Helsinki Zoo’s resident bears are perhaps signaling early winter weather coming; the two started their hibernation in the last weekend of October, several weeks ahead of their usual mid-to-late November habit.
The surprise sleeptime was confirmed by a zoo official who said that “The bears showed signs of tiredness, retreating to their dens and waking only for brief meals. By Thursday, they showed no interest in food, prompting us to close the external hatch of their enclosure. It’s quiet and dark inside now. Over the weekend, we checked, and they are indeed asleep.”
The bears had been actively preparing their winter nests since early October, creating comfortable bedding from materials provided by the keepers, such as wood chips, branches, lichen, and straw. The mother and daughter duo who are 17 and 11 years old, fashioned their dens side by side in adjacent spaces.
Weighing in at an identical 225 kilograms each before dozing off, the bears have built up a substantial layer of fat over the autumn. Their diet has shifted significantly from the usual fare of meat and fish to mainly berries, grain products, and towards the end, porridges, vegetables, and fruits, as their appetite dwindled.
