What's Happening in Cincinnati, OH…

Tuesday, November 22, was a great day for the Cincinnati Zoo, as Anana, a female polar bear who is sixteen years old, came to live there.

In order to bring the new bear to Cincinnati, the zoo performed a three-way polar bear swap with zoos in Buffalo, New York, and Madison, Wisconsin. As part of the exchange, Berit, who was the resident female polar bear here, was sent to the Wisconsin facility. Experts said that trading the bears among various institutions gives the animals their best chance of successful reproduction.

The zoo's Center for Conservation & Research of Endangered Wildlife's director, Dr. Terri Roth, said the population of polar bears in zoos across the country is declining, and their reproductive rates are low. In order to save the bears, it is imperative that all zoos work together, and when necessary, exchange animals to have the best chance of reproductive success. Not only does stabilizing and increasing the bear population mean it is easier to study the animals themselves, it also means scientists can also study the ways in which climate change is impacting the polar bears.

Anana will be put together with Little One, in the hope the two will breed in the spring of 2017. If they do, the Cincinnati Zoo could be celebrating polar bear birthdays next fall.

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