The snowy weather was perfect for not one, but two polar bear birthdays Tuesday at Como Zoo in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Inside Polar Bear Odyssey, Neil is turning 30, and Nan is celebrating her 31st.

"It's Neil's birthday today and he is 30, so that's a really big deal because in the wild, they just live to be 15–20," said zookeeper Kristin Riske. "So 30 years old for a male polar bear, very old. He's actually the oldest male polar bear in North American zoos."

Riske says Nan's actual birthdate is unclear since she was born in the wild, so she's pairing up with Neil for the festivities.

The keepers marked the milestone with cakes and toys tailored to each bear's personality.

"[Neil] has a sweet tooth and Nan has more of a fishy tooth, so we made a trout and salmon frozen birthday cake for her, and they both ate them right next to each other," said zookeeper Becky Sievers.

There were also presents tucked around the exhibit. The staff rolled out a large white barrel decorated with polar bear drawings, an orange traffic cone and a heavy blue "boomer ball" designed for zoo animals.

"Neil had that in the pool. He was playing with it underwater. He brought it out on land, played with it there, so it was a good day," Sievers said. 

And they're not celebrating alone — a new bear named Astra just moved in.

"She just came here from another zoo. She's on a breeding loan. She just turned 5 and she is here to see if she'll end up being a mate for Kulu. He is 6," Riske said.

According to staff, there are only 37 polar bears currently living in zoos in the United States. That makes each potential pairing important for the future of the species in human care.

"We really need them to be breeding so that we can have more bears," Sievers said. "We very specifically look at who should be breeding. Good genetics should be mixed."

The four bears also give keepers a chance to talk with visitors about how climate change is affecting polar bears in the wild.

Sievers traveled to Churchill, Manitoba, in 2023 with Polar Bears International and the group's climate alliance program. Churchill is one of the places most closely associated with wild polar bears.

"I actually went up to Churchill back in 2023 in the fall. I only saw one bear, which you know, from the other keepers that have gone up there, they've seen many. So I'm the most recent that went up, and I only saw one bear. So, yeah, it's very concerning," Sievers said. "It's something that we really try to put that message across to our guests, how climate change is really impacting their lives, and how we need to make a difference if we want to see them in the future."

For now, the focus at Como is on four very individual bears: mellow "gentle giant" Neil, strong-willed Nan, easygoing Kulu and always-moving Astra, who likes to walk the exhibit and check out everything around her.

With cooler weather settling in, keepers say it is just about perfect polar bear weather, and a good time for visitors to stop by and wish the birthday bears well while meeting the newest member of the Como family. 

Como Zoo is free and open every day.