Zoo: Sofus is off to Poland to find a new girlfriend. Pic: © STV
A lonely sea lion at Edinburgh Zoo is off to find love in Poland after losing his partner last year.
Sofus, a six-year-old Patagonian sea lion, will be leaving the capital on Friday for Lodz Zoo.
It is hoped Sofus will breed with one of the two female sea lions at the Polish Zoo. His partner, Miranda, died at the end of last year.
In preparation for his move, Sofus has been getting used to his transportation box over the past few months.
The enclosure will become home to four great white pelicans who arrive from Germany at the end of the month.
Darren McGarry, head of animals at Edinburgh Zoo, said: "It was announced earlier this year that Sofus, our six year old male Patagonian sea lion would move to Lodz Zoo in Poland.
"Miranda our female sea lion passed away towards the end of last year, so we’re extremely pleased that Sofus will be joining two females of breeding age at the Zoo in Poland. We’re sure that he will settle in well to his new home, where he’ll hopefully father pups in the future.
"To help prepare for the journey to his new home and with his best interests at heart, for several months now we’ve been training Sofus to go into a large transport box. By using positive reinforcement training Sofus will comfortably move into the transportation crate meaning that he will be used to this process, this removes any stress of having to get a large animal into a transportation box. He’s doing really well with his training and comfortably comes and goes into the box during the daily training sessions.
"Before the end of September Edinburgh Zoo will be delighted to temporarily welcome four great white pelicans to the old sea lion enclosure to greet visitors to the Zoo."
