Young polar bears introduced to older bears at Doncaster wildlife park

YWP head of carnivores Kim Wilkins said the bears "make a chuffing noise" if they like each other

Two young polar bears have been successfully introduced to older bears at a South Yorkshire wildlife park.

Indie and Yuma, both aged two-and-a-half, met Sisu and Nobby, who are more than twice their size and age.

There was a risk involved as the bears are territorial and can attack others.

The Yorkshire Wildlife Park (YWP) near Doncaster has eight polar bears and runs a research and conservation project to try to help save the endangered animal.

The young bears arrived at the park in June 2021 from a zoo in the south of France with their mother Flocke and sister Tala.

They had been living as a family in a separate reserve next door to the park's other bears so they could get used to each other.

The bears live in separate reserves next door to each other

YWP head of carnivores Kim Wilkins said the bears were "cautious at first but were soon all playing together".

"When polar bears like each other, they make a chuffing noise. If they don't like each other, we get lots of growls," she said.

"To ensure the move ran smoothly, we got them used to all their new surroundings first and have now slowly began to integrate them with the other males.

"The plan is to repeat the introductions and gradually increase the time as the bears get to know each other and hopefully before long they will all be able to live together which will be great for the four bears as they love to play."

It is hoped the two young polar bears will eventually live with the older bears

The juvenile bears were at an age where they would start to live independently in the wild and they were becoming too big and boisterous for their mother, so the move was to give her more space, the park said.

The bears will eventually live together in the park's specially designed 10-acre Project Polar reserve which include pools, a 25ft (7.5m) deep lake, caves and terrain that mimics the Arctic Circle in summer.