BEIJING, Nov. 28 -- Handlers of a popular polar bear,
brought to mate with a female in a zoo in northern Japan, found their breeding
plan was doomed when they noticed that he, in fact, was a she.
Tsuyoshi, a four-year-old, 200 kg (441 lb)
cream-colored polar bear, had been living in harmony with a female polar bear
since June, the two often playing together, Masako Inoue, a zookeeper at the
Kushiro Municipal Zoo, said on Wednesday.
A Japanese zoo puzzled by its lack of
success in getting two polar bears to mate has discovered the reason --
both are female. The zoo in the northern city of Kushiro swapped an
orangutan for a polar bear cub in January 2005, hoping it would eventually
produce offspring with a female bear called Kurum. (Photo:
chinadaily.com.cn/Agencies)
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"We thought he was a male, so we never had any doubts
as we took care of him," she said.
"But one day we realized that the two bears urinate
in the same way, and we thought, is that how males do it? And once we started to
look at things that way, we weren't quite so sure."
After two DNA examinations of Tsuyoshi's hair and a
manual exam, the Kushiro Municipal Zoo found Tsuyoshi to be a female.
"We do have mixed feelings," said Inoue.
"But because Tsuyoshi was supposed to be a male, she
came here, and because she came here, we were able to take care of her since she
was very small."
It is not uncommon for the sex of polar bears to be
misread, Inoue said, as their long hair makes it difficult to distinguish,
especially when the bears are young. Tsuyoshi was pegged as a male three months
after birth, Inoue said.
The Kushiro Municipal Zoo will talk with other zoos
in the area to see what to do about their breeding plan, she added.
(Source: China Daily/Agencies)
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