The Toledo Zoo has added a young new life to the Arctic Encounter.

The zoo announced today that a polar bear cub was born Dec. 3 to 16-year-old mama bear Crystal. The cub still is secluded in an off-exhibit den with its mother, so its gender is unknown and a name has not yet been chosen.

The baby is the seventh cub born at the zoo since 2006, and is being carefully observed through a monitor in the mother’s den. In the wild, polar bear cubs will stay secluded with their mothers until they reach 20 to 30 pounds and the pair can safely travel together on the Arctic sea ice.

The zoo has not yet set a date for the cub to be on exhibit with its mother.

The zoo’s last cubs, twin brother and sister Sakari and Suka, were also born to Crystal, fathered by the zoo’s male named Marty, in November, 2012. They moved to the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory in St. Paul, Minn., in the fall of 2014.

As with all other breeding at the Toledo Zoo, the new cub is part of a plan based on a recommendation from the polar bear Species Survival Plan established by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

Polar bears are listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List as a vulnerable species and as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act because of the loss of Arctic sea ice from climate change.

First Published January 28, 2016, 2:59 p.m.