The world’s polar bear population has been in decline for a while, due to climate change. But some bears at the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison could be doing their part to reverse that trend — with a little bear romance ahead of breeding season.
If you’ve seen the Henry Vilas Zoo’s Facebook page lately, you’ll see two polar bears playing in the zoo’s enclosure. Nora, a 10-year-old female, and Siku, a 16-year-old male, are sometimes sprawled out on logs or snow, or splashing around together in a pool.
Nora is new to the zoo. She just got here in January. And as the zoo puts it, she’s been “initiating playtime” with Siku.
Beth Petersen is the zoo’s general curator. She explains that Nora and Siku are third- or fourth-generation zoo bears. That means they were born in a zoo. But of course we had to ask about the romance department.
"Bear courtship — yes — we have been recommended that Siku and Nora breed. They are our two newest bears. We have had many bears at Henry Vilas before, but not had any breeding recommendations, just due to the age of the animals and what the population needed at the time," says Petersen.
Nora and Siku are being placed together as part of the Polar Bear Population Alliance. It’s a group of accredited zoos trying to get the healthiest and most genetically diverse zoo bears to repopulate the species. You could call it a veritable polar bear matchmaking service, especially ahead of breeding season: February to April.
"So, right now, we see a lot of courtship behaviors," says Petersen, "And they're getting to know each other and trust each other a lot, and that'll probably mean that when her hormones and his hormones are at their peak and there's actually ready for breeding, then they are probably going to be successful, at least in the breeding department. We're hopeful that the cub department will come as well."
How bears breed in the zoo is a little different from how they do it in the wild, where arctic bears compete for females during breeding time. It can get pretty violent, and sometimes result in injuries. After breeding in the wild, males only stick around the female for about two weeks.
"Just as long as it takes for the male to feel like the female was occupied by him during that time that she was probably most likely to be bred," Petersen explains.
A "situationship" perhaps?
"Definitely different than a one-night stand," Petersen laughs.
A “situationship” in modern dating is a romantic or sexual relationship that the participants don’t really define. It’s a sort of "gray area" between a casual hookup and a committed relationship.
So, in the zoo, do the bears continue their relationship after the breeding process, or do they just kind of go their separate ways?
"Well, this is kind of all new for us," Petersen admits. "Not that we haven't seen some courtship with previous young bears and our older bear. It's just this pairing is like — these are real grown-up bears that are going through all the right, you know, hormone and breeding and courtship behavior. So, we're really hopeful that they stay compatible year-round. So that's also shown to be a good indicator about whether you'll be successful having cubs."
Petersen explains that like in the case of a lot of people, if you were not getting along with your significant other — if you're at odds all the time — the chances of you being a successful parent are probably pretty low.
"If Siku and Nora continue to get along and probably continue to play and like each other and tolerate each other as much as they do," she says. "Then they'll all stay together up until Nora would be going in and denning up and getting ready to have cubs."
The zoo doesn't necessarily encourage the two to play, that's all up to them. But the zoo does make sure all their other needs are taken care of, giving them things to play with and as much food as they could possibly want right now. That includes fish, meat, and lard because it's winter, and they're building up their fat stores.
No snowcones though, unless they make them themselves. "It's DIY around here," jokes Petersen.
Teddy Jerdan, 13, was watching the polar bears lounge about with his little brother Simeon and their mom Sara. He tells me about his mom's reaction to the zoo's efforts: "She's been super excited about the new polar bear!"
"A little hyper-fixated on it," concurs Sara. "I'm like, 'We have to see the new polar bears when it's cold out, and just kind of be part of their story.'"
She says her family is a neurodiverse household. Some have ADHD or autism, and they homeschool.
"So we've kind of learned just to embrace whenever our brains are like, 'We got to go see this now! And then, as a mom, I try to share the, you know, the good hyperfixations to show them, ‘Hey, I can be a grown up and just be really interested in polar bears in my 40s.' And they love it, and then we just share the joy. And then if they get hyperfixated on something, we'll go do that and learn."
"That one there is tired. This one here, I think, wants to break out," observes 10-year-old Simeon.
But probably in line with many middle school boys, Teddy was not too impressed with the potential polar bear love story. When asked about the potential romance, Teddy has no comment.
But Sara was all for it. "I think it's cool what they're doing. From the research I've read, it seems like there's been a lot of intentionality between what animals they have and the conservation efforts."
At present, Nora and Siku are just getting to know each other. “Breaking the ice,” you could say.
