Nora, the Oregon Zoo's nearly 1-year-old polar bear cub, isn't quite ready to meet the public yet, but she is making some new friends.

Last week, she met 31-year-old Tasul, the zoo's elder stateswoman of polar bears, officials said Thursday, and the meeting marks an important step in the younger bears development after she was relocated from the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Ohio earlier this year.

"One of the main reasons that she came here was to meet another bear," curator Amy Cutting, who oversees the Oregon Zoo's marine life area, said in a statement. "The introduction in general has been extremely positive, it's just sort of been in slow motion."

One of the reasons Nora's keepers are taking it slow is because the young bear was hand-raised in Ohio after she was abandoned by her mother. Because she has a ton of experience with humans, but not so much with other bears, Cutting said it was paramount that Nora and Tasul forge a bond early on.

"It's critically important for a young bear that was hand-raised to have a mentor bear as soon as possible," Cutting said.

The two ursine creatures aren't exactly best friends yet. Upon their first meeting, Tasul rushed up to meet Nora, not in an overly aggressive way, but enough to give the cub a bit of a spook.

"Imagine you're a young polar bear," Cutting said. "You've been raised by people -- you might well think of yourself as a person -- and then one day the door opens and this large bear comes rushing at you."

Since that first meeting, Tasul hasn't showed any inclination toward aggression and Nora has grown more comfortable around her new companion, who -- at 500 pounds -- outweighs her significantly.

The zoo doesn't have a firm date on when the new duo will make their public debut. For now, the pair is continuing to get to know each other behind the scenes and will be ready to meet zoo goers in due time.

"We've certainly been excited to let our guests come and see Nora, and we know that they're excited too," Cutting said. "Our priority really has to be making sure that we can get her with Tasul. The very most important thing for Nora at this stage in her life is to learn to be a bear."

In the meantime, however, the zoo did provide a sneak peak video, which you can view below.

-- Kale Williams

kwilliams@oregonian.com

503-294-4048