In the summer of 2013 he had poor appetite and difficulty chewing and swallowing food. He was placed under anesthesia by zoo veterinarians to determine the cause of his problem; the veterinarians discovered a large, inoperable tumor in the region of his thyroid and decided to euthanize him.

In 2008, polar bears were officially declared a threatened species. With knowledge about melting arctic ice caps, and devastating images of starved polar bears stranded on floating ice slabs, Coca-Cola no longer felt they could continue using polar bears in their advertising without addressing this glaring issue.

The Coca-Cola Company first used a polar bear in a 1922 French advertisement depicting a bear squirting Coca-Cola into the mouth of a thirsty anthropomorphized sun. However, the use of the characters was sporadic until 1993.

Mr. Stewart saw his dog, thought about polar bears and how they would go to the movies, and the idea for "Northern Lights" was born. In the commercial, the polar bears watch the aurora borealis (the "movie") and drink from bottles of Coca‑Cola.

Gus the Polar Bear. Zoo collection includes: Gus born in late 1985 at a facility in Buffalo, New York, was at the Central Park Zoo since it opened in August of 1988. He was euthanized (2013) at age 27 due to an inoperable thyroid tumor.

Ursus maritimus The polar bear's Latin name, Ursus maritimus, means "sea bear." It's an apt name for this majestic species, which spends much of its life in, around, or on the ocean–predominantly on the sea ice.

1922 The polar bear first debuted in a Coca‑Cola print advertisement in France in 1922 and then appeared periodically for the next 70 years.

And they definitely don't drink Coca-Cola, vastly preferring energy-rich seal blubber to carbonated high-fructose corn syrup. But less obvious is the fact that polar bears don't group together.

The polar bear first debuted in a Coca‑Cola print advertisement in France in 1922 and then appeared periodically for the next 70 years.

What does a Polar Bear Symbolize Polar bear symbolizes endurance, strength, determination, protection, and peace. Its white coat embodies invisibility, purity, surrender, and acceptance.

The head of this iconic bear is a hand puppet with mechanics that operate eye blinks and ear wiggles. There is a camera in the nose that gives the performer a live image of what is in front of the bear.

coati Gus visits a hospitalized, unconscious Hector Salamanca and recounts a childhood story about a coati that ate the fruit from a lúcuma tree Gus had carefully tended in Chile. He trapped the coati, which broke its leg while trying to escape.