Zoo's sun bear born in February

Singapore Zoo announces gender of sun bear born in February

The gender of a newborn sun bear takes two to three months to determine, and keepers at the Singapore Zoo are thrilled they now have a male sun bear in their care.

It will take another three months before visitors can see the cub, which was born in February.

Subash Chandran, curator, Zoology, Singapore Zoo, said: "She (the cub's mother Judy) is looking after this second cub very well and she is being very protective.

"For the first two months, we have only had glimpses of the cub in a depression on the ground, and she would not bring the cub out to show (him) to us."

But after gaining Judy's trust, keepers are now able to separate her from the cub every week.

They do so to monitor his growth, which contributes to the little research done on sun bears.

Mr Chandran said: "Sun bears essentially are solitary by nature. You can only keep maybe a pair together. If they have cubs, then the cubs can be kept with them until they reach sexual maturity. Then whether or not it is a female cub, it has to be separated from its parents. Otherwise there will be fights and a lot of unnecessary injuries."

The next step is to name the cub, but the zoo will do so when keepers allow mother and son to the exhibition area to join the cub's sister, father and grandmother.

So for now, it is down to the bare necessity of making sure the cub grows up well.

-News courtesy of Channel Newsasia-