NC Zoo’s new polar bear set to meet his mate — just in time for Valentine’s Day
Call it a wild first date.
Payton, a polar bear adjusting to life at the North Carolina Zoo, is scheduled to meet his new mate in a few weeks. And the zoo is hoping for a spark.
His first encounter with female bear Anana is scheduled around Valentine’s Day, which coincides with the typical start to polar bear breeding season, the zoo said Friday.
The wildlife park said it’s welcoming Payton as part of its plan to rear cubs.
Payton arrived at the zoo after things didn’t quite go as expected with Anana’s previous partner.
“Payton is replacing Nikita, the Zoo’s male polar bear who arrived in 2016 but did not produce a cub with Anana after five breeding seasons,” officials wrote in a news release.
While Anana and her previous mate were a “good genetic match,” the zoo said welcoming cubs isn’t always a sure bet. Male and female polar bears usually only come together for a short time during the breeding season, which stretches from late winter to spring.
“All we can do is try to set Nik and Anana up for success and keep our fingers crossed,” Zookeeper Nicole Pepo wrote in an online post published in July. “Phew...polar bear dating is complicated!”
In its quest to find another partner, the zoo said it’s bidding farewell to Nikita, who will have a new home at Utah’s Hogle Zoo.
Payton comes to North Carolina as a recommendation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Officials said the polar bear had lived for about 15 years at the Memphis Zoo, where he also didn’t start a family with his previous mate.
“Polar bear populations are declining, and zoos have a significant role in protecting the future of this vulnerable species,” Jennifer Ireland, the N.C. Zoo’s curator of mammals, said in the news release. “When people see and learn more about polar bears and the effects of climate change in the Arctic, it brings awareness of their plight in the wild.”
Polar bears are native to the icy regions of North America and can grow up to 1,300 pounds. The World Wildlife Fund lists the species as “vulnerable” — meaning polar bears are “considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.”
The WWF estimates there are between 22,000 to 31,000 polar bears worldwide, with experts warning of a 30% decrease in polar bear numbers by 2050.
This story was originally published January 22, 2021 at 12:28 PM with the headline "NC Zoo’s new polar bear set to meet his mate — just in time for Valentine’s Day."
