Gallery: New polar bear sisters coming to Tallinn Zoo
Two young female polar bears, Inuk and Imaq, will be moving from Aalborg to Tallinn in the coming months after an exchange with a Danish zoo.
On November 19, Tallinn Zoos' polar bear Rasputin turned 17 years old, marking his final birthday in Estonia before relocating to Aalborg. Once there, he will be paired with a new mate.
Rasputin, who was born on November 19, 2007, at the Moscow Zoo, will leave Tallinn Zoo on November 28 to join his new partner in Denmark.
On the same day, two young polar bears, sisters Inuk and Imaq, will arrive from Aalborg. Friida, the current female polar bear at Tallinn Zoo, will remain in Tallinn.
Nicknamed "Raspi," Rasputin has a long romantic history. At one year old, he was transferred to Nuremberg Zoo in Germany as a companion for a young female bear, Flocke. In 2010, Rasputin and Flocke moved to Marineland in Antibes, France, where Flocke gave birth to two litters of cubs — one in 2014 and three in 2019. Due to limited facilities for male bears, Rasputin spent ten months at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in England before being paired with Friida and arriving at Tallinn Zoo in November 2020.
The breeding and population management of polar bears in zoos is overseen by a species coordinator, who deemed Rasputin and Friida genetically compatible.
"Rasputin's genes are vital, as both his father, Untai, and mother, Murma, were wild-born and met at the Moscow Zoo, where Rasputin was born," said senior curator Jelena Semjonova.
Inuk and Imaq, born on December 4, 2019, are known for their playful and curious natures, said Tallinn Zoo Director Kaupo Heinma.
Aalborg Zoo zoologist Thea Loumand Faddersbøll said Inuk is smaller and more reserved but loves to dig, while Imaq, the larger sister, enjoys swimming and takes her food and toys into the water.
The sisters will initially live at Tallinn Zoo until they reach breeding age, after which potential mates will be arranged through the species coordinator. There is also a possibility that one of them could remain in Tallinn and be paired with a male, possibly even Rasputin if circumstances align. Female polar bears typically begin reproducing around five to six years of age.
Globally, there are approximately 26,000 polar bears in the wild and around 1,650 in zoos, with 734 males and 822 females. Over the past 12 months, about 16 polar bear cubs have been born in zoos worldwide.
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Editor: Annika Remmel, Helen Wright
