Pandas Live on

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100 Day Milestone for panda cubs

I think one of the most interesting points of interest for me in following the life of a newborn panda cub, is the process of providing the cub its own name, based on Chinese tradition.   

The cub is not even given a name before its 100th day.  Why?  According to Chinese tradition, the 100th day has particular significance, given the high infant mortality rate in the past.  A baby's survival to the 100th day was therefore viewed as a cause for celebration and an indication of its future health. 

In the case where the pandas are on loan to a particular zoo from China, then the Chinese government, or Panda Research Center, will generally suggest names to be used or will be involved in the selection of names chosen by others.  Take for instance, the cub 'Mei Lan' from Zoo Atlanta. The process for her name began between the CEO of Zoo Atlanta and the Director of the Chengdu Research Base.  Together with several groups interested in giant panda conservation and the mission of Zoo Atlanta, a list of 10 names were selected.  Then the 10 names were posted online at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution website where the public voted on them.  Generally, the Chinese name is presented with an English translation following. The names ranged from the celestial  (Ming Xing, or Bright Star) to (Xiao Tao, or Little Peach) but Mei Lan, or Atlanta Beauty was the final winner.  In the cases of the San Diego Zoo's naming of Su Lin or 'a little bit of something very cute', the Giant Panda team at the San Diego Zoo supplied all five names for their final list, but the National Zoo came up with only three, the other two names for their cub 'Tai Shan' or Peaceful Mountain were provided by the China Wildlife Conservation Association. 

Currently, there are two zoos that are in the process of naming their newborn panda cubs.  One is at the San Diego Zoo.  With their female cub they have decided to let the public provide the name for the cub.  Each entry must be hand delivered to the San Diego Zoo, the name must be in Chinese (pinyin) have an English translation and be symbolic in meaning.  Her name will be announced at the naming ceremony on Monday, November 12, 2007 at 11:00 am.  At Zoo Vienna in Austria, with their male cub, China's authorities offered a shortlist of four names.  Internet users can click on the zoo's German website and vote among these names.  They are (Hua Shan in honor of one of the five Chinese holy mountains), (Mei Yue or Beautiful Music), (Zhu Wa or Bamboo Boy) and finally, (Fu Long or Lucky and Happy Dragon).  I will have to say, I really like the name that the Germans have nicknamed their little cub for right now (Kruemel or little crumb).  By the way something interesting to note about Zoo Vienna, it is the oldest zoo in the world, dating back to 1752. 

Mei Sheng staying a little longer

It seem Mei Sheng will be staying with us for a little longer.  Apparently, the recent fires may have something to do with it.  Stay tuned here to follow along Mei Sheng's worldly travels.

In the meantime, his younger sister, yet to be named, is showing signs that her teeth are just starting to grow in.  The attending veterinarian, Dr. Tracy Clippinger said it will still be awhile before they emerge though.  She gaining good strength in her front legs, but her hind legs need a little more time.  If you watch the San Diego cam closely, you can see her propping herself up on her two front legs.  Her weight now is 9.7 pounds.  You go girl!

Last but not least, by any means, our little fellow in Vienna, Austria is growing also.  Here is his most recent picture, sleeping which is something these little cubs do alot of.  His weight is around 8 pounds. 

Mei Sheng starts a new chapter

Yes, I'd like some apples.,
originally uploaded by NekoMama7.

As I have mentioned before in an earlier post, Born in the USA, Mei Sheng of the San Diego Zoo will be moving to China. His last day for visitors to see him will be this Saturday, October the 27th.

As quoted from the China.org website: "China has carefully planned Mei Sheng's return and made many elaborate preparations to welcome him, including an enthusiastic and grand welcoming ceremony as part of his homecoming. Mei Sheng is scheduled to arrive by plane to Shanghai on the evening of October 30, 2007. He will be airlifted to the Chengdu Shuangliu Airport at noon on October 31. Finally, he will arrive at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in the afternoon, where he will attend his welcoming ceremony and then he'll be put into a segregated inspection area. Mei Sheng will be kept in quarantine for a month, after wards he'll begin his new life."

Here are more panda photos by NekoMama7 of flickr. 

Panda cub updates

The two newest cubs that I can get access to through the internet are doing just fine.  They are both being cared for by their mothers and growing plumper by the minute.  They both have their eyes open now, as you will see in the photos, but still pretty much sleep and nurse most of the time.  Be sure to click on the photos for larger viewing.

 

The cub in Zoo Vienna, Austria is now 7 weeks old, weighs approximately 4 lbs. and is about 10-12 inches long now.  Yang Yang, her mother spends 2-3 hours a day outside her nesting box and suckles the cub only four times within a 24 hour period.  Since the zoo staff have not removed the cub to closely examine it, they are guesstimating through the color photo above (taken in September) that it may be a male cub.  Thanks to Zoo Vienna for the photos and keeping us up to date!

The female cub at the San Diego zoo is 11 weeks old, weighs 8.6 lbs, and measures at 21 inches long.  Unlike the Vienna zoo, the staff at San Diego, bring their cub into an separate examining room to do their veterinary exam every week, if possible.  She has already received her first vaccination, a canine distemper vaccine.  Thanks to the San Diego Zoo for their photos and regular updates also!   

   

Meet Lun Lun, Yang Yang and their cub, Mei Lan

What a busy year it has been for the Zoo Atlanta Panda family.  It was a year ago in September, that Lun Lun and Yang Yang had their first panda cub.

Lun Lun and Yang Yang were both born at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu, China.  They have been together most all of their lives, having been teamed up just after their first year. Lun Lun was born on August 25, 1997.  Her birth name was given to her by keepers in Chengdu, Hua Hua.  A Taiwanese rock star, Su Huilun, "adopted" her at Chengdu and gave her the name she now has.  She is considered to be a strikingly beautiful panda because her cheeks are very fluffy.  It is a quality not found often in pandas.  She has more of a serious demeanor and loves to climb.  The keepers will often provide her enrichment by placing the scents of cinnamon or mint on objects.  She absolutely loves these and will play and roll all around with whatever has had the scent applied to it.

Yang Yang is much more playful.  He has distinctive cheekbones with elongated ears.  His eye patches are kidney bean shaped.  Yang was born on September 9, 1997.  He also started out with a different name as was given to him by the keepers of Chengdu, Jiu Jiu.  He was renamed by three organizations in the Netherlands that "adopted" him and named him Yang Yang which mean "little sea".  He is anything but little with his weight ranging from 265-309 lbs, while Lun's weight averages from 231-254 lbs.  He is always active and chances are if you stop by the zoo, you will see him playing around in some way.  His favorite scents are Tabasco and Lavender

The newest member of the panda family is Mei Lan, Born on September 6, 2006, she has been a joy to watch over the last year. You can catch her on the weekdays from 10am-5pm EST, on their live web cam. When a panda cub is born the father is separated from the mother and cub.  The zoo staff usually constructs a birthing area and once the cub is born, they let the mother take over complete care for the cub, if all goes well.  In this case, Lun picked up her little cub that was no bigger then a human hand and cared for her right away.  The veterinary staff constantly monitor the mother and cub through live cameras and when they have an opportunity where Lun will leave the cub to go eat, they will take the cub and give her a quick physical, which is done on a regular basis from that point on. Mei Lan made her first public debut on January 7, 2007.  It looks like she is going to have the same fluffy cheeks that her mother has.  She loves to climb also and quite often plays 'come and get me' with her mom.  Much to Mei's surprise, Lun's agility outsmarts her cub.  She is just starting to nibble on bamboo and so she still nurses.  Her current weight is 63 lbs.

I would like to acknowledge and thank Zoo Atlanta, for the information concerning their pandas in this postIf you happen to be in the southern city of Atlanta, be sure to stop in and visit Yang, Lun and Mei at Zoo Atlanta.

Pandas just want to have fun!

Maintaining a family of Giant Pandas in a Zoo environment not only means keeping them nourished and healthy but designing activies keeping them mentally and physically active is also important.  This can become increasingly difficult for Zoo's that do not have alot of space for their bears to roam and play. 

Every Zoo finds different ways to help their pandas depending on the individual bear.  The objects that are used to enhance activity or mimic behaviors such as foraging for food are called enrichment item's.  They come in many forms, some objects are recycled, like boxes coated with honey on the inside that originally contained the delivery of fruits or vegetables for the pandas.  At first glance seeing a ball hanging from one of the large tree limbs in the pandas enclosure may seem like a boring object, but its purpose is to help in strengthening the pandas hind legs by getting them to stand up in order to reach the item.  Scents such as peppermint, honey and other things are used to get the panda interested in an object, it will vary depending on the zoo. Trees and boulders or similiar structures, for them to climb up and over are all helpful.  There are companies that specialize in making some of these items, Otto Environmental is one of these companies.  

Each zoo keeps different types of items on hand and they will interchange them during the year.  It's a concept that most people don't realize that the keepers are always working on to keep their pandas alert and active. 

Make no mistake about it, whatever is chosen to be used as an enrichment item, the keepers, veterinarians and other staff, all carefully review the items thoroughly for safety of the pandas first and foremost. I have created a link on the right column with photos taken from various zoos across the country to show the different types of enrichment items.   

Here is a short video of Yang Yang from Zoo Atlanta showing how he makes use of the weeble.

Born in the USA

At the end of October, Mei Sheng, the four-year-old resident panda born on August 19, 2003 of the San Diego Zoo, will be transported to the Wolong Nature Reserve in China to become part of their breeding program.  Mei Sheng's father, Gao Gao is a captive but a wild born panda and so Mei's genes are vital to ensure greater diversity in the gene pool of the captive giant pandas.  He has been a favorite with crowds always happy to meet the visitors that come to the zoo.  Some are very sad to see him go, but at the same time realize the importance of his contribution to the greater good of all pandas. 

The staff at the Giant Panda Research Station at the SDZ has been preparing Mei Sheng for his journey for several weeks now.  They have been slowly changing his diet to replicate that of which he will be receiving at Wolong. The pandas at the reserve are fed two loaves of specially baked bread made of soybeans, rice, corn, and bamboo flour in addition to apples, carrots and bamboo.  They have also been working with Mei to get him comfortable with his travel crate which really was not that much different from the crate that they use normally for his training, so that part of the preparations went uneventful.  But there will be alot of strange equipment and people around him and so they have been working with him becoming aware of strange sounds and voices.

Mei Sheng just completed his pre-shipment veterinary health check to ensure he is in tip top physical form before his journey.  The head veterinarian from the Wolong breeding center and a member of the SDZ's husbandry staff will accompany him all the way from San Diego to Wolong to ensure his well being along the way.  I wish you the very best, my dear friend who was born in the USA.