Russia’s oldest polar bear has died at the age of 38, a zoo in Perm has announced.
Polar bear Amderma was captured in the Yamal-Nenets autonomous region in 1989 and her carers estimate she was born in 1980. After brief stays in zoos in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kazan, she finally found sanctuary in Perm.
The death occurred on Feb. 7, but was not reported by the zoo until this week. “She lived there happily for 21 years, giving birth to five healthy cubs,” the zoo’s press service said in an online statement.
According to the NGO Polar Bears International, the average age for bears in captivity is around 30. This is significantly higher than their average lifespan in the wild, which is around 15-18 years.
The oldest polar bear in history, Debby, died in a Canadian zoo at the age of 42 in 2008.