Well… tomorrow we have yet another very important birthday to celebrate. Hua Mei will be 6 years old tomorrow! Can you believe it?!? I can’t. Back when she was born I was just a volunteer myself…working my way through college and coming in on the weekends and such to help out. As a volunteer I felt so privileged to be working with the Panda Team, and it was so gratifying to know that, even in a small way, I was helping the pandas. And even now… six years later…I still feel that way. I’ve been lucky enough to be here for all three of the San Diego Zoo’s panda births, and it really is an amazing experience. It’s both challenging on an intellectual level and extremely rewarding on a personal level.

So as I sit here on a quiet Saturday evening, watching Bai Yun and her cub sleep, I’m thinking back on all of the progress we’ve made, and all of the milestones we have crossed. Our first born, Hua Mei, is 6 years old and already a mother herself. Mei Sheng is a healthy 2 year old, and he’s thriving. And now we have this new little wonder who is growing quickly and delighting us with every squawk and croak.

Pamela Crowe is a panda researcher for the Zoo’s Office of Giant Panda Conservation.
View Bai Yun and her cub on Panda Cam
See our slideshow images of the first exam
See photos of Mei Sheng’s birthday

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The den itself has three cameras installed: one facing down from the top and two on the sides. The top view is the one Panda Cam viewers are most familiar with, and it’s the one researchers use the most as well. That camera has pan-tilt-zoom capabilities which enable us to get close ups of the infant when we get a chance, and lets us follow Bai Yun as she moves about the den. The side cameras are fixed, so we can’t move them or use them to zoom in.

The cameras are able to see in the dark thanks to the installation of an infrared illuminator installed in the top of the den. Thus, the “lighting” which makes it possible for us to see the den activities is not altering the day-night shifts of light patterns Bai Yun is experiencing through the opening at the den entrance. This is an important consideration in keeping her comfortable and relaxed.

We have also installed a microphone in the top of the den so that we can hear the cub vocalize. The microphone and camera feeds run about 30 feet (9 meters) through the ceiling of our facility to a room where researchers sit to monitor the bears. The room is behind two doors relative to the panda den, so that our activities do not alarm or otherwise interfere with Bai Yun. This is particularly important during busy times, such as the birth itself, when many people are gathered in the video room and are discussing what we are witnessing as it occurs.

In the video room we have ten VCRs hooked to camera feeds in order to tape activities in any area Bai Yun will have access to over the coming months. Prior to the birth, we recorded Bai Yun’s den activity via a timelapse function on our VCRs, but now we have our VCRs taping real time for each of the three den cameras. Since the birth of the cub, we have collected 629 videotapes (1,258 hours) of footage! It is from those tapes that you are getting the video clips of den activity that you see posted on the San Diego Zoo’s Web site.

The panda facility actually has cameras running throughout most animal areas, including the exhibits, tunnels, and animal bedrooms. With the tap of a finger we can send any one of those cameras’ images to the Panda Cam for your perusal. As you can imagine, most of our time is focussed on the den these days. However, from time to time you may see a feed from Bai Yun’s bedroom or garden room areas, once she is spending longer periods of time outside the den.

Suzanne Hall is the panda research technician for the Office of Giant Panda Conservation.
View Bai Yun and her cub on Panda Cam
See our slideshow images of the first exam
See photos of Mei Sheng’s birthday

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Every minute we also record a ‘point-in-time’ sample which allows us to calculate the percentage of time that the animal is engaged in each behavior, and it also provides a representation of how the animal is spending its time. From all of this data we can perform various statistical analyses to answer the many research questions that we have concerning the giant panda.

So here in our department, we are primarily focused on panda behavior. However, you may know from reading other sections of the San Diego Zoo’s Web site that, the panda research team is a multi-disciplinary group comprised of many different departments from within CRES and the Zoo. For instance, the Endocrinology Division collects and analyzes Bai Yun’s urine to determine hormone levels, which help us monitor estrus and parturition. The Reproductive Physiology Division monitors various physiological changes in Bai Yun, including mammary development pre-parturition. The veterinary staff conduct ultrasound procedures on Bai Yun, allowing us those first few glimpses of the fetus, and often confirming pregnancy. And many other departments provide their expertise as well, ultimately joining together to comprise the Zoo’s Giant Panda Research Team. All of us work together, sharing information and comparing data in the hopes that one day we will understand this elusive bear.

Pamela Crowe is a panda researcher for the Zoo’s Office of Giant Panda Conservation.

View Bai Yun and her cub on Panda Cam
See our slideshow images of the first exam
See photos of Mei Sheng’s birthday

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“What an incredible time to be a part of the panda team, especially for us volunteer observers! I’m sure I can speak for the group when I say “We are some of the luckiest people in the world!”

As a volunteer observer our job is to record behavioral data on each of the pandas, and the information is then used to help the team with their research program. A ‘normal’ shift is scheduled for two hours in the morning, or two hours in the afternoon, seven days a week. During these shifts we are recording what a panda eats, how they interact with various enrichment items, how long one might spend napping in the climbing structure, and a variety of other behaviors that we are trained to observe. Of course, right now we are helping out whenever we can because our main focus is on Bai Yun and her cub. We closely monitor everything Bai Yun does with her cub, from how she holds it and comforts it to how often she will nurse the cub. In addition, we are recording how the infant responds to Bai Yun. We must be able to discern between a croak and squawk, and a squirm and a shiver! Soon we will be observing play bouts between mom and cub, and monitoring the cub’s development.

However, before we can do any of this on our own we must train extensively with an experienced researcher or observer because all of the behaviors must be recorded using a special code from an ethogram, and there are a myriad of rules and protocols we must memorize. We’ve had several exciting events here, from witnessing Hua Mei’s birth, to her first estrus, Gao Gao’s arrival, Bai Yun’s estrus, and of course, the mating, which led to the arrival of Mei Sheng and now, this new cub. Each of these events involves learning to record a whole new set of behaviors. It can be very intense at times, but there’s nothing more satisfying than knowing that we are somehow helping, in a small way, to preserve these beautiful animals!”

Suzanne Hall is a panda research technician for the Office of Giant Panda Conservation. Jenny Draper has been a giant panda volunteer behaviorist for three years.
View Bai Yun and her cub on Panda Cam
See our slideshow images of the first exam
See photos of Mei Sheng’s birthday

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Mei Sheng’s first year was full of all the developmental milestones we look for in a young panda and we noted with excitement his first attempts at crawling, walking, playing with Bai Yun, and eating bamboo. During his 2nd year he experienced what is an enormous development in any panda’s experience: life on his own. In the wild panda bears separate from their mothers at 18 months. Our goal is to mimic natural life history patterns as much as possible and so, at 18 months of age, Mei Sheng was separated from Bai Yun in a step-wise fashion. Six months have passed since he was weaned and he is doing great.

Mei Sheng is a playful bear and he continues to grow physically and behaviorally. We have observed him display aspects of adult behavior (for example, he scent marks in a hand-stand position just like his father) and we all anticipate that he will be a fine adult panda. I think most of us would describe his temperament as gentle, and there is no doubt that all of us regard him as a very sweet bear. It’s hard to believe that two years have passed! Happy Birthday Mei Sheng!

Megan Owen is the research coordinator for the Zoo’s Office of Giant Panda Conservation.
View Bai Yun and her cub on Panda Cam
See our slideshow images of the first exam
Send Mei Sheng a birthday e-card!
See photos of Mei Sheng’s birthday

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Bai Yun’s first den departures were on the morning of August 4, not quite two days post partum. To date, she has left the den 55 times! In the last five days alone, she has made 27 trips out into her surroundings.

The longest period of her absence from the den has been about 13 minutes. As the length of time she spends feeding on bamboo increases, we can expect this time interval to lengthen. If you have ever tried to wait out a bamboo feeding bout while watching our pandas on exhibit, you may have noticed they can last a long time. If culm- the woody, thick stalk portion of bamboo- is involved, Bai Yun has been known to feed for an hour or more.

At some point, Bai Yun will feel comfortable enough to rest outside the den. In just a few short weeks, she may opt to nap in her bedroom while her cub remains behind. The infant will usually while away that time with its own nap, but when it is two to three months old we may see the beginnings of solitary play. We’ll be looking for the cub to chew gently on bamboo leaves, or paw at pieces of hay, or practice scooting across the den floor.

Bai Yun had better enjoy her solitary time away from the den now. In a few months, the cub will be her constant black-and-white shadow, able to leave the den on its own!

Suzanne Hall is the panda research technician for the Office of Giant Panda Conservation.
View Bai Yun and her cub on Panda Cam
See our slideshow images of the first exam

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A few minutes after the exam began the cub was returned to the den. Bai Yun rushed back into her den and scooped her cub up off the ground, comforting it expertly as always.

Stay tuned for the results of this exam. We will have information to share with everyone soon.

Megan Owen is the research coordinator for the Zoo’s Office of Giant Panda Conservation.
View Bai Yun and her cub on Panda Cam
See our slideshow images of the first exam

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Unfortunately pandas in the wild are competing with an ever growing human population that also values old trees, but for a different reason: a tree that old and large has a tremendous economic value. For loggers, a tree that size would be a prize. This is a prime example of why, for all endangered species, habitat preservation is absolutely fundamental to conservation. Can you imagine a female panda raising her tiny newborn without the protection and solitude that the tree den provides? When it comes to raising baby pandas in the wild the tree is the key.

Megan Owen is the research coordinator for the Zoo’s Office of Giant Panda Conservation.
View Bai Yun and her cub on Panda Cam

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What is life like for Hua Mei and her cubs, now almost a year old? Well, they are living in the premiere panda breeding center in China, in the world for that matter. The Wolong Breeding Center is nestled in a little valley along the Pitiao River in the Wolong Nature Reserve, home to more than 100 wild pandas. So, Hua Mei and her cubs look out onto natural panda habitat and no doubt occasionally hear or smell the occasional wild panda traversing the mountain ridges above them. It’s a beautiful lush green environment with surreal steep mountains enshrouded in mists much of the time. It has a mystical feel to it. They also have found the magic recipe for breeding pandas and right now they have 9 newborn cubs this year with more on the way!

More and more the environment inside their enclosures resembles that on the outside. In recent years they have built several new semi-natural pens where pandas can roam through an acre to two of their natural environment. As an expectant mom, Hua Mei is now in one of the smaller enclosures where they can monitor her closely and provide for her needs should she reward us with another cub or two in the next month. Later she’ll return to one of the large naturalistic enclosures.

Unfortunately, none of our team has been over to Wolong to see the pandas lately (we used to spend several months a year there), but we get frequent updates from our friends and colleagues at the center. And we know, for example, that Hua Mei’s cubs are doing exceptionally well, now living in the nursery area. A fairly recent addition, this enclosure is loaded with fun things for the cubs to do, not to mention four other panda cubs. Rough and tumble play consumes much of their time—biting each others’ ears, rolling around on the ground, playing king of the climbing structure. The nursery yard provides for all sorts of other activities. It has trees, stumps, bushes, grass, pools, and intricate climbing structures built with logs and branches. I’ve seen a cub spend an hour or more just dangling from one of these structures, often upside down, swinging back and forth, scratching the bark, and perhaps mouthing a piece of bamboo. And they have more “toys”—rope tire swings, balls, piles of branches and rocks, burlap sacks stuffed with straw—than many toddlers find under their Christmas tree here in the States.

So, our “grandcubs” can expect to grow up happy and healthy, well cared for in this secluded breeding center, and one day no doubt will sire cubs of their own. And with any luck they might be selected for release back to the wild, a goal that the center is pursuing with renewed vigor now that they have a successful “baby factory.”

Many also ask whether Hua Mei’s cubs are named. Although not a tradition, her cubs are named after their parents. You may recall that Hua Mei means China-USA, symbolizing the deep and abiding connection between our countries made by the first surviving panda cub born in the USA. Their father’s name is Ling Ling. Combining their names, they came up with Hua Ling and Mei Ling. “Ling” means smart and talented, so you could say that one is a smart and talented Chinese and the other a smart and talented American, but of course we believe they’re both smart and talented Chinese Americans!

Ron Swaisgood is a scientist with the San Diego Zoo’s Office of Giant Panda Conservation.
View Bai Yun and her cub on Panda Cam

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There have been many theories put forth over the years attempting to explain why pandas have this distinctive black and white coloration. The most widely held view is that it serves as a sort of anti-camouflage. Pandas are solitary, except for mothers with cubs, the vast majority of the time. Their mountain habitat is densely forested with thick stands of bamboo and trees. Once a year when it is time to breed, males and females must find each other. Pandas have a fascinating system of communication wherein they utilize scent marking and vocalizations to adverstise their sex, reproductive status, and age. Though the panda’s coloration does not provide any specific information regarding individual identity or breeding status, it may simply enhance one panda’s ability to see and locate another.

Each panda’s markings are slightly different from one another. As this cub’s markings come in, we will surely compare them to Bai Yun’s and Gao Gao’s and look for similarities. Will it get Bai Yun’s thick black shoulder band? Will it get Gao Gao’s very, very furry feet? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Megan Owen is the research coordinator for the Zoo’s Office of Giant Panda Conservation.
View Bai Yun and her cub on Panda Cam

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