Now that she is five, our trainers at the Zoo’s Hunte Amphitheater have concentrated their efforts on training Karroo to chase a lure that is attached by a string, which is attached to a winch powered by a battery. The lure gets pulled from one end of the track to the other and finally disappears into a box. Once the lure hits the box, the trainer blows a recall whistle and Karroo instantly turns her attention to the trainer and is rewarded with a pan of her favorite food. This all happens on a runway set aside for the Cheetah Run Safari at the Wild Animal Park. Running does come naturally to a cheetah, but our biggest challenge was finding something Karroo would chase. Most cheetahs that have been exposed to coursing find a rabbit pelt extremely enticing, enough to pour on the power and reach speeds of up to 70 miles per hour (112 kilometers per hour). We tried a rabbit pelt but Karroo was scared of it. She walked up to it, hissed, then jumped about 3 feet (almost 1 meter) straight up in the air! We all smiled…where was that killer instinct?

We remembered that as a cub she loved one toy called a giggle ball. It’s a fluorescent green ball with sound tubes that are activated when rolled and the sound that it makes is reminiscent of a cow mooing. She was willing to chase nothing else but the giggle ball!!! Our first run at the Wild Animal Park was monumental; Karroo was in a brand-new environment with wide-open spaces but this did not distract her; she maintained her focus and quickly pursued the lure. It is an incredible visual experience watching these magnificent animals do what they do best–run.

So far Karroo has participated in five runs and we are looking forward to more. Of the three cheetahs that participate in this phenomenal activity, Karroo is the only one that runs with her tongue sticking out–definitely a signature mark! This behavior is one that we have seen while she is purring and relaxed. We are hoping Karroo will participate in the Cheetah Run Safaris during the months of January, February, and March. But until then, we have more giggle balls to chase.

Maureen O. Duryee is an animal trainer at the San Diego Zoo’s Hunte Amphitheater.

Here in San Diego, we believe that it is important that we mimic the wild, natural state of the panda’s life as much as possible. This drives many aspects of our management strategy, from what we feed the bears, to the design of our dens for Bai Yun, to the determination of when weaning should occur. This is true also of how we choose to house our adult bears. Since wild pandas are solitary, encountering each other only occasionally outside of the breeding season, we believe it is important they are solitary in captivity.

This is not to say that the bears do not have exposure to one another. In the wild, bears would travel around their home ranges and regularly run across the scent of other pandas that had passed through an area ahead of them (males and females have home ranges that overlap). A female would get to know “Male X” by his scent, left behind at scent posts and fecal piles scattered throughout their mountain home. Once in a while, she would catch a glimpse of “Male X”, usually from a distance, and they would opt to avoid each other. Then, during the breeding season when she was in her peak of estrus, “Male X” would show up to breed with her, and he would be a novel, exciting addition to her social repertoire… but not entirely unfamiliar.

In captivity, Bai Yun has olfactory access to Gao Gao. They both travel through a tunnel system to get from their bedrooms to their exhibits, and their scent is in those tunnels. Interestingly, Gao Gao spends a lot of time each day investigating scent as he travels through those tunnels, and he is very aware of places where Bai Yun or Mei Sheng have scent marked. Bai Yun and Gao Gao can hear each other from time to time. However, they don’t have a chance to come together face to face outside of breeding seasons.

Have you ever heard the phrase “familiarity breeds contempt”? We have real concerns that allowing Bai Yun and Gao Gao access to each other more than we do would not mimic the wild situation enough. This would lead to the development of a sibling-type relationship in which the bears would be so used to each other as playmates that they would not actually breed when the time came. Since natural mating is preferable to artificial insemination (AI is less likely to be successful), and we can only learn about appropriate male behavior with a male who actually mates, we do not want to promote such “contempt.”

Left to their native instincts, our bears have the natural drives necessary to meet our management goals. An anecdote: on Friday, Bai Yun was waiting patiently in her sunroom for her turn to move through the tunnels to her outdoor area. Gao Gao was traveling in the tunnel about five feet away. He stopped and bleated. Bai Yun stood up on her back feet, looked over the wall separating them, and barked aggressively at him repeatedly. “Hey, buddy, I have a cub to protect! Get the heck out of here!” she seemed to say. Gao Gao moved along, and Bai Yun relaxed. She felt most comfortable when she thought she was the only big bear around!

Suzanne Hall is the panda research technician for the San Diego Zoo’s Office of Giant Panda Conservation.

Does a panda cub suffer when mom is out of the den for a long time? No. In fact, the cub will benefit. Why? Because lactation, the process by which the female produces the milk to feed her offspring, is an energetically expensive endeavor. It takes a lot of calories to produce good milk. If mom doesn’t spend enough time away from the den feeding, she risks developing poor milk quality, or worse… she could stop lactating all together. It is critically important that the female feeds herself well while the cub is exclusively dependent upon her for it’s food source.

Bai Yun is not a wild panda, but she still feels the same biological drives as her wild counterparts. She is comfortable enjoying long periods out of the den. She did the same with her previous cubs. With Mei Sheng, Bai Yun spent nearly 50% of her time in her behind-the-scenes exhibit space in the cub’s first December. It is not yet December, but recall that this cub was born earlier in August than her siblings… she is chronologically closer to the time period in which we would expect Bai Yun to be out of the den a lot. What’s more, that 50% I mentioned doesn’t include other areas Bai Yun had access to, such as her bedroom, sunroom or garden room… so the percentage of time Bai Yun was out of the den that December was actually much higher than 50%.

One other point to note: the cub isn’t complaining. When Bai Yun is gone, the cub spends most of its time resting peacefully, conserving its energy. When Bai Yun does return, the cub eats its fill and then resumes resting. This is not a human baby, so it doesn’t need to feed as often as you might think, and the situation with wild pandas suggests that cubs can go a full day or more without nursing and still be fine.

Finally, you should know that when the cub does complain, Bai Yun hears it and responds. There are few places in this facility from which you can’t hear a crying panda cub, and even in the most remote areas Bai Yun can hear when her cub is in distress. More importantly, she will return to the den if the cub is vocalizing vigorously enough. I think Bai Yun is a great mom because she has found a balance: she effectively raises healthy cubs while taking good care of herself in the process.

Suzanne Hall is the panda research technician for the San Diego Zoo’ Office of Giant Panda Conservation.

Referring to my entry about Ayana Okapi’s possible pregnancy, Bernice asked on October 14 if ultrasound would be used during her pregnancy. Probably not, unless a problem is suspected. We have used ultrasound examinations with okapis several times, but usually in conjunction with diagnosing a medical problem. One such incident occured last month. An ultrasound expert came and examined three of our animals - Kasai, Makini and Safina. Kasai is grandmother to the other two, and is 19 years old. Makini and Safina are 7 & 8 respectively. For the past two years, Kasai has been in treatment for congestive heart failure. She takes medication every day and is doing great. Our veterinary staff is exploring the possibility that the heart trouble may be genetic, so Kasai’s relatives are being studied. We also have Makini & Safina’s male offspring, Melaku and Shamba. They will also be checked out at some point. Having access to these great diagnostic tools helps us do the best we can for the animals we care for!

An aside on Kasai’s personality - she is sometimes crotchety with humans, but she is a fabulous babysitter for okapis newly received from other institutions. Her company and grooming sessions help the new kids on the block settle in - she seems to have a calming influence during this stressful time. We hope she’ll be around for many more years!

On October 19th, Pam asked if there will be a Lion Cam in case there is a litter on the way at Lion Camp, and how old the cubs would have to be before they could exhibited to the public. A Lion Cam is certainly possible in the future, but there is not enough time to set it up for this litter. If Etosha is pregnant, the cubs could arrive as early as next week!! As for when the cubs would be old enough to be exhibited, it will depend on several factors - Etosha’s comfort level with motherhood in general, and the cubs’ health and well being. Lion Camp is a moated exhibit, so it won’t be safe for the cubs to be on exhibit until they are coordinated enough to avoid the edge. There are other options being explored for public viewing - rest assured, we will find a way for everyone to enjoy the cubs!

Lastly, here is an update on the reactions of the lions to the Balloon Safari. Everyone is doing much better and they seem much less intimidated by the big yellow thing. M’bari & Etosha hardly glance at it anymore. The other group, Izu, Mina & Oshana, is still a little wary, but the three lions have discovered they can’t see the balloon if they lounge on their heated and air-conditioned rock in front of the big viewing window. When they get tired of keeping tabs on the yellow thing, they retreat to their comfortable spot. Very resourceful!

Please continue to ask questions - I will do my best to answer them!!

Marcia Redding is a senior mammal keeper at the Wild Animal Park.

The afternoon starts out with a discussion of the previous weeks’ activities. We had been to see the camels and met a reptile keeper, so we pulled out our notes and new journal pages for each visit. As a group, we discuss the questions posed on the journal pages, then the girls are responsible for writing out their answers in their own words. They also have an opportunity to piece together an opinion—I ask them to tell me if they think they would enjoy doing the job we visited, and why or why not.

When they have finished writing up their opinions about what they have learned, the colored paper and markers come out, and we spend the rest of the afternoon being creative! The girls get copies of photos that I have taken during our visits, use old ZOONOOZ magazine photos, stickers, and lots of creativity, and make scrapbook pages of their experiences. We also design thank-you cards that are sent to our presenters, complete with photos and lots of flowery sentiment.

Classroom sessions are a great time for us to chat, discuss what we have seen, and express our creative sides. They are also a time for me to get to know the girls in a one-to-one, informal setting, which is the very best part of the program for me!

Cindy Spiva-Evans is an educator at the San Diego Zoo.

Girls In Science is a program for Roosevelt Middle School girls which creates science-based experiences with professional women at the San Diego Zoo. The program is funded through the generosity of the Wells Fargo Foundation.

Thanks to Stephanie (”Help Us Name the Baby Panda!” comment #59) and Brett (#88-89) for offering their more precise clarifications. We certainly weren’t trying to convey any disrespect to the Chinese language by offering up those initial suggestions for pronunciations - we were simply trying to offer assistance to all the others’ comments that asked, “So, how do you pronounce the names?” It was either that or leave everyone else to their own pronunciation attempts.

After further distillation, Suzanne Hall of the Giant Panda Team has offered up these pronunciations, but she also defers in part to Brett’s and Stephanie’s comments:

Jiao Mei: Jow (as in “wow”) May
Jiao Yan: Jow (as in “wow”) Yan
Su Lin: Sue Lynn
Bao Bei: Bow (as in “wow”) Bay
Zhong Da: Djong (similar to the G in “george” but a tough translation to English) Daa (like “baa baa blacksheep”)

It might not be definitive, but hopefully these will help those wanting to know how to pronounce - or at least make an educated attempt to pronounce - the proposed names.

While we are not positive there are cubs on the way (it is difficult to test for pregnancy in lions), we are very hopeful, and have been preparing the Lion House for any eventuality. First order of business was a snug, secure den for Etosha to use for her cubs. We closed in a portion of their shift alley with plywood, added a radiant heater above, and covered the floor with rubber mats and fluffy bermuda hay. Our wonderful Construction & Maintainence team helped with all of this, as well as the installation of a low barrier that will prevent tiny cubs from leaving the den until they are mobile.

Etosha and M’bari have access to the den every day. When Etosha’s due date comes closer, M’bari will be separated from her in an adjoining room, but will still have access to his mate through a mesh partition. If and when cubs are born, we will gauge his reactions and this will help us decide if he can share space with the litter and Etosha.

Etosha’s first possible due date is sometime near the end of this month. Lions have a gestation of 100 to 110 days, and the cubs are very small when they are born, weighing only a few pounds each. The lioness generally will give birth to 2 to 4 cubs.

I know there are many of you who have watched the residents of Lion Camp grow up. Soon there may be a new batch of youngsters to visit!

Marcia Redding is a senior mammal keeper at the Wild Animal Park.

The panda cub will spend about 10% of its time crawling (belly on the ground, making forward progress) by about day 73. By day 110, she will engage in clumsy locomotion: belly off the ground, she will take stumbling steps around her environment. We will begin seeing her use her nose to explore her environment by about day 120. By day 121, she may spend more than 30 minutes at a time outside the den and bedroom area, as Bai Yun will begin taking her out more. We should see her engage in solitary play, interacting with her environment and chewing on her paws, at about day 122. We won’t see fluid, coordinated locomotion until about day 135, and she won’t routinely cruise around in a coordinated fashion until around day 148.

On Bai Yun’s side of the issue, we can expect that the cub will continue to be in the den more than half of the time before the end of December. Since the cub’s ability to move about is limited until then, nearly all time spent outside the den is due to mom’s influence: she’ll pick the cub up and bring her outside for periods of time. Social play between mom and cub is likely to pick up in December and January, when the cub is coordinated enough to “play back.” But once the cub is on exhibit and is out of the den, she will likely be easily distracted by the many interesting things in her environment; she’ll play with mom less as a result. So typical… don’t all babies seem to grow up too quickly?

Suzanne Hall is the panda research technician for the San Diego Zoo’s Office of Giant Panda Conservation.

View Bai Yun and her cub on Panda Cam.

Ayana is only three years old, but Kenda is ten and has yet to sire offspring. He did mate with a female in Oklahoma, but she never conceived. As of now, Ayana has missed three cycles, so we have high hopes. The gestation period for okapis is approximately 14 months, so it will be a long wait.

Okapis are such amazing animals. The closest living relative of the giraffe, most people have never seen one. We are fortunate to have one of the most successful breeding programs in the world, with over 40 calves born between the Zoo and the Park. At the Wild Animal Park we have nine animals at the moment, a very full house (or barn)!

One of the most rewarding aspects of working with these beautiful animals is the fact that we routinely handle them. Our goal is to have them accept our touch all over their body if possible, allowing keepers and veterinarians to evaluate health problems without the need to tranquilize the animal. We have been successful in varying degrees depending on the individual. Another enjoyable aspect of working with these animals is the fact that their personalities are all so varied. Getting to know them all as individuals is very rewarding.

Everyone cross your fingers! When we receive Ayana’s results I will be sure to post!

Marcia Redding is a senior mammal keeper at the Wild Animal Park.

Today was the first day that the cubs were weighed during a training session, but prior to this I had been weighing them daily, starting at 4 days old, and ending at 4 months of age. At that point they were just too rambunctious for me to pick them up and put them on a scale anymore. So, I started training them to step on the scale by themselves, and then stand still long enough for me to get an accurate weight. Both boys did really well today, and they were rewarded with lots of meatballs!

Currently, each cub is offered 775 grams of zoo carnivore meat (ground beef) daily. They have also been observed sharing some of their mom’s meat as well. On top of that, they are still nursing for long periods of time a few times a day! They will probably continue to nurse until about six months of age, which is when Mek will most likely start to wean them.

Bridget Mulholland is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo’s Tiger River exhibit.