Polar bear cub at Toronto Zoo takes first wobbly steps, making progress | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Polar bear cub at Toronto Zoo takes first wobbly steps, making progress

TORONTO - The lone surviving cub born to a polar bear at the Toronto Zoo has taken his first wobbly steps.

The zoo says the tiny white cub, one of three born in November, is now able to stand on all four legs and is starting to walk.

The 4.4-kilogram bear is also learning to lap up his milk formula from a dish, although he also still receives milk in a bottle six times a day.

The cub had been taken from his mother Aurora and transferred to the zoo's intensive care unit a few days after his birth, when staff noticed he wasn't moving as strongly following the death of his siblings.

The zoo says the cub is now "quite active," is starting to play and has begun biting objects like his blanket as his teeth come in.

The cub has been out of his incubator for the past month, although he still remains in a controlled environment where the temperature is gradually being reduced.

Maria Franke, the zoo's curator of mammals, says when the cub is ready, he will join the facility's other polar bears in the Tundra Trek exhibit, an area of the zoo which focuses on climate change and its effects on species conservation.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2014
The Canadian Press

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