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Three polar bears at the San Diego Zoo got fully acquainted June 29 during a closely observed introduction session. The Zoo is introducing the bears to each other for companionship. The adult female Chinook recently lost her sister and lifetime companion to a fatal illness. Zoo keepers hope the sub-adult brother and sister pair, Kalluk and Tatqiq, will provide her welcomed company.

"Kalluk and Chinook immediately hit it off. They are chasing each other and tussling in the pool. We havent seen our adult girl this active and playful in many years," said Kelly Murphy, senior animal keeper at the San Diego Zoo.

The younger female bear is responding a bit more tentatively to the newcomer than her brother. Today she quietly observed their play from afar, but according to Murphy, Tatqiq also welcomes a fair share of playtime with Chinook, and is growing much more comfortable with their new companion.

Keepers plan to continue introductions slowly, pairing the bears together for a few hours at a time, a few mornings each week. Guests who witness these sessions are getting quite a show of bear hugs, wrestling and a game that keepers call Polar Bear Peekaboo. The Zoo hopes that Kalluk and Chinook may become a potential breeding pair in the future.

Polar bears are a threatened species. Native to the Arctic north, their habitat is under immediate pressure due to global warming. The bears survival depends upon Arctic sea ice, which is rapidly melting. Researchers predict if global warming trends continue, polar bears may become extinct within a century.

The San Diego Zoo's polar bears can be watched anywhere in the world via their live web cam on the Zoo's web site www.sandiegozoo.org . Click on Polar Cam. Keepers write blogs on their progress on the website as well.

The 100-acre San Diego Zoo is operated by the not-for-profit Zoological Society of San Diego. The Zoological Society, dedicated to the conservation of endangered species and their habitats, engages in conservation and research work around the globe. The Zoological Society also manages the 1,800-acre San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park (more than half of which has been set aside as protected native species habitat) and the center for Conservation and Research for Endangered Species (CRES). The important conservation and science work of these entities is supported in part by the Foundation for the Zoological Society of San Diego.