Polar bear cub born at Highland Wildlife Park

The cub, in the left of the picture, lying on its mother Victoria in a CCTV image from the bears' den

A polar bear cub has been born at the Highland Wildlife Park in the Cairngorms National Park.

The zoo is the former home of Hamish, who in 2017 was the first polar bear cub to be born in the UK in 25 years.

Hamish's mother, Victoria, gave birth to the new cub in her den earlier this week.

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) said staff were excited but nervous as the first few weeks of a polar bear's life were critical.

Victoria mated with Arktos, Hamish's father and one of two adult male polar bears at the park, earlier this year.

This week, staff heard high-pitched cub sounds coming from the den. The cub, seen on CCTV set up in the enclosure, is about the size of a guinea pig.

Hamish was born at the Highland Wildlife Park in 2017 and is now kept at Doncaster's Yorkshire Wildlife Park

Vickie Larkin, carnivore team leader at the Highland Wildlife Park, said: "This is a tremendous occasion which is a testament to our team's hard-work.

"While we are excited about the new arrival, we are not celebrating quite yet as the first few weeks of a polar bear's life is critical, with potential immune system complications and mum's need for privacy during this time our top priority."

Victoria's enclosure is closed to the public.

Hamish shared an enclosure with his mother Victoria at the Highland Wildlife Park

Hamish playing with a barrel at a pond in his enclosure

Ms Larkin said Victoria was "a very attentive mother".

She added: "We will not know if the little one is a boy or girl until we are able to perform health checks in the spring and they will be named shortly after."

Victoria gave birth to Hamish in December 2017.

He was a popular with visitors to the park, at Kincraig near Aviemore, and could often be seen playing with empty barrels in a pond in an enclosure he shared with Victoria.

As part of the breeding programme for the species, Hamish was moved to Doncaster's Yorkshire Wildlife Park in November 2020.

Before Hamish, the last polar bear cubs born in the UK were twins at Flamingo Land in Yorkshire in December 1992.

Bear minimum: A brief guide to polar cubs

• Polar bears mate between March and June

• Females normally give birth to one or two cubs in November or December

• Newborn polar bear cubs are blind, about 30cm long and weigh little more than a guinea pig. They only open their eyes when they are a month old

• Victoria, who was born in 1996 at Rostock Zoo in Germany, previously gave birth at Aalborg Zoo in Denmark in 2008. She arrived at RZSS' Highland Wildlife Park in March 2015

• Male bear Arktos arrived at the park in April 2012 from Hanover Zoo in Germany. He was born in 2008 at Vienna Zoo

• Arktos shares an enclosure with another male, Walker, whose own time as a cub was the source of a controversy over the BBC's Frozen Planet documentary