Meet Brodie: Name of polar bear cub born at Highlands wildlife park is revealed

A polar bear cub born at a Scottish wildlife park has been named.

Brodie, which is a Scottish word for second son, was born in December at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s (RZSS) Highland Wildlife Park, near Kingussie in the Highlands.

His name was chosen by Brian Whitehead, the winner of a recent prize draw run by RZSS to raise funds for Scotland’s Wildlife Discovery Centre.

Brodie is the second cub born to parents Victoria and Arktos.

The pair previously had another male cub, Hamish, in December 2017 which was the first polar bear born in the UK in 25 years.

He was moved to Yorkshire Wildlife Park in November 2020 as part of a breeding programme.

New footage of Brodie has been released to mark the announcement of his name.

It shows the cub taking his first steps outside in his enclosure.

The cub was born in December 2021 to mum Victoria and dad Arktos (RZSS/PA)

Visits to see Brodie and his mother will open from Monday March 28, but staff have warned viewings of the cub may be limited to small periods to begin with as he gets used to his enclosure.

Vickie Larkin, carnivore team leader at Highland Wildlife Park said: “We are so excited for visitors to finally see little Brodie and want to remind everyone they must book their tickets in advance.

“He is doing very well and is growing more confident every day.”

The prize draw, which ran for two weeks, raised more than £70,000 to help the charity build Scotland’s Wildlife Discovery Centre at the park.

Mr Whitehead added: “I went with Brodie in the end because of it meaning second son, the family name Brodie has close ties in the area historically, it is very Scottish.

“We can barely contain our joy because we had our first visit to the park last week, and it far exceeded our expectations.

“The next visit is going to be even more awesome since we will get to come back again for the ultimate experience to meet little Brodie.”