OGA, Akita -- Online videos showing a mother polar bear raising her cub at the Oga Aquarium GAO in Oga, Akita Prefecture, are entertaining viewers both in Japan and abroad.
The 21-year-old female bear is named Yuki and gave birth at the end of last year. Even keepers cannot get close to a mother bear for a few months after she gives birth, according to the aquarium, but clear footage is being captured by an infrared camera.
Yuki's baby could not maintain its own body temperature immediately after birth, so she always held it, making the baby invisible in the footage. However, the infrared camera can also pick up sound, and the baby's survival was confirmed by the distinctive cries it made when it was nursing or felt relaxed.
Recent videos show the heartwarming daily life of the mother and her child. For example, Yuki rushed back to her baby when she heard it cry while she was in another room drinking water. Separate footage showed the mother stand up hurriedly so she would not crush the baby when it tumbled down a pile of wood chips in the room.
Wild female polar bears stay in dens in the snow and raise their cubs for several months without eating anything, according to the aquarium. To create a similar environment, the aquarium has stopped displaying Yuki to the public since November last year. A light shield has been installed at the entrance of the breeding room and the keepers have closely watched the animals via the infrared camera.
Yuki came from Himeji City Zoo in Hyogo Prefecture in March 2019 and she gave birth on Dec. 26 last year. It was her first baby with the male polar bear Gota.
On the day the baby was born, the aquarium posted a video of Yuki on YouTube. The video showed the mother licking her blackish baby affectionately and has been viewed more than 50,000 times, surpassing the 19,000 subscribers to the aquarium's channel at that time.
The video has also drawn viewers in such countries as the United States, Russia and South Korea.
"The baby's eyes will open [this month] and viewers will be able to see it moving around energetically," said a 28-year-old keeper in charge of the bears.
Polar bears are designated as an endangered species. There are currently 38 of them in Japan, according to the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
Nobutaka Sato, a veterinarian at Asahiyama Zoo in Hokkaido who is in charge of the polar bear breeding program at the association, said this is the first season in six years that polar bears have given birth in Japan. There was also a baby born at Osaka Tennoji Zoo in Osaka this season.
Sato praised the aquarium, saying: "This is the first attempt in Japan to release videos almost every day of a polar bear taking care of a baby. It's also significant that they're making it public despite concerns that they might be criticized if the cub dies in an accident or for some other reason."
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