Identity area
Type of entity
Animal
Authorized form of name
Pipaluk the Polar Bear
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1967-1989
History
Pipaluk, a male polar bear, was born at London Zoo on 1st December 1967. The only polar bear cub previously reared successfully at the Zoo had been Brumas - a female. The name Pipaluk (the ending rhymed with book) was chosen from a list of Innuit names. It means 'the little one'. Pipaluk's parents, who had arrived as young cubs from Moscow Zoo in 1960, were called Sam and Sally. They were named after the Zoo's bear keeper, Sam Morton and his fiancee. Pipaluk left London Zoo in 1985 when the Mappin Terraces (which housed the bears) were closed, and died at the age of 22 in a zoo in Poland