As of this year, it appears the rotation of the sun and sloth bears at Columbus has ended. All signage for the sun bears has been removed from both exhibits and I have not seen the species in any of my visits in 2018. Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to find anyone knowledgeable to ask what has become of the sun bears (for all I know, they may still be around off-exhibit, and were removed from the exhibit rotation when Columbus received their new female sloth bear from Germany).
Thanks @jibster, this is what I remembered hearing as well. What I couldn't remember is if someone had figured out if the sun bears were just off-display or if they had passed. If someone could confirm this it would be greatly appreciated!
If this in regards to the bears in Columbus, I think they stopped with the rotation back as far as February. Signs for the sun bear were still there but as others have said, those are now gone. I will be able to reconfirm this on Sunday.
Just confirming Catoctin still has 3 sun bears, the two youngest are in their mid teens. They had a fourth bear less than a year ago, Billy, but passed recently at the age of 38
Spectacled and Polar bears are doing more than fine in Europe, especially the Spectacled bear population is growing nowadays. Asiatic black bears and Sun bears are more of a problem, but at least there were 2 Sun bear births this year and moves are finally starting to take place. Asiatic black bears are very much dying out (being replaced by nothing or Spectacled bears), though there are some births here and there. Sloth bears are a bit of a strange story. 3.3 bears were imported from India in recent years and Rheine, Berlin and Leipzig are breeding, but offspring is sent to the US, as no European zoos seem to be that interested in Sloth bears....
Very good to know about the Andean and especially Polar Bears. I have more hope for Sun Bear in Europe and hopefully more interest can be generated in Sloth Bears. Shame about Asiatic Black Bears, but with there being multiple subspecies populations and a lot of non-subspecific animals this isn't really a surprise unfortunately. @blospz Philadelphia's female Sloth Bear is an Indian, from Europe I presume. ~Thylo
Hi, I just read this thread. All three imported sloth bears from europe are Indian Sloth bears. Maybe you can help me with the subspecies in the US Zoo's? Which zoo holds Sri Lankan sloth bears and which Indian?
All bears imported from Europe will be Indian as well as Philadelphia's female. Afaik all others will be Sri Lankan. I'm pretty sure all the zoos that imported from Indian have mixed pairs. ~Thylo
@blospz Fresno Chaffee Zoo didn’t phase out their sloth bears. They relocated them to other zoos for now but they will be comb back one Kingdoms of Asia opens.
Here is the new list. Updates might need to be made, especially for Sun and Asiatic Black Bears which are on the way towards local extinction. I remodeled the format to show what bears (besides polar, American black, and brown) are currently in U.S. zoos, without the specific numbers. I might change the title and include Canada soon as well, but for right now we’ll stick with this. As in my Zoobat Collections thread, both AZA and non-AZA zoos are counted. Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) San Diego Zoo Zoo Atlanta Memphis Zoo Smithsonian National Zoo Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus) Boise Zoo Brookfield Zoo Capron Park Zoo Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Columbus Zoo Creation Kingdom Zoo Fresno Chaffee Zoo* (temporarily gone?) Lee Richardson Zoo Little Rock Zoo Lowry Park Zoo Sunset Zoo: need confirmation that these bears are gone, looks like renovations are planned for new exhibits Miami Zoo Montgomery Zoo Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo* (might not be on display yet?) Philadelphia Zoo Smithsonian National Zoo Tautphaus Park Zoo Woodland Park Zoo Andean Bear (Tremarctos ornatus) Alexandria Zoo Baton Rouge Zoo Cincinnati Zoo Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Gladys Porter Zoo Nashville Zoo Oglebay’s Good Zoo (needs confirmation) Phoenix Zoo Queens Zoo Racine Zoo Reid Park Zoo Rolling Hills Zoo Rosamond Gifford Zoo Smithsonian National Zoo Salisbury Zoo San Antonio Zoo San Diego Zoo Saint Louis Zoo Toledo Zoo Sun Bear (Helarctos malayanus) Atlanta Zoo Audubon Zoo Catoctin Zoo El Paso Zoo Gladys Porter Zoo Honolulu Zoo Little Rock Zoo Miami Zoo Oakland Zoo Pueblo Zoo Saint Louis Zoo San Diego Zoo Topeka Zoo Virginia Zoo Asiatic Black Bear (Ursus thibetanus) Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Cohanzick Zoo, Bridgeton, NJ (needs confirmation) Jackson Zoo Lincoln Park Zoo (Manitowoc, WI) Metro Richmond Zoo Natural Bridge Zoo Roger Williams Park Zoo Virginia Zoo
Fresno Chaffee Zoo and Sunset Zoo do not have sloth bears at the moment and Henry Doorly's are off exhibit until their exhibit is completed. Also, there are no more Andean bears at the Oglebay's Good Zoo (Nieve went to Toledo and Joaquin to Philadelphia).
Thanks @ThylacineAlive. @blospz Thanks. Both Fresno and Sunset are planning on bringing their bears back though, right? I was under the impression that it was a temporary situation for both of them until they have new enclosures.
