STORY BY LIZZY ACKERILLUSTRATIONS BY TERRI NELSON

HOPE FOR

NORA

On a rainy November day at a zoo in Ohio, a tiny polar bear was born. She was no bigger than a chubby squirrel and couldn’t even open her eyes.

She was named Nora.

In the Arctic wilderness where wild polars bears live, mother bears build dens and then spend around eight months inside with their cubs, keeping them warm and fed and teaching them how to be bears.

But at the zoo, when Nora was only six days old, her mother got up and walked out of the room that they shared.

The zookeepers in Ohio were worried.

They could tell that Nora was getting hungry and cold. After a while, they decided her mom wasn’t coming back.

It is always best for a baby bear cub to have its own bear mother, but the zookeepers felt like if they didn’t step in and help Nora, when she was so tiny and helpless, she would die.

So they took her from the room that she had shared with her mother and decided to raise her the best they could.

But who would teach her how to be a polar bear?

In the Arctic, polar bears roam the sea ice, hunting for seals to eat. They swim for hours and hours. In zoos, they hunt for fish in their enclosures and swim in pools. Who would teach Nora how to hunt for food? Who would teach her how to swim?

The zookeepers weren’t polar bears, but they loved Nora and worked hard to keep her safe and full.

As Nora grew, she learned how to swim and taught herself to catch fish.

Soon, zookeepers came up with an idea: Nora could go live in Portland at the Oregon Zoo. She could live there with an older polar bear named Tasul, who would be her teacher.

When Nora was 10 months old, she was carefully loaded onto an airplane and came to Portland.

Tasul was an old and friendly bear, but Nora was nervous. She had not been this close to another polar bear since she was six days old, and polar bears are big and sometimes scary!

Zookeepers wondered if Nora even knew she was a polar bear.

Slowly, Nora began to get used to Tasul.

The older bear was patient and the zookeepers were excited.

Maybe Nora would finally learn how to be a bear.

But just as they started to get to know each other, Tasul died.

In the wild, most polar bears live about 18 years. Tasul was 31, an old polar bear indeed, but she was the only bear that Nora had ever really met.

Nora was alone again.

Even though she didn’t have any polar bear friends, Nora became a star at the zoo. She played in a kiddie pool full of ice and batted around toys. She dove and swam in her pool. People from all over came to see the polar bear cub at the zoo in Portland.

Even though she had learned a lot and come so far, the zookeepers still thought she should be with another bear. No one wants to be all alone.

At another zoo across the country, there was a bear cub named Hope. She was just Nora’s age: almost 2. But unlike Nora, Hope was raised by her polar bear mom. Hope knew things about being a bear that she could teach Nora. So the zookeepers decided to bring Hope and Nora together. Now, both bears live at a zoo in Salt Lake City.

If all goes well, Hope can teach Nora things that humans can’t possibly know. Maybe they will be friends, swimming and playing together, until they are old bears.

Most humans will never get a chance to see a polar bear in the Arctic where they’re from. It’s too cold for people, and bears are wild, strong and dangerous.

But the bears who live there, Nora’s relatives, are in trouble because the sea ice they need to hunt seals is disappearing.

Man-made gases in the atmosphere are trapping heat. The Earth is getting warmer and the ice is melting.

If it keeps melting, someday there may not be any more ice, and then there may not be any more seals. Then, there may not be any more polar bears.

Zoos do their best to maintain and protect vulnerable species,but the best thing for any animal is to live in the wild.

One way you can help polar bears is to do your part to stop the gases that are trapping heat and warming the planet.

You can turn off lights when you aren’t in the room and wear a sweatshirt instead of turning up the heat in the winter.

Your family can take the bus or a train instead of a car.

You can plant vegetables in your yard and eat those, instead of vegetables that took long trips in trucks to get to your house.

It seems like a lot of work, stopping the Arctic sea ice from melting, and it is. It’s a job that will take effort from everyone. But don’t you think we should try? There’s still hope for Nora and there’s hope for all polar bears.

They just need help from us.

The Arctic: The very cold, polar area at the northernmost part of planet Earth.

Cub: Young bear

Ecosystem: A group of living and nonliving things that share an environment and interact as a system. For example: Seals, sea ice and polar bears are part of the same ecosystem and all need each other in different ways.

Heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere: Pollution causes gas to go

up into the sky and get stuck in the protective bubble that shields the planet from space and makes it safe for humans. That gas heats up and warms up the planet below.

Sea ice: Frozen ocean water that grows and melts and regrows. It’s what keeps the polar areas of the planet cold, which in turn keeps the whole planet at a safe temperature for humans.

Zookeeper: A person who takes care of animals at the zoo.

GLOSSARY

This nonfiction children’s story is adapted from The Loneliest Polar Bear, a five-part series by Kale Williams.

The children’s story and the series are part of Project Nora produced by The Oregonian/OregonLive oregonlive.com/projectnora

PHOTOS BYDave Killen; Stephanie Yao Long; Beth Nakamura; Grahm S. Jones, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium; Oregon Zoo; Hogle Zoo; Associated Press; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

EDITED BY DESIGNED BYKarly Imus Randy Mishler

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ACROSS4. Species designation6. Main food sourcefor polar bears inthe wild7. City in the U.S. where Nora was born

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DOWN:1. Fur 2. Den 3. Seaice 5. Black 6. Swim

ACROSS: 4. Threatened 6. Seals 7. Columbus

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DOWN1. It’s not actually white2. Home to mama bears and their cubs3. Main hunting groundsare on this5. Color of a polar bear’s skin6. Polar bears can do this activity up to 6 mph

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