Debby (1966 – November 17, 2008) was a female polar bear, considered by scholars as the world's oldest. She lived in the Assiniboine Park Zoo in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...

. In August 2008, the ''

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

'' certified her as not only the oldest polar bear, but one of the three oldest individuals ever recorded of all eight bear species. Debby was born in the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada ( Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm ( Greenland), Finland, Iceland ...

in 1966, and subsequently orphaned; she arrived in Winnipeg when she was a year old. While in captivity, she had six cubs with her mate Skipper. In November 2008, she was found to have

multiple organ dysfunction syndrome Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) is altered organ function in an acutely ill patient requiring medical intervention to achieve homeostasis. Although Irwin and Rippe cautioned in 2005 that the use of "multiple organ failure" or "multis ...

, and was subsequently

euthanized Animal euthanasia (euthanasia from el, εὐθανασία; "good death") is the act of killing an animal or allowing it to die by withholding extreme medical measures. Reasons for euthanasia include incurable (and especially painful) conditio ...

. She was 41 years old.

References

{{reflist Individual polar bears 1966 animal births 2008 animal deaths Animal deaths by euthanasia Female mammals Individual animals in Canada Oldest animals

See also

References