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The Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo is once again home to two polar bears, after 20-year-old Yellé arrived Tuesday.
The male bear was born at a zoo in the Netherlands, and came to Calgary from the Zoo Sauvage de Saint-Félicien in Quebec.
He is being held in quarantine before he joins the exhibit’s other resident, 10-year-old male Siku. Experts will monitor how the bears respond to each other as they are introduced, the zoo said.
“The process will be gradual — starting with scent exchanges, then allowing the bears to see and interact with each other through a protective barrier, and eventually sharing space,” Paul Woerner, Animal Care Manager for the zoo’s Wild Canada section, said in a news release Wednesday.
The zoo said visitors will likely be able to see the new bear sometime in April.
Siku has been the zoo’s lone polar bear since his habitat mate, Baffin, died in 2024 when the two bears were roughhousing in the water.
A necropsy revealed seven-year-old Baffin died from a playful bite that crushed his trachea, and caused him to drown.
Polar bears can live to up to 30 years, according to the zoo.
Teams will gradually introduce Yellé to his new habitat mate, 10-year-old Siku. (Zoo Sauvage de Saint-Félicien)
At the time, the zoo left the door open to bringing in a new polar bear, but said it would not happen immediately.
“We’ve been looking for the right companion for Siku, and having Yellé join our zoo family is a moment we’ve all been eagerly anticipating,” said Woerner.