Pandas Live on

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Tian and his "Cherry Eye"

You know watching the Giant Pandas through the pandacam, you can't help getting attached to them.  You become familiar with them as individuals due to their habits, physical characteristics and so on.  So, when anything out of the ordinary happens with one of them, I go on heightened alert.  Thanks to a small network of 'fellow' panda lovers, we keep each other informed if anything changes in the pandas routine.

I was at work the other day, getting a customers yard all set and cleaned up for the holidays when I got a phone call from a panda pal.  "Tian needs to have surgery!", I stopped dead in my tracks, the hose I was watering with started flaying all around since I had loosened my grip on the darn thing, causing me to get all wet.  "What!?"  I screamed back to my friend.  "Calm down, calm down, Tian is going to be okay"  was the response. 

Tian Tian the father of Tai Shan at the National Zoo in DC, apparently, had developed a condition called "cherry eye," in his right eye.  The NZ published a statement on their site, describing the condition, saying it is associated with a tear gland, out of the inner corner of the eye.  They thought he may have injured it with his interaction with Mei Xiang his female partner, or perhaps hitting the corner of his eye with a piece of bamboo.  He was first treated with steroid and antibiotic drops, but when this treatment did not seem to help they elected to anesthetize him so they could take a closer look. You can see from the photos how bizarre Tian's eye looked. 

  Everything was well planned out by the staff at the National Zoo, keepers, vets, everyone was involved in the preparations as all of us on the outside waited patiently for the outcome.  While Tian would have to be anestisized for this procedure, they took advantage of this opportunity and did a complete physical on him, including collecting sperm.  The operation was a success, Tian was found to be in excellent health overall including his manhood.  Whew!  Before we knew it, Tian was back to his old self eating boo and just being himself. 

  Thanks to all of those dedicated professionals at the National Zoo and other facilities, who care for these wonderful creatures, and a big thanks to my panda friends around the world who through their photos, blogs, emails and phone calls keep each other informed so if there is anything we can do to help the giant pandas, we are ready, willing and able.   

Herbs to help Pandas

Gao Gao a wild born panda, now living at the San Diego Zoo with his partner, Bai Yun, have had no problems in the mating category. Together they have had three healthy cubs born at the San Diego Zoo. 

I recently came across an article about pandas in "The Herb Quarterly" (Winter 2007)the other day, to my delight.  You may or may not have seen the article where the Chinese zoo scientist had played a video of pandas mating to a couple of male pandas in order to get them interested in mating.  They have also tried using Viagra.  Apparently, the two male pandas over in the Shanghai Zoo in China still need some more help in this area so the zoo scientist are going to try some herbs.  Zhuang Zhuang and Peng Peng both males, still have no sexual appetite for mating with the female panda in residence.  So handlers at the zoo are consulting with experts about possible herbal treatments. 

With their numbers in the wild being estimated to be around 1,600, China has been breeding the bears with artificial insemination with good success.  One of the dilemmas though is the pandas living in captivity don't have the same sexual prowess as those living in the wild.

Humans have used Chinese herbs, including ginseng, romania and epicedium for thousands of years as aphrodisiacs and sexual tonics.  The zoo hopes some of these powerful plants can do the same for the pandas.   

Three wonderful Cubs

Its so exciting to see all of the US panda cubs growing in different stages.  Zhen Zhen the latest cub born at the San Diego Zoo is moving about pretty well on her own now and mother Bai Yun has begun providing so called lessons, I guess you could call them, to prepare her for the great big world.  This is Bai's fourth cub, and so she has a good idea on how to raise her cubs.  Zhen is walking about more and more as is evident in this 'new' video of her.  So adorable!  Her weight as of, December 5, 2007 was 15.4 pounds (6.9 kilograms) and length is 29 inches (77 centimeters).  Zhen Zhen turned 4 mos. old on the 3rd of December.

Now our little jewel at Zoo Atlanta Mei Lan hit a new milestone today!  Apparently, while the keepers were getting Mei and her mom, Lun ready to start the day, little Lani, climbed up onto the mesh and bleated.  This sound is one that pandas make, generally to each other in communicating and to the keepers if they want something.  Lun bleats to Lani when she wants her to follow her. As I was saying above about how Bai is starting to teach her little cub different things, if you happen to catch Mei Lan and her mom at the zoo or on the live cam, quite often you will see Mei Lan mimicking many of the same behaviors of her mom.  Now her current weight is 70.62 lbs. (32.1 kg).  The keepers report in their blog that she loves her biscuits, fruit and mom's milk.  Mei Lan was 1 year, 6 mos. old yesterday!

Last but now least our amazing panda boy Tai Shan from the Smithsonian National Zoo.  I have included here a recent photo that was taken by the Washington Post during the recent snow fall that D.C. had.  Isn't Tai just gorgeous.  Its so hard to believe he is about 2 1/2 years old.  I watch him whenever I can on the NZ panda cam, which is the same address as the zoo above.  He still loves to climb the trees and does summersaults down the hill like a little rolly polly.  Then some days he sleeps almost all day!  So you can never tell.  But the nice thing about the NZ is their cams operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  There aren't always cam operators after working hours so they set the cam in the center of the room so you can still catch a glimpse of Tai or his mom Mei and dad Tian.  I don't have a updated weight on Tai so will just have to let that go for now. 

That's it for the three cubbies.  We will keep with each of them and check in with the Austrian cub next time.