer docents, and someone is always in the polar bear tunnel to tell you about the bears and answer your questions.

After Anana leaves, Little One will no doubt be more quiet. She really made him feel young and active again. He will really miss her.

Here are some memories of Anana and Little One and their time together in Cincinnati. 

Anana eats lunch, but Little One only has interest in Anana.

Halloween is fun in Cincinnati, with pumpkins every weekend for Anana

Springtime and in love. Anana and Little One

Mr. and Mrs. Anana bear

Watermelon treat for Anana

Carrot - food or toy for Anana

Anana brought her own toys with her

Apples for snack

Anana hogs the ball

Fighting or playing. Little One enjoyed his time with lovely little Anana

Farewell Anana. We will see you in Detroit! You will love it there.

Lee comfy in Columbus

Lee

Lee is getting comfortable at the Columbus Zoo. The girls, Anana and Aurora, are denned up for the season, so he has the whole place to himself. He prefers to sleep outside in his "man cave," rearranging the raffia bedding to suit himself.

It is Wildlights Season at the Columbus Zoo,
 with lots of lights, even during the day.

Lee's "man cave" and his scratching post

When he does spend time indoors, the keepers give him lots of cardboard boxes to arrange and rearrange in his indoor bedroom, because he loves to decorate. Cardboard would be a problem with the water filtration system of the pools, so he has to be happy with fluffy straw and raffia outside.

Interior Design by Lee

Lee weighs 1100 pounds now

He arrived about a year ago from the Denver Zoo, where he had been living with Cranbearry, although they were kept separate. In Denver, he was showing stereotypical behavior, that is pacing and repetitive movements. It is much better in Columbus, where he has wide open meadows and lots of space for roaming and swimming.

He is very fond of Aurora and Anana, but is making the best of it while they are denned up. He is also very attached to his keepers, and they are very fond of him as well.

His fur is looking great now that it has grown in

I visited earlier this week, and Lee had just had his weekly allergy shot. The keepers have trained him to back up against the bars so he can get the injection, while another keeper fed him watermelon and peanut butter.

Lee thinking about another nap

 He has suffered from multiple allergies, and needs the weekly injections to keep the itching at bay. He was scratching quite a bit on Monday, but his keepers said that he should be much better the next day. They tried to get him interested in playing with his toys, or swimming, but he was having a lazy day on Monday.

The keepers are used to dealing with allergies, as the late Nanuq had a severe allergy to grass, and they had to medicate him for that.

It feels good to scratch that itch

His "itching" grimace

He has his favorite scratching posts, a trunk of a tree that has lots of knobs sticking out. He sometimes rubs on stones too. 

Showing his beautiful teeth which he scratches

When he scratches with his paws, or rubs against something,  he makes funny biting faces, showing his teeth.

Scratching an itchy tummy

Lee has enjoyed his time with sisters Aurora and Anana. Each has produced cubs before, so chances are good we may have cubs again this year.

On his way to the scratching post

 Neither Lee, nor any of his siblings have produced cubs yet. Lee's mother was the late Aurora, and his father was the late Yukon, who, along with his twin Berlin, were the last polar bears born at the Cincinnati Zoo, in 1989.

Aurora and Yukon were parents of Anoki, now in Seneca Park Zoo Lee's twin sister Anana of the North Carolina Zoo, and Haley of the Memphis Zoo.

Lee loves his soft bedding

 Lee is descended on his mother's side from the Memphis Zoo's Bruno, and on his father's side from Olaf and Olga of the Omaha Zoo, and thus is related to many of the bears in Europe, such as all of Olinka's children and all of Freedom's children. Elvis was his cousin, and so is Ranzo.

Lee watches me

 Lee's keepers say that he weighs about 1100 pounds. His fur has grown in and is looking much better than when he arrived a year ago, all nice and white and fluffy. 

Lee blends in with his fluffy bedding, all carefully arranged

 

A little more scratching

 

Itchy ear

   

Lee's itchy allergies are much better with his weekly allergy shots

 I had visited Lee once before, in the summer of 2009, when he was in Detroit with retired rescued circus bear Bärle. He was much more interested in Bärle's young 4 year old daughter Talini who was across the way in another enclosure. Lee could see Talini, who was in with Neil and Buzz at the time, if he stood up. Lee was pacing, then standing, trying to impress Talini from a distance. Those were the days when I didn't have a good camera, so the photos are not the best, but nevertheless historic.

Lee in the grassy area at the Detroit Zoo Arctic Ring of Life in summer of 2009

Lee looking over at young Talini next door - 2009 in Detroit

Lee a decade ago, in Detroit

I am hopeful Lee will at last be a daddy, and we will have some cubs in the Columbus Zoo again.