Happy Birthday Venus!

Venus the polar bear turns 20 years today! Congratulations!

To celebrate the day, Venus received a giant gift box filled with delicious surprises hidden among straw. Venus curiously explored the package, and it didn’t take long for it to discover some tasty parsley, fat, and a chunk of ham, which it carried to its favorite spot to eat. The box still held some pike, salmon, apples, and a pumpkin, left there to be enjoyed later.

Venus was born on December 9, 2004, at Rostock Zoo in Germany, and arrived in Ranua together with her sister, Valeska. Since then, Ranua has been Venus’s home for an impressive 18 years. Most of its life has been spent with its late mate, the male polar bear Manasse, with whom Venus brought two adorable cubs into the world and has since become a grandmother. Currently, Venus and we are eagerly awaiting the completion of renovations on the polar bear enclosure and Venus’s chance to explore its upgraded home.

Venus is part of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria’s polar bear conservation program, which aims to increase knowledge about polar bears, the Arctic ecosystem, and especially the threats posed by climate change to this species and their habitat. Thanks to the northern conditions here in Ranua Wildlife Park, we’ve been able to offer researchers an authentic environment for testing study methods. For instance, analyzing a polar bear’s snowy pawprint confirmed the presence of DNA, enabling researchers to identify individual polar bears.

Today, we’re celebrating Venus’s birthday, and in its honor, we’ve donated €1,000 to WWF’s campaign to protect Finland’s diverse nature. If you’d like, you can also participate and give a gift to Finnish nature on behalf of Venus at https://wwf.fi/lahjaksi/joulu-lahjoitus/.