![\"Text](\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/a\/assets\/texttospeech.svg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Listen to this article<\/p>\n
Estimated 5 minutes<\/p>\n
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n
The first polar bear cub to arrive at Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Park Zoo in nearly a decade now has a name.<\/p>\n
The bear, believed to be about 10 or 11 months old, is now called Mantayo, zoo officials announced via social media posts on Thursday.<\/p>\n
It’s derived from Mantay-s\u00eep\u00ee, the Cree name for the Churchill River, which literally translates to “river of strangers.”<\/p>\n
“It feels like the [name] most connected to the north in a lot of ways. So I think it’s a really good choice,” Lindsay Hughes, a spokesperson for the Assiniboine Park Conservancy, said Friday.<\/p>\n
![\"Close](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792184170_756_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Mantayo arrived in late August, shortly after being found near his dead mother just outside Churchill. (Submitted by Assiniboine Park Conservancy)<\/p>\n
Mantayo’s name was chosen in a public poll from a list that also included Duke, Marly, and Fletcher \u2014 all names related to places in or near Churchill. They were shortlisted by students from Churchill’s Duke of Marlborough School and other town residents.<\/p>\n
“Duke” and “Marly” honoured the school, while “Fletcher” was a nod to Fletcher Lake in Wapusk National Park.<\/p>\n
Over 12,000 votes were cast in an online poll to name the bear \u2014 “the highest number that we’ve really ever seen in one of our naming polls,” said Hughes, noting such polls typically get about 5,000 votes.<\/p>\n
“There was a lot of attention and a lot of love for the little cub.”<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792184171_338_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The public can see Mantayo in the zoo’s old bear enclosures, at the Leatherdale International Polar Bear Conservation Centre. Staff will decide if he can move into the zoo’s Journey to Churchill exhibit. (Submitted by Assiniboine Park Conservancy)<\/p>\n
Mantayo arrived in late August, shortly after being found near his dead mother just outside Churchill. The province is still investigating how she died.<\/p>\n
He underwent a quarantine period at the zoo’s Leatherdale International Polar Bear Conservation Centre<\/a>, where his care team has been building his trust, helping him adjust to his new home and being around people, Hughes said.<\/p>\n Mantayo made his public debut last week but remains at the Leatherdale’s cub care centre, on view in the zoo’s old bear enclosures.<\/p>\n “He is going to stay there for a little while. He’s still at a point where he has growing to do before he can meet big, grown bears,” Hughes said.<\/p>\n Since the zoo underwent a massive renovation, replacing those old enclosures with the Journey to Churchill exhibit<\/a> and the Leatherdale centre, it has welcomed 12 bears.<\/p>\n The majority were found orphaned in northern Manitoba, although brothers Hudson and Humphrey were born in captivity in Toronto, and later returned to that zoo<\/a>.<\/p>\n The only others that were not orphans were Storm \u2014 who was shipped out of Churchill after attacking a man and arrived in 2013<\/a> as a three-year-old adult \u2014 and Agee, who came to the zoo from British Columbia in 2022<\/a> as a 26-year-old retired film star. She died in 2025.<\/p>\n