Pandas Live on

Zhen Zhen, she's absolutely precious

San Diego's newest Giant Panda cub, reached her 100th day alive today and with that comes a Chinese tradition of presenting the cub with an official name.  The ceremony was held at the San Diego Zoo this morning around 11:00 am.  Living on the East coast, myself and others awaited anxiously for the announcement of the name on one of the many blogs on flickr.  The name was selected from thousands of names submitted by people from all over and hand delivered to the zoo, these names were narrowed down to four by the zoo staff and were then presented online for people to choose.  The winner was Zhen Zhen, pronounced Jen Jen and means precious.  Some of us are already nicknaming her 'ZZ'. 

She was born on August 3, 2007, at the San Diego Zoo.  Her mother is Bai Yun and father is Gao Gao.   She was conceived by natural mating.  Zhen's weight on November 21, 2007 was 13.4 lbs (6.1 kilograms) and her length on November 7, 2007 was 26 inches (66 centimeters).  She is still being cared for by Bai Yun in the birthing den, although Bai has taken Zhen out with her a few times into the courtyard to eat boo.  You can watch them both live on the live webcam 24 hours a day.  Click on image for large size.

China's pandas

This last week in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China the 18th Annual Conference of the Chinese Committee of Breeding Techniques for the Giant Panda took place.  Right away my mind goes back to the photos that were flashed all over the globe of the room full of pandas cubs squeaking and looking as adorable as ever.

There are two major areas that scientist and others from around the globe are working on to help keep Giant Pandas from going extinct.  One is of course, to maintain their wild habitat and the other to utilize artificial methods of breeding to increase their current numbers with hopes of being able to release them back out into the wild.  Within these areas, are other concerns such as disease, food sources and genetic diversity among others.  So, along with keeping you up-to-date with photos and stories of the pandas living in the U.S. zoos, I will be working to keep up with the other side of Giant Pandas as well. 

This coming week is Thanksgiving in the U.S.  A time for giving thanks for whatever blessings each of us has, may they be big or small.  I am taking off to go camping with my dog Amber, for a few days.  Nothing too wild mind you, a state park just north of Orlando.  But it sits on 600 acres of preserved habitat, with the Wekiwa River running through it and deer, black bear, bobcats, huge barking horned owls along with many other wonderful birds.  It's my way of clearing my head, finding peace and remembering my responsibility to nature.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.   

Mei Lan is cute as ever!

With two new cubs being born and Mei Sheng going to China, it's been awhile since we looked into to see what 1 year old Mei Lan at Zoo Atlanta has been up too. 

Lani, my nickname for her, is usually snoozing when I turn on the webcam at 10:00 am.  The Carnivore keepers come in around 7:00 am to get Yang, Lun and Mei Lan ready for their day.  They say Lun and Lani are usually up playing, while Yang is still asleep.  So I suppose, by ten, the little princess is tuckered out and needs a nap. 

The Carnivore keepers are really great at publishing a log Monday, Wednesday and Friday on their website.  This way, if you aren't able to keep up everyday with the goings on of Miss Lani, then these logs will help.  As expected Mei Lan is continuing to grow, she's up to 66 pounds!  She has started chewing on bamboo and actually ingesting very small pieces.  She is still nursing and receiving most of her nourishment from that, but the keepers are seeing her handling branches of boo more often now.  Whether or not she is able to actually peel off the outside of the branch to get to the tasty inside, is yet to be seen. 

She absolutely loves playing with her mom, even if Lun is trying to eat and doesn't want to play, Lani will just keep pulling and tugging on Lun until she finally gives in and plays with her.  Sometime after noon, is when Lani will nurse and then proceed to take another nap. 

So, here are some recent photos of Mei Lan.  They were taken by bob2cleo, who lives very close to Zoo Atlanta and is kind enough to post her photos onto several of the Panda groups on flickr.  Enjoy!   

Washington D.C. Pandas

The Smithsonian National Zoo's history with giant pandas began in 1972.  The first pair, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, were presented to the nation's capital as a gift after President Richard M. Nixon's historic visit to China.  There were five cubs born through their mating but none of the cubs lived more then a few days.  Ling-Ling the female, died in 1992 at age 23 of age-related heart failure.  Hsing-Hsing was euthanized in 1999 at age 28 because of kidney problems.

On December 6, 2000, two new pandas arrived in D.C. to live in the refurbished quarters at the Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat. The male, Tian Tian (t-YEN t-YEN) and female, Mei Xiang (may SHONG) made the 17-hour flight from China, accompanied by two of their regular Chinese keepers at the Wolong Nature Reserve.  Both pandas were born at the center in Wolong, Sichuan Province.  Mei Xiang, was born on July 22, 1998 and her name means 'beautiful fragrance", Tian was born on August 27, 1997 and his name means "more and more."  Besides his weight of 275, Tian's kidney-bean shaped eye patches help to tell him apart from Mei who weighs about 230 lbs.  Mei has a very round head with rounded eye patches. 

Because their natural mating was not successful, zoo scientists and veterinarians performed an artificial insemination on Mei Xiang on March 11, 2005.  On July 9, 2005 a male panda cub was born and later would be named, Tai Shan which means "peaceful mountain".  No bigger then the size of a stick of butter, the cubs birth generated headlines across the country.

The NZ has two live cams that operate 24 hours a day.  One is focused on Tai Shan, as he lives in his own enclosures separate from his mom and dad.  The other camera is on Mei and Tian.  Due to the fact that Tian's genes have become increasingly represented in the overall gene pool of the giant panda, this spring when Mei comes into estrus, more then likely, the veterinarians will work in cooperation with the San Diego Zoo and use the sperm of Gao Gao who has mated successfully twice with his mate Bai Yun, having two offspring of their own, at the San Diego Zoo.  Gao is a wild panda that was rescued due to a serious injury.

There are no admission fees at the Smithsonian National Zoo, and they are always having special events going on throughout the year.  Coming up in December will be Zoo Lights, so be sure to visit and say hello to Mei, Tian and Tai Shan.

Final Farewell Mei Sheng

Through a China publication, it is official, that Mei Sheng is leaving San Diego today.  Here is translated article, Shanghai Daily.  Thanks, to M-Lou for the graphic. 

Take part in the naming the cub!

My goodness, the folks at the San Diego Zoo have been super busy with all of the wonderful names that people have suggested for their newborn panda cub.  They had over 2,400 names submitted and all in person to the zoo!  You can read more about what they went through to narrow the list down to four finalist on their panda blog.  But here is the link to take you to the quick voting, Help us Name the Baby Panda. 

Here are four names, all with their meaning and pronunciaton!

 

Ouch! says the young panda cub

Little miss panda cub at the San Diego Zoo certainly let the veterinary staff know that she wasn't happy getting her second vaccination against canine distemper between the shoulder blades, yesterday.  At 13 weeks she had been brought in for her regular exam, while she was napping.  So, she let them know exactly how she felt with a little squeak. I understand they showed a short segment from the exam on NBC news this morning. I missed it, darn it. "Dr. Robbins described the cub as active and robust."  The cub weighed 10.8 pounds (4.9 kilograms) and is 24.6 inches (62.5 centimeters) long.  You can see part of the exam here with this link San Diego Zoo videos.  Thanks to the SDZ for the update info.

Congratulations, Fu Long!

Congratulations, to the new panda cub at Zoo Vienna, his Chinese name is Fu Long, which means 'The Happy Dragon'.  In Chinese fair story, it means the dragon, will bring people a happy ending. 

The first of December, Chinese officials from the China Wildlife Conservation Association and the Chinese Forest Ministry will attend the ceremony at Zoo Vienna for the official naming ceremony.