Sun Bear Exhibit

March 17th, 2011.

In May the zoo euthanized an elderly Sun Bear that was 30 years of age and the second oldest of her species at any AZA zoo. There is now a single Sun Bear left and that female has now just turned 30 years of age and therefore is not expected to live much longer. Within the next couple of years this exhibit will be bulldozed to make way for a modern, improved Polar Bear complex. Some zoo enthusiasts have been lamenting the slow decline of Polar Bears in American zoos, but there are even less Sun Bears as that species appears to be inching close to extinction in terms of the captive population in the United States.

Didn't AZA import something like 10 sun bears from Asian 15-20 years ago?
Did any of these imported animals breed?

There was an importation of 20 adult sun bears (of the Bornean subspecies) about 20 years ago but breeding success has been disappointing. Other than San Diego Zoo I'm not sure that a single facility was able to breed the species in North America.

I was told recently by a keeper in my section (we take care of sun bears!) that sun bears are phasing out in favor of sloth bears due to their lack of success with breeding. Sad, because they are quite charming.