Berlin: polar bear baby Hertha does not like vegetables

Most children do not like vegetables - polar bear baby Hertha from the Berlin Zoo Friedrichsfelde seems no exception. Meat and fish already eat the nine-month-old bear, said polar bear curator Florian Sicks.

"Unlike vegetables, she is not so fond of vegetables," says Sicks. In addition, she still drinks the milk from mother Tonja. However, vitamins do not seem to be missing from the bear child: Hertha has survived the critical phase of her life well, Sicks said.

The mortality rate among young polar bears is high. Mother Tonja had given birth to twins in the past two years. In 2017, only polar bear son Fritz survived, but he died of liver inflammation at the age of four months. In 2018, a twin survived, but only got one month old.

Polar bears are born very immature: at first they are as tiny as guinea pigs, deaf and blind. Even in the wild, only half of the boys survive. This time, however, the zoo looks good: "Meanwhile, Hertha weighs a good 85 kilograms and definitely has the temperament of a real polar bear child," said Sicks.