A young cub born to a polar bear at the Toronto Zoo has been introduced to the snow for the first time.
In a video posted to YouTube today, the tiny cub paws the snow and licks the cold air. The video was filmed two weeks ago.
In the 55-second clip, the two-month-old cub shakes his ears, yawns then crawls toward a handler, while making small purring noises. He doesn't appear to notice the snow.
A week before the bear was filmed in the snow, the zoo posted a video of the cub's first wobbly steps, saying the bear is learning to lap up his milk from a dish, though he still mostly drank from a bottle.
After his birth on Nov. 9, staff noticed he wasn't moving strongly, and took the bear from his mother Aurora and to the zoo's intensive care unit.
The cub was the lone survivor of Aurora's litter of three, and seemed to slow down following the death of his siblings, the zoo said on its blog, At the time, he weighed less than 700 grams.
Since moving to the ICU, the bear has gained weight, learned to walk and is "asserting his personality by growling and calling to staff."
