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Queens Zoo News

Watch a lesson in bear courtship—but don’t try this on your date ©Photo by J.Maher; video by L.Groskin

Love doesn’t get much mushier than in the dens of spectacled bears Spangles and Cisco. Notorious for their PDA (public displays of affection), the bear companions nuzzle, wrestle, and eat off each other’s plate—er, tree. Despite his 250-pound advantage, the male Cisco does not have the upper hand. He’s even been known to let Spangles have first dibs on the holiday presents.

With a wild population numbering only about 2,400, spectacled bears are one of the most endangered bear species in the world. They are the only bears that live in South America, and can be found in the Andean cloud forests and nearby regions. Spangles and Cisco are part of a Species Survival Plan—a cooperative breeding program that helps maintain healthy populations of the bears in zoos throughout the United States. Zoo staff are hopeful that the well-matched pair will soon progress to the next phase of coupledom: parenthood. According to the Zoo’s director, Scott Silver, “We are patiently awaiting a line of Queens-bred cubs….In the meantime, they get along beautifully.”