Winnipeg’s orphaned polar bear cub has a name: Mantayo

Winnipeg’s newest celebrity has a name: the Assiniboine Park Zoo’s orphaned polar bear cub is now called Mantayo, the zoo announced on October 15. The name won a public vote over Duke, Marly and Fletcher, and derives from the Cree “Mantayo Seepee” – “the River of Strangers” – a river near Churchill, as the zoo announced.

The cub – orphaned and taken in by the zoo’s conservation program – has been winning over visitors since arriving from Churchill in August. His home is the zoo’s Journey to Churchill exhibit, which the zoo calls the most comprehensive zoological exhibit of its kind in the world.

Orphaned cubs can’t survive in the wild, so zoos step in: Manitoba has become the world’s unofficial polar bear rescue pipeline, with the Assiniboine Park Conservancy’s conservation program taking in rescued cubs from the Churchill area. Expect Mantayo to be a star of the winter season.

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Correction – October 25, 2026: An earlier version described the Journey to Churchill exhibit as the largest polar bear habitat in the world. The zoo describes it as the most comprehensive zoological exhibit of its kind in the world, and the story has been corrected. The name was announced on October 15, 2026.