Inuka - Biography

Biography

Inuka was born in the Singapore Zoo and is the first polar bear to be born in the tropics. This was the result of an extensive breeding programme run by the zoo. There have been four polar bears at Singapore Zoo altogether—Nanook, Sheba and their offspring Inuka, as well as another female, Anana.

Nanook and Sheba arrived at the Singapore Zoo in 1978, from Winnipeg Zoo in Canada and Cologne Zoo in Germany respectively. Nanook was 11 months old and was captured in the wild, while Sheba was 14 months old and born in captivity. To ease them in, they arrived in the wee hours of the morning when the temperature was coolest. Like most zoo animals, one of each sex was brought in for mating and conservation purposes. Anana, a female polar bear caught in the wild, arrived from Canada in 1979. She died in 1999.

On 26 December 1990, Sheba gave birth to a 500-gram cub. The cub was named Inuka, chosen from amongst 390 names suggested in a nationwide naming contest. More than 10,000 entries were received, including names like Arctos and Shardik.

In 1993, The Straits Times named Inuka as one of "28 people and things to call our own", alongside national swimmer Joscelin Yeo, the Vanda Miss Joaquim and the Singapore Sling. Inuka has been adopted by the foundation arm of SPH since birth, with the SPH co-organising events together such as his birthday parties. The foundation contributes about S$95,000 annually to the Wildlife Conservation Fund, which covers the adoption of Inuka and other zoo sponsorships.

Inuka's father, Nanook, which had been suffering from chronic heart and lung disease, died on 29 December 1995 at the age of 18. By then, Inuka was twice the size of his mother Sheba.

In 2000, more than 300 guests had free cake at Inuka's 10th birthday bash, where limited Inuka notebooks were also given away. In 2001, Inuka was named by the Singapore Zoo as a possible replacement for the ageing orangutan Ah Meng as the zoo's mascot, among other candidates like elephant Sang Raja and orangutan Hong Bao. However, nothing materialised.