Pandas Live on

The joys of observing Giant Pandas

These next couple of weeks will zip by I'm sure.  It always does when an impending event is about to take place that I'm not particularly excited about, you know like going to the dentist.  It's necessary,  but ugh! 

Through the marvel of live webcams, photos and stories from fellow panda fans who make it to see the pandas and the experience of my own visits, I have been on a fun journey observing three giant pandas from the first days of their lives through to an up-and-coming day when Su Lin of the San Diego Zoo, Mei Lan of the Zoo Atlanta and Tai Shan of the National Zoo, will be leaving for China. 

I have to count myself as being blessed to witness the transformation these three have gone through, following them from the day they were born to watching them grow and becoming more confident with each passing year. 

It was amazing to watch them as they astutely observed their moms while she taught them the skills needed to handle and eat the different parts of the bamboo stalk for sustenance.  Playful romps, wrestling matches and tree climbing adventures were other lessons that the cubs would partake in not knowing they would translate into life saving skills for them later on.  

Now, as they reach adulthood, it is time for them to take their own place in this world as part of this unique species.

Thanks to all of the wonderful people in the U.S. who have worked so closely with these three that we have been able to learn more about these gentle giants through their observations that they have shared through scientific reports, blogs and cam monitoring. 

I will miss Su, Mei and Tai, I can't deny that and I hope to be able to keep up with them in the future. 

Looks like making that trip to China will become a reality now. 

In the meantime, if you want to see one of them before they leave for China, you should try to stop by and see them within the next couple of weeks.  

Thanks to jdbartross, daniel.techie and ajay77*, and bob2cleo all of flickr for the trip down memory lane with the photos of Su Lin, Mei Lan and Tai Shan, when they were still just cubs and more recent photos.

Ya Ya keeps us guessing until March 2010

The Commercial Appeal out of Memphis, Tennessee reports Ya Ya from the Memphis Zoo was artificially inseminated this last Thanksgiving, so with her Gestation period being around 120 days, we will see sometime in March if she will have her first cub. 

Thanks to Daniel.techie of flickr who went to the National Zoo and came back with these great shots of Tai Shan today.

I watched Tai on the cam for awhile this morning, while he thoroughly enjoyed one of his favorite treats a fruitsicle.  Once he finished his fruity, I turned off the cam to take care of some chores, but now I wish I had stayed by the cams.  Tai went for romp afterwards and ended up playing with a well decomposed dead-fall in his yard.  Daniel was there to capture it.  That's our Tai!

Thanks so much vwatts for telling us about the video on youtube by pegasus1787, it follows the photos.

 
 

Wishing everyone a Happy Holiday season!

We have so much to be greatful for during this holiday season. So many successes in the birth of captive panda cubs, 25 just this year!  That brings the total to 294 captive giant pandas.  The goal of the Chinese scientist is to reach 300, so by next year, the captive giant panda population will reach a basic self-sustaining rate. 

Fu Ni and Wang Wang just moved into their new habitat in Australia from China and other countries are also working to have giant pandas as we speak.   

Fu Long, darling boy of Vienna recently moved to China and Su Lin, Mei Lan and Tai Shan all of the United States will be joining him in China at the first of next year to be a part of the very important breeding program.  For those of us who have watched these pandas being born and growing up over the years, through visits to their zoos, and live webcams, we will certainly miss each of them but realize the importance of the work being done in China to help save giant pandas from extinction.  

The Chiang Mai Zoo in Thailand welcomed their newborn cub, Lin Ping on May 27, 2009. Her parents are Lin Hui and Chuang Chuang.

So, with all of this activity that is now taking place with pandas all around the world, I just realized the need to begin keeping a journal here by my computer, recording all of the goings on as they occur in order to keep up with them. 

Thank You to J.D.Bartross of flickr for the wonderful photo of Tai Shan above and thanks also to anita-lee of flickr, who sent us this cute video of Hua Mei's newest female cub, Hao Hao.  Hua Mei was born at the San Diego Zoo on August 21, 1999 and moved to China in February 2004. Hao is her seventh cub.  

Happy Holidays!

 

Mei and Tian playing in the snow in D.C.

What is it about seeing a giant panda romping around in the deep powdery snow that makes it so magical? 

Thanks to jdbartross who braved the heavy snow conditions yesterday to bring us these great photos of Mei Xiang and her partner Tian Tian of the National Zoo enjoying some 16 inches of snow that befell their yards. There are many more photos of the two having a good time, so be sure to check out their photostream so see the complete set.

Don't forget to watch the live webcams today and you may get to see the pandas in the snow. Go to Daniel's Cam Page to see pandas at the National, Memphis and San Diego Zoos. Zoo Atlanta cams run Monday through Friday.

These three are of Mei Xiang.

Xi Lan of Zoo Atlanta shows us his versatile climbing skills

Panda moms really have to have alot of patience.  They often find themselves being attacked, bitten and climbed on as their cubs grow and become more aware of their abilities.  We've seen this played out in all types of animals where the young are playing with their mothers. 

Thanks to jdbartross of flickr, who is currently visiting with the Zoo Atlanta panda family and shared these photos of Xi Lan and Lun Lun on their flickr site. 

Here's Xi Lan, born August 30, 2008, looking pretty innocent at the water well.

Poor mom, Lun Lun is just trying to get a drink of water!

Lun takes it all in stride.

  

Wonderful panda photo collection on Chinese site

I was going through my panda links to catch up any panda news and came across this heartfelt collection of photos that were posted on the blog.sina.com back in November.

The finalist of the 49th Miss International Beauty Pageant wanted to see the pandas while in Chengdu and you can see their excitement while in the presence of these wonderful bears.

This link is translated into English so I hope it works for everyone.  To see the photo collection of the pandas go HERE. 

 

Pandas gathering at the pumpkin patch

I have been working on a panda graphic for Halloween and as I continued to work on it I decided to make it more about the season with pandas.  The reason I changed my mind was that sometime after the first of the year, Su Lin (San Diego Zoo) and Mei Lan (Zoo Atlanta) will be going to China to help with the breeding program there and I thought how nice it would be to show all of the pandas together who are currently living in the U.S. 

It's hard not to feel a little sadness knowing that it won't be as easy to visit them (China here I come!) or watch them on the cams and our local photo buddies won't be capturing their pics any longer, but thanks to our friends in China and those who visit the panda bases to volunteer, they have sent back photos of the pandas of those who have have left and are doing so well, like supermom, Hua Mei and Mei Sheng who may be a daddy this year, so we can keep up with them.  We really appreciate it.

So, I used pumpkins, which I love, seemed like a good place where they might hang out.  A BIG thanks, to all of the photographers for their wonderful photos of the pandas.  Enjoy!  (click photo to enlarge)

Fu Long in Vienna enjoys time with his mom

Fu Long is catching up with his ears now. He's quite the big boy. Thank You to lupoforme of YouTube who came back with some great video of the panda family at Zoo Vienna, Austria.

We are really grateful for these videos because Fu will be leaving for China at the end of 2009. 

Xi Lan sets out for new Horizons

Thanks to pandajoy7 for the set of wonderful photos they just came back with on their recent trip to Zoo Atlanta.  Please be sure to go to their flickr site to see all of them.  I just had to do a graphic with one of a set where Xi Lan was exploring a new enrichment item that was placed in his enclosure.

Beautiful Mei Xiang of the Smithsonian National Zoo

We all have images in our heads of giant pandas sitting and eating bamboo, seemingly oblivious to those of us who stop by to see them.  But for those who go to see the pandas on a regular basis, through their photos, they give us a chance to see a more personal side of these gorgeous animals. 

Take a look at these wonderful photos that Unka Bobby, as he is known on flickr, got of Mei Xiang who just turned 11 years old in July and who has a four year old son, Tai Shan.  You can't tell me, when you look at these photos, that  her inner and outer beauty don't reach out and touch you.  Thanks, Bobby for sharing these great photos.   

 

 

Sweet panda cub Lin Bing takes to the camera, a star is born!

While Lin Bing, the 77 day old cub at the Chiang Mai Zoo in Thailand, gets her regular check up and measurements, a photographer got some really nice close ups of her.  Lin is the first cub for Lin Hui, her mother and father Chuang Chuang.

 

OMG, cute overload!

 

A visit with Fu Long and his parents

Thanks to Saulesmeit of flickr for sharing these new photos of the panda family at Zoo Vienna, Austria.  It took a couple of visits to get the great close-ups of Fu resting up on his perch but Saules says it was worth the return trip and I couldn't agree more!  Its so good to see him along with his mom Yang Yang and father Long Hui. 

Fu Long is scheduled to go to China at the end of this year to be part of the breeding program there. He will be two years old on August 23, 2009.   

 

Here's daddy Long Hui

and mom Yang Yang

 Yang and Fu are together in their very scenic outdoor enclosure

"I'm a big boo-eatin bear!"

Watercolor Panda

Beautiful and artsy photograph of Tai Shan taken by RoxandaBear of flickr. I can only show a certain size on this blog, you need to see this at a larger scale, it amazing!  Here's the link to the photo itself on flickr. It's called Watercolor Panda.

Chengdu Panda Research Base photo site

I see the CRBGPB Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, has got their photo page up and going. I had checked it out probably 6 months ago and just now got back to it.  It's called Panda Photos.

 

 Giant panda boarding a plane leaving China in the 1930s

There are photos that cover everything from medical to historical, like the one above and many more.  They also have some magazines you can download that are just beautifully done, unfortunately, they are in Chinese.  One of them featured Tai Shan of the National Zoo.  They have comic books, blogs written by some of the pandas.  It is very entertaining along with educational. 

So, even though there are some language barriers for some of us, I still think it is a great site to check out. Panda Photos.   

Panda in Mosaic

Of course this caught my eye, Tai Shan in mosaic?

I found this on the Washington Post website this morning while checking headlines.  Its new technology, enabling you to utilize many photos into making one unique one.   You have to download the Microsoft Silverlight software to view it, but its well worth it.

I just may have to see what else this Silverlight software has to offer.  But as far as the actual software needed to make this, called MacOSaiX its a Mac application which I can't use.  But the other software that lets you zoom into each photo called Deep Zoom Pix, is a windows application so this I will investigate.