Siberian polar bear to undertake mating trip

Moscow, May 24 (IANS/RIA Novosti) A male polar bear in Russia's Siberia region is to be transferred from one zoo to another in a bid to produce offspring, a zoo official said.

The polar bear -- Sedov -- has been resident at the Krasnoyarsk zoo since 2004. He was transferred from a zoo in St. Petersburg when he was just two years old.

The polar bear is to be sent to mate at the request of a zoo in Stary Oskol, in the nearby Belgorod region. He will stay in his new home, with his new partner, for three years.

"Three years is, according to zoologists, the period in which offspring can appear among polar bears," a Krasnoyarsk zoo official said.

"If offspring appear earlier, then Sedov will go home earlier," she added.

Any offspring would be shared between the two zoos, the official also said. "If we get an odd number, one of the zoos will pay the other zoo," she added.

--IANS/RIA Novosti

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