|
Queens Zoo News
Spangles Goes A-Courtin’
|
 Watch a lesson in bear courtship—but don’t try this on your date.
©WCS/photo by J.Maher; video by Luke Groskin
| Life for Cisco the spectacled bear used to be simple. He looked forward to playing with new toys—like an overhead clothesline-pulley that delivered treats—wading in his pool, and hanging out in his tree hammock. For company, he had Pancho, his brother.
But life in the bear bachelor pad couldn’t stay the same forever. This past summer, female spectacled bear Spangles arrived in Queens from the Houston Zoo, and Pancho took off for the St. Louis Zoo to meet Maria. The bears are part of a Species Survival Plan—a cooperative breeding program that helps maintain healthy populations of the animals in zoos throughout the U.S. In Queens, Houston, and St. Louis, zookeepers and matchmakers alike are crossing their fingers that once the bears get friendly with their new companions, cubs will soon follow.
Meanwhile, at the Queens Zoo, Spangles has been making sure that Cisco can’t cling too hard to his bachelor ways. Always just a paw’s length away, Spangles follows Cisco throughout their shared exhibit. The curious female, who loves raisins and new smells, can hold her own 151-pound weight against her 400-pound companion. By the end of the day, all the nuzzling and pawing leaves Cisco tuckered out. But clearly, the prospect of fatherhood no longer seems so far away for this bashful bear.
Spectacled Bears in the Wild
Spectacled bears get their name as a result of the light brown patch of fur around their eyes. They are the only bears that live in South America. With as few as 2,400 remaining in the wild, spectacled bears are one of the most endangered bear species in the world. They are vulnerable because of habitat loss and killing for their fur and meat.
|
