Brno, Nov 23 (CTK) – Cora, the experienced polar bear mother from the Brno zoo, who raised two pairs of twins in the past years, gave birth to a new cub at the weekend, which is a huge breeding success, the zoo´s spokeswoman Monika Brindzakova told CTK yesterday.
Cora and her offspring stay in a birth box where nothing disturbs them. The attendants monitor them by an online camera, Brindzakova said.
The breeding of polar bears in captivity is extremely demanding.
The experts said a female polar bear that succeeds in having young and caring for them for about two years is a rarity.
In the past, Cora repeatedly failed to raise her offspring. Several of them died.
The situation changed in 2007, when she had the first twins, males Bill and Tom, and successfully raised them.
The twin cubs became the largest attraction that considerably raised the zoo´s visitor rate in 2008.
At the age of 15 months, Bill and Tom were transferred to the zoos in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and Prague, respectively.
In 2012, Cora gave birth to twins again. The cubs, a male called Nanuk and a female called Kometa, left Brno for the zoos in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, and Nikolayevo, Ukraine, respectively, in 2014.
From October, the attendants impatiently waited to see whether Cora will become mother this winter again.
If Cora were unable to care for the cub, they are ready to put it in an incubator and raise it artificially. However, polar bears raised this way usually do not live long.
