Pipaluk, a male polar bear, was born at London Zoo on the 1st December 1967. (The only polar bear cub previously reared successfully at the Zoo had been Brumas ? a female.) The name 'Pipaluk', the ending of which rhymes with book, was chosen from a list of Inuit names ? meaning 'the little one'.

London Zoo has a long and storied history with polar bears, most famously housing Pipaluk, who was born there in 1967 and became a major public icon. However, the zoo no longer keeps polar bears and has not for several decades. The decision to stop housing them was part of a broader shift in zoological philosophy, moving away from keeping large, wide-ranging carnivores in urban environments where space is inherently limited. Pipaluk was eventually moved to a zoo in Poland in 1985, marking the end of the polar bear era at Regent's Park. Today, London Zoo focuses on species that are better suited to its specific layout and conservation goals. While the historic Mappin Terraces were originally designed to showcase mountain and arctic animals like polar bears, they have since been repurposed to house animals such as emus and wallabies, as the welfare standards for polar bears now mandate vast, specialized habitats that an inner-city zoo simply cannot provide in 2026.