Named after a polar bear cub that was born in a Scottish wildlife reserve.
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 2nd cub born to parents Arktos & Victoria.
In December 2017, the pair had another male cub, Hamish. This was the first polar bear to be born in the UK for 25 years.
As part of a breeding scheme, he was relocated to Yorkshire Wildlife Park on November 2020.
To mark the official announcement of Brodie’s name, new footage has been released.
This is the cub’s first step outside his enclosure.
The cub was conceived by mum Victoria and dad Arktos (RZSS/PA).
Brodie and his mom will be open for visitors starting Monday 28 March. However, staff warn that viewings of Brodie may be restricted to a limited number of hours as he adjusts to his new environment.
Vickie Larkin is the carnivore leader at Highland Wildlife Park. “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.”