Yona the bear on display in Durham

The 90-pound bear joins the museum's four other bears, Gus, Mimi, Virginia and Ursula, in the museum's one acre Explore the Wild exhibit. Yona has been in quarantine in the bear house since arriving at the museum in January. She met the other bears on Monday and, so far, they seem to tolerate her. Gus, I'm told, has seem especially interested and the two play together.

The museum acquired Yona from a rescue group in Tennessee. The woman who found the bear had turned her over to the group, which had hoped to return the bear to the wild. But after some time, it became clear that Yona had spent too much time with humans and wouldn't survive long on her own in the wild.

The museum also has started an adopt a bear program. It costs more than $40,000 a year to care for its rescued bears. To learn more about helping, call 919.220.5429 ext. 352.