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.
