Sometimes you just need to look at cute animals to start your week off right. Luckily for us, the Detroit Zoo gained a fuzzy new resident this week!
Suka is a five year old polar bear. She was sent to the Detroit Zoo from her previous home at the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison, Wisconsin.
Talini, the female polar bear that was born at the zoo in 2004, has been moved to the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.
The goal of all these moves is to get the animals to mate. ?Suka will be paired with 13 year old Nuka, who's been at the zoo since 2011. Talina and Nuka were unsuccessful in producing offspring (probably because their names don't rhyme, unlike the adorable Nuka and Suka).
The Detroit Zoo is a participant in a Species Survival Plan from the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, which aims to "ensure genetically healthy, diverse, and self-sustaining populations of threatened and endangered species."
Polar bears have been hit hard by climate change in their native lands. With a wild population ranging from 22,000 to 31,000, the World Wildlife Fund lists them as "vulnerable."
The zoo says Suka is currently under quarantine and will be introduced to her new environment soon, as mating season is almost underway.
