Gus (bear) facts for kids
Gus in November 2011
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| Species | Ursus maritimus |
|---|---|
| Sex | Male |
| Born | 1985 Toledo, Ohio, United States |
| Died | (aged 27) |
| Known for | 'Neurotic' residency at Central Park Zoo in New York City |
| Parent(s) | Nanook, Snowball |
Gus (born 1985 – died August 27, 2013) was a 700-pound polar bear. He was a very famous animal at the Central Park Zoo in New York City. Over 20 million people visited his home at the zoo during his life. Gus became well-known in the 1990s because he started swimming in his pool for up to 12 hours a day. People called him "stressed" or "bored." He became a symbol of how busy life can be in New York City. Gus was even the first zoo animal ever to be treated with a medicine called Prozac.
Birth and Early Life
Gus was born in 1985 at the Toledo Zoo. His father, Nanook, came from the Bronx Zoo to the Toledo Zoo for breeding. Gus's mother was named Snowball. In 1988, Gus moved to his new home at the Central Park Zoo.
Gus Becomes Famous
In the 1990s, Gus became the "face" of the Central Park Zoo. He was featured in many zoo promotions and publications. About 20 million visitors saw Gus during his lifetime.
In 1994, zoo workers noticed Gus was acting strangely. He would swim back and forth in a figure-eight pattern for up to 12 hours a day. This kind of behavior in zoo animals often means they are bored or stressed. The zoo hired an animal behavior expert to find out why Gus was swimming so much. The expert said Gus was "just bored and a little bit crazy, like many people in New York."
To help Gus, the expert created a special "enrichment program." This program included changing his habitat, making mealtime more fun, giving him new toys, and training him with positive rewards. In 2002, the BBC reported that zookeepers even put a jacuzzi in his pool to "cheer up" Gus. Gus was also the first zoo animal in history to be treated with Prozac. After a few months, Gus's obsessive swimming became less frequent, but it never completely stopped. Gus and his two partners, Lily and Ida, were even featured at a big meeting about animal enrichment in 2005.
Because of all the news about his behavior and treatment, Gus became a symbol of a "stressed" New Yorker. He was featured in a funny book called What's Worrying Gus?: The True Story of a Big-City Bear in 1995. This book was about an outsider dealing with life in New York. The cover showed Gus in a therapist’s office. He was also in two children's books: Gus the Bear, the Flying Cat, and the Lovesick Moose: Twenty Real Life Animal Stories (1995) and Gus: The Feeling-Better Polar Bear (2009). There was even a play called Gus and a song about him by the band The Tragically Hip.
Gus's Partners
Gus had two female polar bear partners. The first was Lily, who passed away in 2004 at age 17. His second partner was Ida, who died in 2011 at age 25 from liver disease. Gus never had any baby polar bears.
Gus's Final Years
Zoo officials said that Gus seemed sad after his last partner, Ida, died in 2011. In the summer of 2013, he started having trouble eating. He couldn't chew or swallow his food well. Zoo veterinarians gave him anesthesia to find out what was wrong. They discovered a large tumor near his thyroid that could not be removed. Because of this, they decided to euthanize him. Gus was 27 years old when he died. This was much older than the average life expectancy for polar bears in zoos, which is about 20.7 years.
After Gus passed away, the Central Park Zoo closed its polar bear exhibit for good. In 2015, the area reopened with two new grizzly bears.
See also
- List of individual bears
