North American Andean Bear Population

Nashville Zoo will be receiving Pinocchio, the adult male Andean bear from the Salisbury Zoo, on breeding loan next month

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=636658265172330&set=a.555721796599311

 

This most likely means Muniri will be leaving Nashville for another zoo.

 

I think Muniri will, like Pinocchio, move to another facility, but only on a loan, and will eventually return back to Nashville.

 

Cayenne should be returning to Cleveland in the coming weeks as their tropical Bear complex is nearing completion. It's unknown if any other Andean Bears will be moving to the new exhibit

 

I asked the Beardsley zoo on Instagram if they have plans on acquiring a second Andean bear in the near future and they said the next bear will be a young female and to stay tuned. Anybody have any idea which bear could be moving to Beardsley. My guess would be the female cub born at the Queens Zoo in 2021.

 

Potawatomi Zoo is opening a habitat for Andean Bears, bellow is the outlook, although it says “Black Bear,” they did a swap for Black Bears to make it for Andean Bears

 

I just visited the zoo today, they have a sign in the area featuring photos of black bears for the exhibit.

 

Huh, the maps say Andean Bear and their Facebook said Andean Bear:

 

Nope, they are doing black bears now.

More info here: New Projects at the Zoo - Potawatomi Zoo

 

The habitat will hold Andean Bears, I had emailed the zoo and they stated that Andean Bears would be replacing the black bears, they claimed that reprinting the signs was too expensive so they wouldn’t, overview of the email here:

Spoiler: The Email

Hi ———,
You're right! The original plan (when we made the physical signs) was to bring in black bears. However, we had a great opportunity to add Andean bears instead, so we shifted gears and committed to Andean bears, which we've never had at this Zoo! Reprinting the signs was a bit too expensive, though, and the important parts--the way the new lodge and habitat look--are still the same.
Thanks for asking!
Sincerely,
Kristina


Potawatomi Zoo
500 S. Greenlawn Ave
South Bend, IN 46615
574-235-9800
www.potawatomizoo.org





-----Original Message-----
From: ——— <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 1, 2023 8:09 PM
To: Zoo Info <[email protected]>
Subject: Potawatomi Zoo "Bears"

From: ——— <———@———>
Subject: Bears

Message Body:
Is the new bear habitat going to hold American Black or Andean Bears? The zoo has posted conflicting information on which species it will be.

--
This e-mail was sent from a contact form on Potawatomi Zoo (Home - Potawatomi Zoo)

 

Pinocchio has officially arrived in Nashville to breed Luca!

Salisbury Zoo's Pinocchio Arrives in Nashville

 

Pacha from Queens has moved to Cleveland for their new tropical Bear exhibit. A female is on the way but the employee I talked to did not know who it is

 

Unless it's Oja from Reid Park Zoo or they get an import from another country, all eligible females are related to Pacha. Without imports, I'm afraid we are going to get into the polar bear breeding game plan and cousins will breed together.

 

With juvenile, male Andean bears needing new homes in the near future, will there be enough zoos to accommodate them? Can two adult Andean bears cohabit in the same exhibit? I can't think of a recent example in a US Zoo. I guess there's always the option of rotation on exhibit. The cubs at Salisbury (I believe I heard one could stay), DC and San Diego will need new homes. As listed above, the male juvenile Andean bear born at Queens Zoo is now in Cleveland and his sister has a destinated new home too (I can't announce since it's not official).

 

That seems to be the most likely since Bear Hollow is designed to be a breed facility.

 

Beardsley Zoo just opened a new Andean bear exhibit with 2 exhibit yards, a cub yard, a nighthouse yard, and multiple dens, but they only have a single elderly female at the time. So it seems like they would have space for additional animals.

 

It would actually be a good idea to get Oja to another zoo because her current mate, Joachim, is elderly and I don't think there will be a positive outcome together.

 

What about muniri from Nashville now that Pinnochhio was transferred there

 

I asked at Beardsley and they said nothing is official but their next bear will most likely be a young female

 

I plan to be at the openining of Bear Hollow on the 25th so I'll try to confirm which female Cleveland is getting