PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 While the Oregon Zoo may be saying goodbye to Nora, another polar bear will be joining the zoo in her place as part of a national initiative to try and save the imperiled species.<\/p>\n
Nora first came to Portland in September of 2016 at nearly a year old, and was eventually moved to Hogle Zoo in 2017. She returned in 2021 with the opening of the Oregon Zoo\u2019s Polar Passage.<\/p>\n
Now, Nora will be moving to Wisconsin\u2019s Henry Vilas Zoo in the hopes she will have cubs..<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to miss Nora,\u201d said Rachel Ritchason, the Oregon Zoo\u2019s deputy director of animal care. \u201cIn some ways, it feels like she grew up here. But we know this is an important step for her as well as for the overall polar bear population. It would be amazing to see her raise some cubs and help ensure a long-term future for this very vulnerable species.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kallik \u2013 pronounced kah-leek \u2013 will be moving to Oregon later this fall from the St. Louis Zoo. He\u2019s described as a playful and energetic young bear with a healthy curiosity.<\/p>\n
Kallik was born November 11, 2022 at the Toledo Zoo & Aquarium before moving to St. Louis with his twin brother Kallu. After spending their youth together, the zoo said the bears are \u201cnow ready for their next steps toward adulthood\u201d as they develop hormonally, learn new skills, and seek more independence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they\u2019re older, Kallu and Kallik may be recommended to pair with female polar bears, though plans for that have yet to be determined,\u201d the Oregon Zoo said. \u201cIn the meantime, guests needn\u2019t worry about either of these bears being on their own: Polar bears generally lead solitary lives except when they\u2019re breeding or raising cubs, according to wildlife biologists.\u201d<\/p>\n
More from the Oregon Zoo:<\/p>\n
The moves are part of a comprehensive plan rolled out by members of the Polar Bear Population Alliance \u2014 a new consortium of Association of Zoos and Aquariums\u2013accredited organizations focused on maintaining a sustainable, genetically diverse polar bear population in the United States. Polar bears, classified as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, face a high risk of global extinction due to changes in their Arctic habitat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 While the Oregon Zoo may be saying goodbye to Nora, another polar bear will be…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":249899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[4788,746,21737,132483,132482,75375,88734,31111,159,9569,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-249898","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-conservation","9":"tag-environment","10":"tag-extinction","11":"tag-kallik","12":"tag-nora","13":"tag-oregon-zoo","14":"tag-polar-bear","15":"tag-population","16":"tag-science","17":"tag-species","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115255687519221801","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}