Gender

There are many many more boy bears than girls bears, this dates back to first bear which were names after Teddy Roosevelt. Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States, his link with bears results from a hunting trip in 1902 where he refused to kill a captured black bear for the sake of the kill.

Of course in our household this means that the competition for female bears can be fierce from the very moment they arrive. Despite this most of the female bears in our house group together and ignore the boys.

Of course some bears do pair up but in general the girls are much less interested in the boys than the boys are in getting the attention of the girls. Nevertheless they are always a welcome addition and their mere presence encourages better behaviour of the male groups as a whole.