Polar Bear Landing Page

Polar bear behavior can change with the seasons.

Mating season

Polar bears can be solitary much of the year, but spring is a time when adult males typically venture out in search of females. At the Oregon Zoo, young male polar bear Kallik is not quite an adult, but he’s beginning to feel some of those natural instincts. His care team is aware and is making sure he has everything he needs.

According to the zoo's conservation partners at Polar Bears International, polar bear mating season typically lasts from March to May, although it can also continue through June, and possibly longer.

Making moves

Kallik’s arrival at the Oregon Zoo in January 2026 was part of a comprehensive plan rolled out by members of the Polar Bear Population Alliance — a new consortium of accredited zoos and aquariums working to prevent extinction on two fronts: supporting efforts to protect wild bears in the Arctic while maintaining a sustainable, genetically diverse polar bear population in the United States.

Conservationists say both efforts are critical.

“Modern zoos and aquariums play a key part in saving this species,” said Amy Cutting, vice president of conservation at Polar Bears International. “Polar bears live in one of the harshest environments on the planet, making them notoriously difficult to study so we have gaps in our understanding of how climate change is affecting them. The bears in professional care can help.”

Lending a paw to science

Polar Bears at the Oregon Zoo have a long history of participating in conservation research. Indeed, much of today’s zoo-based polar bear science has its roots in animal-care advances at the Oregon Zoo, according to Cutting. In 2012, polar bears Conrad and Tasul became the first of their species to voluntarily give blood. The breakthrough was huge in terms of improved animal well-being and veterinary care, Cutting says, and it also opened the door to other possibilities.

After reading a news article about this milestone, polar bear scientist Karyn Rode contacted the zoo for assistance with her research in the Arctic. Tasul helped Rode learn how climate change was affecting the diets of wild polar bears, then assisted one of her USGS colleagues by wearing a high-tech collar to help calibrate tracking collars deployed on wild bears.

Polar bear half-sisters Nora and Amelia Gray also lent a helping paw to science. Nora spent time in a swim flume designed to help scientists understand the caloric requirements of wild polar bears, and Amelia Gray was one of a handful of bears outfitted with a “Burr on Fur” — a prototype tech innovation designed by 3M to give conservation scientists a better way to monitor wild bears.

The two bears also assisted researchers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey and National Park Service in testing their state-of-the-art laser technology, designed to measure polar bear body mass from a distance.

The collaborative efforts couldn’t come at a more urgent time. Polar bears, classified as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, face a high risk of global extinction due to changes in their Arctic habitat.