PROVIDENCE — We can tell you this much: we're pretty sure there's a new polar bear cub at the Roger Williams Park Zoo.

The mayor let the news slip yesterday. The zoo will not confirm it.

No one will be getting a look at that bear cub anytime soon, however. For now — if there is indeed a cub — it remains nestled in a very much behind-the-scenes cubbing den with its mother, away from the public eye.

At a news conference yesterday, however, Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. blurted out the big news, then tried to take it back.

Zoo Director Bruce Clark would not confirm a cub birth yesterday, only that the zoo "is monitoring signs of pregnancy" in the zoo's adult female polar bear, "as any good institution would." Clark said there "will be more information" at a news conference today at 2:30 p.m. at City Hall.

This is how it went at Cianci's office yesterday:

With some Flynn School youngsters gathered around him, Cianci first reminded everyone that Triton, whose birth in late 1997 marked the zoo's first cub to survive in captivity, is now doing well at a Detroit zoo.

Then, using euphemisms in front of the children, the mayor explained that the two adult bears, Trixie and Norton, have been reunited since Triton left, and have apparently met with the uh, kind of success that one would hope for after "such a uh, you know," reunification.

"We do believe the reconciliation (between Trixie and Norton) indicates that another birth has taken place," Cianci said.

"Please make note that Trixie needs quiet," the mayor said. "And we ask that you be patient."

Whoops — but not so fast, Mr. Mayor!

At the same news conference, Parks Director Nanci Derrig said that Trixie has been ushered into her cubbing den in recent weeks because "she's been giving the signs" that she is pregnant. (The cubbing den is a special nesting area indoors, away from the bears' public exhibit.)

"We're waiting and hoping" that a cub, or cubs, will be born, Derrig said. And that was all she would say.

After Derrig's statement, the mayor backtracked.

Didn't you just say that a cub has been born? the mayor was asked.

"Well, I'd like to hope that there is one," Cianci replied.

As zoo officials explained during the advent of Triton, the first few months of a polar bear cub's life are marked by extreme vulnerability.

Polar bear cubs weigh but a pound or two at birth, and are usually no larger than chipmunks.

Those dangers include, for instance, that an adult female bear could accidentally roll over on her newborn cub and crush it. Or, she might have trouble suckling the cub, and it could starve. Or, illness could claim a cub.

In fact, Trixie lost her first cub, born on Nov. 19, 1996, when it was 33 hours old, zoo officials announced at the time.

After Triton was born, Trixie was provided solitude. She remained locked in her cubbing den; Norton remained outside. For a period of six to eight weeks, no one went near her holding area except for her keepers, who monitored the cub's progress by listening through the walls.

Triton, yet unnamed and weighing 40-plus pounds, made his first foray to the outdoors four months after his birth, on an icy March day.

Still a bit wobbly, the cub at first padded along directly beneath his mother. Then he plunged into the pool and went for a swim.

Recent estimates put the polar bear population at between 20,000 and 40,000 in the ice-cap regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Hunting and environmental pollution have depleted their numbers; and they are considered a threatened species in the wild.

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