São Paulo Aquarium announces birth of its first polar bear
The São Paulo Aquarium has announced the first successful case of polar bear breeding in Latin America. The cub, a female named Nur, was born on November 17. She is expected to begin adapting to the enclosure where she can be seen by visitors soon. At the moment, she remains with her mother in an internal area, built to simulate the species’ natural habitat. Her release should not take place until specialists believe it is the best time for the animals.
Nur was born weighing 400 grams and is now around six kilos. The team has not yet carried out any tests, in a bid not to interfere with the dynamic between the cub and its mother, 220-kilo Aurora.
Preparations for the birth began as soon as the aquarium team noticed the first signs of pregnancy, all stemming from the female’s behavior.
Aurora began to spend more time in her den, showing a greater need for rest and reducing her interactions with Peregrino, Nur’s father. The species does not maintain contact between males and females outside of the breeding season, and adult males can pose a risk to their young.
After the birth, specialists could have used remote monitoring for a brief intervention, which proved unnecessary as the mother and her baby adapted quickly, much to the relief and happiness of the team. Confirmation that the cub was a female only came when she lay facing one of the cameras.
Aurora and Nur’s father, Peregrino, are Russian and came to Brazil as part of an exchange between the São Paulo Aquarium and Kazan Zoo some 10 years ago. Their adaptation was supported by staff from the Russian institution.
In return, the São Paulo Aquarium paid for the Russian translation of Polar Bears: The Natural History of a Threatened Species, by Ian Stirling (1941–2024), a renowned environmental and climate-change scientist from Canada, and distributed 20 thousand copies in Russia, which has the largest wild population of polar bears.
“Making this scientific literature available in Russian was a major stride in the knowledge about the species in the country, contributing to the training of new researchers and improving conservation strategies,” members of the aquarium’s management stated.
