The video above concludes a recent fixation of ours, with the official public debut of an adorable little polar bear. At this point, she feels like an old friend. We first met her when she was dreaming as a tiny cub—though we wondered about what, because she hadn’t even opened her eyes yet. We then visited with her again when voters around the world chose a name for her, Nora. And now, one last time, we check in on her on the day she’s finally deemed big enough to join the rest of the polar bears at Columbus Zoo.
Good news, though: She’s still impossibly cute.
Last month, she finally burst into the zoo’s Polar Frontier area, where a crowd of onlookers eagerly awaited her arrival, cameras at the ready. Over a rock she went, and (splash) down into the water to get to her ball, and then (splash) again for a toy. Over and over. The little charmer clearly loves her toys, swimming, and belly-flopping.
Nora has fish in there with her as well, but it looks like she’s way more interested in playing with her toys than eating. Thanks to the care she’s received from the staff, we leave Nora a happy, healthy cub clearly enjoying her public arrival.
