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Aha! Zoo Bears Won't Mate Because Both Are Female

Japan park figures out why polar bears don't have much chemistry

By Michael Roston, Newser User

Posted Nov 26, 2008 1:36 PM CST

(Newser) – A Japanese zoo is learning it might want to check the plumbing more closely the next time it acquires a polar bear cub, CNN reports. Tsuyoshi was brought to the Kushiro Zoo to breed with 11-year-old Kurumi. But when the cub reached reproductive age, he turned out to be she, which explained why Tsuyoshi wasn't making a move on “his” older lady.

But the zoo won't be sending Tsuyoshi away, or even changing her name to the more feminine Tsuyoko, as local residents are wild about the her. It's not an isolated mix-up: Another zoo adopted Tsuyoshi's "brother”—who turns out to be her sister.

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Tsuyoshi, a 4-year-old female polar bear that the Kushiro Municipal Zoo in Japan believed was male. (AP Photo)

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I have rather mixed feelings, given the need for breeding, but Tsuyoshi is an idol for Kushiro. - Zookeeper Yoshio Yamaguchi on keeping a female polar bear his zoo thought was male

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Aha! Zoo Bears Won't Mate Because Both Are Female