Great news comes from the home of a female polar bear in Scottish Animal Park. The mother bear, named Victoria gave birth to a cub, and it is a first polar bear to be born in the UK for the last 25 years.
The cub was born a day before Christmas. The mother bear is one of the 3 adult polar bears that live at the Highland Wildlife Park at Kincraig, near Aviemore. Among them is the male bear, Arktos, the father of the cub.
“While we are absolutely thrilled, we are not celebrating prematurely as polar bear cubs have a high mortality rate in the first weeks of life due to their undeveloped immune system and the mother’s exaggerated need for privacy, with any disturbance risking the cub being killed or abandoned,” says Una Richardson, the park’s head keeper.
Polar bears Victoria and Arktos interact in Highland Wildlife Park in Kincraig, Kingussie, Scotland in this undated photo obtained from social media. COURTESY of RZSS Highland Wildlife Park polar bear breeding /via REUTERS
She added: “We will continue to monitor Victoria and very much hope for the best possible news when she emerges around March. Until then, Victoria’s enclosure will be closed to the public and keeper activity will be at a minimum to give her offspring every chance of survival.”
We hardly wait to see the little polar bear.