The Wildlife
Conservation Society’s (WCS) Queen’s Zoo in Flushing, NY has a new resident
today. His name is Bouba and he is an
Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus) most commonly found in the Andes Mountains of
Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru western Bolivia and northwestern Argentina.
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Bouba is a
two-year old male from France who has come to join long time Queen Zoo resident, Spangles, a 21 year old
female Andean Bear. Bouba weighs approximately 220
pounds and could weigh up to 350 pounds as an adult.
“Bouba’s
energy will make him a star,” said Scott Silver, Animal Curator and Zoo Director.
“He represents an important addition to the Andean bear breeding program among
zoos in the United States.”
The
Andean bear is also known as the spectacled bear because some individuals have
white markings around their eyes that resemble eyeglasses. With strong legs and claws for mountain
climbing, Andean bears are built for the mountain life. They subsist in
mountainous cloud forests 600 to 14,000 feet above sea level. They spend much
of their time in nests they build in trees, feeding, resting, and sleeping.
While they are omnivores, they also eat lots of plants and are known to wait
patiently up in trees for fruit to ripen. Once beyond childhood (about 8 months),
they usually travel alone, but will sometimes gather at a particularly good
feeding site. They do not hibernate because food is available to them
year-round.
Their
populations in the wild are declining due to habitat loss and hunting. The species is classified as “Vulnerable” by the International Union of
Conservation of Nature (IUCN) because
of their fur and meat as well as their habitat loss.
With as few as 2,400 remaining in the wild, Andean bears are one of the most
endangered bear species in the world.
WCS
conservationist biologist Isaac Goldstein has studied these bears in the Andes
Mountains for more than 20 years. Goldstein and his colleagues are working with
local conservation organizations in Ecuador and Bolivia to census the
population, radio-track their activities, determine the size of their home
ranges and protect their homes. The Queens Zoo’s bears are part of a Species
Survival Plan, a cooperative breeding program that helps to maintain healthy
populations of the animals in zoos throughout the U.S.
Read
more at Wildlife
Conservation Society (WCS).
Andean Bear
via Thoiry Zoo, France.