The zoo at Qianlingshan Park in Guiyang welcomed a special new resident – a juvenile brown bear named Shutiao (meaning "French Fries") that made its first official public appearance on July 28.

The cute brown bear stands up to greet its caretaker at the zoo of Qianlingshan Park in Guiyang. [Photo/Guiyang news network]

This marks the zoo's first successful captive breeding of a brown bear, representing a new breakthrough in the zoo's indigenous animal conservation and breeding techniques.

Born on Jan 26 this year, Shutiao weighed only about 500 grams at birth – as tiny as a puppy – with soft dark brown fur covering its body. After more than six months of dedicated hand-rearing, the cub's health has stabilized, and its weight has increased to 17,500 grams, with all physical indicators within normal ranges.

Since this was the zoo's first attempt at captive brown bear breeding, the care team faced three major challenges after Shutiao was born: maintaining proper temperature and humidity, preventing disease, and ensuring balanced nutrition.

To address these challenges, the team developed a detailed care plan with strict controls over the environmental temperature and humidity, adjusted nutritional ratios according to Shutiao's growth stages, and transitioned from specialized milk formula to gradually introducing supplementary foods – all through meticulous, full-cycle care that ultimately enabled the brown bear to grow healthily and be ready for its public debut.

In addition, to ensure the cub's healthy growth and an optimal visitor experience, Qianlingshan Park has carried out comprehensive upgrades and renovations to the brown bear enclosure.

The successful captive breeding of the brown bear has provided valuable experience for the zoo's future efforts in breeding and conserving more rare wildlife species, while also further enhancing the park's technical capabilities in wildlife conservation. The zoo plans to expand its captive breeding programs for native animal species across multiple areas.