Fritz the hippo turns two!

Fritz goes for the gold in the baton grabbing competition.

 

Over the weekend, the famous Fritz, also known by friends as Tater Tot, celebrated his second birthday at Hippo Cove in the Cincinnati Zoo, along with his mom Bibi, his even more famous sister Fiona, and his father Tucker. All these photos were from Saturday's birthday celebration. I arrived just after the cake ceremony.

Fritz with his tasty "birthday cake." Photo by my friend Lisa Hubbard.

Early birds could witness Fritz getting his "birthday cake," which was an extravaganza, some colorful fruit popsicle treats stacked on top of huge lettuce leaves.  The entire bloat got some watermelon on Friday, to celebrate National Watermelon Day, which was actually Saturday. 

No, Fiona, it isn't your birthday.
(But she posed anyway in the frame.)

The Cincinnati Zoo's enrichment team had painted a birthday balloon frame, like a birthday card, onto the viewing window. Fiona took her turn posing there, pretending it was her birthday too. Since Fiona was born in January, her birthday parties are often impacted by the cold and winter weather, so this was her chance, while brother Fritz was busy playing with his favorite stick.

Fiona, now age 7, is famous the world over for her miraculous survival after being born six weeks prematurely, weighing only 29 pounds instead of the 50-100 pounds that a full term hippo baby weighs, and being unable to stand to nurse. She was raised by the keepers, and had several medical interventions to save her. Eventually, she was reintroduced to her mother Bibi, and then her father, Henry. Her journey was covered heavily on social media at the time, and since then, numerous books have been written about her. Her fans come from all over the world to see her and her hippo family at the Cincinnati Zoo. And now Fritz has gotten some notoriety too, mostly for being Fiona's little brother. 

Fritz likes to stalk unsuspecting logs, sneaking up and then attacking.
 The logs don't know what hit them.

Fritz on the prowl for logs.

Got one! Fritz does it over and over again.

Fritz really likes the long stick.
 Lots of paparazzi around to capture the moment. 

The happy birthday boy

More paparazzi,

A smile from the birthday boy.

There goes Fritz, running through the birthday frame with his family.

Fritz with his extra long stick, a favorite toy on his birthday.

Fritz also spent some time chasing his daddy Tucker around and giving him some bites, as Fritz likes to do!

Fritz gives daddy Tucker some bites. It's one of his favorite games.

Some fans even wore special Fritz birthday t-shirts for the occasion and were happy to pose with Zoo Director Thane Maynard, who stopped by to wish Fritz a happy birthday.

Fritz is only two years old, and will remain at Hippo Cover for a few more years, but will have to leave as he grows up. Although Daddy Tucker is quite tolerant and loving now, when Fritz gets older, the older hippo bull will see him as competition, and there would be fights. When the time comes, Fritz will be sent to another zoo, where he can start his own family.

We all know that Fiona isn't going anywhere. 

A new "Era" for Qannik

Qannik at her birthday party in 2023

 It's time to celebrate Qannik's birthday with a party, and also to look ahead to what her future might hold. This year the party had a Taylor Swift theme with an environmental twist.

The keepers setting up the party on January 20, 2024.
Qannik was gifted a new giant pickle by a fan.

This past Saturday, Louisville Zoo celebrated Qannik's 13th birthday with a Swifty theme, on a sunny but bitterly cold day. Perfect for a polar bear.

A new ball, a t-shirt slogan, and an icy treat for Qannik.

Qannik got a new red ball and a new giant pickle, plus lots of her favorite pumpkin chunks. The specially designed posters were affixed to blocks with yummy peanut butter, and Qannik had fun ripping off the posters and licking the peanut butter.

Qannik comes down the ramp to the "stage"
 which was set with song lyrics and Swifty sayings.

Qannik performs some clever dance steps for her fans.

The zoo decided that because Qannik was entering her teen years, a Taylor Swift theme would be appropriate. The keepers had fun putting together the song lyrics and Swifty sayings that decorated the "stage."

Qannik inspects the Conservation ERA poster, featuring her photos.

Qannik in front of her ERAS poster.

Qannik's version of the ERAS poster

                                   Promoting Conservation the Qannik way. 

                                  "Cruel Summer" is a Taylor Swift song.

                               Delicious poster for Qannik's RED album.

                                       Qannik shows off how tall she is.

So many pretty bear pictures on the poster.

Qannik's special guest at her party was the Night Heron,
 a native bird to Kentucky who has made Glacier Run his home for the past year. Qannik doesn't seem to mind.

Click on this link below to see my story and photos in Knuti's Magazine featuring more pics of the Night Heron with Qannik:

Knuti's Magazine story on Qannik

The number of polar bears in US zoos has been in decline for several decades. While there were once 300 or so polar bears in US zoos, the number is now down to below 40. All the younger bears are closely related, which makes pairing them off more difficult. 

A poorly thought through federal law passed in 2008 banned the import of polar bears from other countries.  Whereas we used to trade polar bears to Europe and even Japan, and brought in bears as well, that was stopped. Crystal, our most prolific mother and grandmother, was born in Belgium, and without her, there would be no young ones here in the US. 

Crystal of the Toledo Zoo, with one of her current twins.

To complicate matters, rescued polar bear cubs from Alaska had been deemed to be the property of Fish and Wildlife and under their jurisdiction. For many years, these bears, even though they were born in the US, could not be part of the breeding program. That is changing, and thus Qannik can be matched with a male polar bear now.

It isn't just Qannik who has been affected. A young female polar bear named Zara was rescued last year and now lives at the Alaska Zoo. She is two years old.

The San Diego Zoo has three wildborn bears, but female Chinook is too old to breed, and 23 year old brother and sister twins Kalluk and Tatqiq are bonded and would not do well apart. Tatqiq has been on birth control for many years, so she cannot reproduce, but Kalluk might be considered for breeding as his wild genes are valuable. I have understood that Chinook, Kalluk and Tatqiq were grandfathered anyway, and not included in the breeding ban of wild bears.

 Kali, the male polar bear who was rescued when his mother was shot by a hunter, and who lived in the Alaska Zoo, then the Buffalo Zoo as a companion to young Luna, and now in the St. Louis Zoo, has been living alone for years, but maybe now can be matched with a suitable female from our core family from Crystal.

Of course zoos that currently have a polar bear or two are not happy to give them up, so it will probably be a struggle to find a mate for Qannik. Since she is wildborn, her genes are quite valuable, and she is not related to any of the other zoo bears.

20 year old Payton, who was born in the Brookfield Zoo and later lived in the Memphis Zoo and then the North Carolina Zoo, was chosen to move to Louisville to be a mate to Qannik, but sadly he died two hours into his journey on October 25. It was later found that he had some heart disease and a tumor, but no definitive cause of death has been announced. 

So now we wait to see if our bachelorette bear will find a suitable companion. She has never lived with another polar bear, but she is quite familiar with both Siku of Lincoln Park and Lee of Columbus, for these males have also spent time in Louisville, living next door to Qannik, so she knows them in that way, accustomed to their scent and seeing them often, but not sharing a space exactly.

Siku during his years in the Louisville Zoo.

I am sure that both Nuka and Lee, as proven breeders, were on the list as possible suitors as Suka and Aurora waited through the denning up season, but as no cubs were born, these guys will not be moving, most likely.

Five year old Bo, who was born in Toledo and is now living with older lady bear Berit in Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison Wisconsin, might be a good choice, as he is young and just beginning his breeding years. Berit has given him the social skills to interact with a lady bear. Crystal's year old twin boys, Kalluk and Kallu, will be needing a place to which to move in about a year, and they could move in with Berit at Henry Vilas. 

Bo at Henry Vilas.

Qannik is quite people oriented, and something of a diva, so I suspect it will take some time for her to accept a boyfriend. She might do best with Bo, since he is young and probably willing to follow her lead. Breeding season is almost underway, so there will probably be no action this coming season.

So now Qannik waits to see who is coming to keep her company.

Qannik, our latest Bachelorette. 

Here's Qannik in 2020, showing that she can "Shake It Off."

A snack for the Aalborg bears

Malik sits at the restaurant table, waiting for someone
 to take her order and serve her a fine gourmet dinner.

As 2023 comes to an end, one more look back at my visit to Aalborg Denmark in September.  In the wild, polar bears mostly prey on seals, and occasionally on a beached whale.

But in zoos, what do they have for dinner? They have some interesting favorites in Aalborg Zoo in Denmark, things that they would never dream of in the wild.

Fish is regularly served up to the polar bears, sometimes Salmon, sometimes mackerel,
 sometimes even trout.

Polar bears need lots of fat. Sometimes they are given lard, which the bears find yummy. Sometimes they get skin with layers of fat, and they have to work hard to get the fat off.

Malik enjoying some fatty skin the cubs just dug up out of the gravel.

Sisters Imaq and Inuk wonder how to share this fatty skin.

Children may pester their mother,
 but still are welcome in this restaurant.
Malik is still waiting to be served.

In September, our group of polar bear fans got a special treat ourselves when we we allowed to go behind the scenes and bring fruit and vegetables from a list approved by the zookeepers. Some of the vegetables came from our gardens. The bears got cucumbers, tomatoes, apples, pears, celery, carrots and more.

A special treat, corn on the cob, already shucked,
 and brought by visitors.

Three watermelons, one for each. They really like the melon.
This was the first time they had it.

Here the bears get some pears from a visitor in the polar bear group.

Grapes are good too. Like a Roman orgy.

Malik's favorite is celery.

The cubs like celery too.

Yummy carrots

Celeriac is very funny looking, but Malik loves it.

The kids are liking their carrots. Synchronized eating.

Dinner is served. It looks like Fennel and Fish are on the menu.

The favorite meal for the cubs comes from Mom.
Even though they are four years old.

Matilda the Hippo is turning two!

 

Matilda chases the sun.

Matilda, the Nile Hippo baby of the ABQ Biopark in Albuquerque, New Mexico, will celebrate her second birthday on July 19, 2023. 

Matilda and her glowing sun.

Matilda is the third offspring of parents Karen and Moe at the Biopark. 

Moe, Matilda and Karen at snack time.

Karen and Moe's first baby was a little girl named Boopie, now going by the name of Biopelo, who is in Dallas now and is mother of a little hippo girl named Adanna born in May of 2019, and another born October 30 2022, named Kalo.

Their second baby, born in 2015, was named Brynn, until he moved to San Antonio Zoo to be with Karen's mother Uma, who is his grandmother, and now he goes by Timothy. This young hippo is well known for carrying a torch for the famous little hippo girl in Cincinnati, Fiona, sending her cute facebook messages and sometimes even gifts, like fruit baskets.

Karen's late father Tumbo (Biopelo, Matilda and Timothy's grandfather) was featured on the cover of National Geographic in 2016 as the hippo photographed at San Antonio Zoo by Joel Santore for his well known Photo Ark.  Tumbo was 41 when he was photographed. 

I visited Matilda, Karen and Moe at the end of June in 2022, at the ABQ Biopark, and found her playing with her big green ball. She loved to roll it around, push it through the water, and try to bite it. Her mom Karen played with the ball too. 

Matilda and her mum Karen in 2022

I had the chance to catch up with the ABQ hippo family in May of this year, and found Matilda much grown, but still loving to play with balls.

                   Matilda never gets tired of playing with her ball.

There is no underwater viewing in the hippo area, but the hippos have a large pool with several beaches, and a rustic  bridge to swim and hide under.

                        The view from the bridge. This is where Matilda lives.

Karen and Matilda play with the ball under the bridge in May of 2023.                                        The green ball is still around.

Moe mostly just chills out in the water, while Matilda splashes around with her big yellow ball, and Karen likes to join in with her daughter at times.

But Moe wakes up and joins the fun when it is snack time.

Look what I just ate, says Matilda.

                  Mama Karen gets a mouthful, and Matilda waits her turn. 

                        Papa Moe, on the left, is always ready for another bite.

Snack time is at 2 p.m. every day, and the three hippos line up for a good dose of fruits and vegetables, with Moe on the left, Karen on the right, and Matilda in between, making sure she gets her share.

                                                       Matilda hoping for more.

Moe keeps his mouth open most of the time, hoping for the most treats. His cavernous mouth is a pretty easy target to throw the veggies into.

                            Matilda is in the middle, best spot.

You can get very close to the hippos if you gather along the fence, but you also get a great view of the feeding from the bridge.

                                         There is plenty for Matilda too.

                  Feeding Matilda. The keepers make sure she is not left out.

          Last of the lettuce. The keeper dumps the rest over the hippo family. 

                     Matilda wearing her lunch, after the lettuce dump.

And then it is time to play with the ball again. Matilda does not get the ball every day.  

                                        Matilda is always mouthing the ball.

Matilda likes to fit the ball into her mouth, often pressing it up against the bridge foundation or rocks. It isn't going to fit but it is still fun to try.

                                                                     Open wide. 

Matilda was not planned. Karen's birth control failed, just as with Bibi in Cincinnati, who is now mother of one year old Fritz, as well as the famous Fiona. The keepers say that there are no plans for Matilda to move. 

                             Karen joins her daughter in playing ball. 

                                      Matilda making some funny faces.