The Queens Zoo has a new Andean bear and one of its female animals has a much younger new mate.
Bouba, a male, recently arrived in the borough from a zoo in France, and shares a habitat with another Andean bear, a female named Spangles, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).
“Bouba’s energy will make him a star,” said Scott Silver, animal curator and director of the Queens Zoo. “He represents an important addition to the Andean bear breeding program among zoos in the United States.”
Andean bears, also known as spectacled bears, are the only bear species endemic to South America, and are declining in the wild due to habitat loss and hunting, according to the WCS.
If Bouba gets together with his female habitat mate, Spangles would be considered a “cougar.”
Spangles is 23 years old, while Bouba is only two.
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Spangles
