World Scene: Japan

Male polar bear? Are you sure?

Handlers of a popular polar bear, brought to mate with a female in Kushiro Municipal Zoo in northern Japan, found their breeding plan was doomed when they noticed that he, in fact, was a she.

Tsuyoshi, a four-year-old, 200 kg cream-colored polar bear, had been living in harmony with a female polar bear since June, the two often playing together, Masako Inoue, a zookeeper, said yesterday, "We never had any doubts as we took care of him."