We are currently making an effort to see if Bai Yun is ready to return to the spotlight, where she would be on exhibit to greet her admiring fans daily. She’s had quite a long hiatus, and is still nurturing a cub in her birthing den, so we are moving slowly so as to ensure her comfort. For the first few days, she has access from the birthing den down to that exhibit, and she can move freely back and forth at her whim. This allows her to reacquaint herself with the flashbulbs and noises from the crowd of guests at the panda facility, while offering her the chance to take breaks behind the scenes. She also needs to check out her new exhibit in a relaxed setting: it’s been a long time since she was there, and Mei Sheng’s scent and the recent renovations could be stressful for her. However, given the chance to acclimate on her terms, Bai Yun will likely adjust to the changes with ease.

After staff confirms that she seems sufficiently relaxed, the next step we are likely to take is to put the cub in a den found in the bedroom adjacent to that lower exhibit. This area is still not visible to the public. If you have been watching recently, you know that the cub still spends most of her time in the birthing den- by her and Bai Yun’s choice- and we therefore do not want to remove the cub from a den at this time. Instead, we will relocate her to the new den, where she can remain tucked away until such time that Bai Yun or Su Lin make the determination that a den is no longer needed. At that point, the cub will move freely on her own out into the exhibit space, and may use the lair we built for shelter during the day.

This means that the timing for Su Lin making her public debut is placed into the capable paws of Bai Yun and her offspring. When that cub will tumble out of the bedroom onto exhibit should be a surprise to us as well as to you!

Gao Gao currently remains on exhibit next door to Bai Yun (though the howdy door is closed), and Mei Sheng has been moved to the off exhibit classroom area. We may rotate the boys from time to time so that they all have a chance to greet their admirers. It’s also possible that, in order to keep Bai Yun comfortable, we will pull both boys to the back and allow Bai Yun and Su Lin to have both of the public exhibits. You’ll have to be on your toes to keep up with the changes at the panda facility over the next few weeks!

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

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Back in mid-September staff biologists prepared for the nene breeding season by supplying nesting huts and tubs filled with wood shavings. Female nene, adding down from their own bodies, create cozy nests. In the wild nene females lay between three to five eggs, although this year one MBCC female laid six eggs. Anticipating how difficult it was for this female to incubate such a large number of eggs, biologists removed two of the six eggs for artificial incubation. Once all the goslings hatched the “extra” chicks were returned to their parents and clutch—mates.

Nene females are very attentive and conscientious mothers. Nene males also make very good parents. Males guard the female during incubation and chaperone her while she’s away from the nest. A male will even nip and herd his mate back to her nest if he believes she’s neglected the eggs for too long. After the goslings hatch, males maintain vigilance, guiding the goslings to food and water and providing protection from predators. Males protect their goslings from anything and everything, including passing lawnmowers or biologists who dare to approach too closely.

Whenever possible, biologists remain fairly “hands-off” during the growth of the goslings. Food is provided several times each day, although goslings compliment their diet by browsing on grasses within their pens. Goslings are monitored for health and development issues. Biologists weigh goslings each week to track growth rates and perform regular band changes to accommodate the gosling’s rapid growth. Not surprisingly, goslings have huge appetites!

With the arrival of another wet winter, biologists cannot help but smile at the Chaplinesque antics of a family of goslings waddling through the grass.

Josh Kramer works at the Maui Bird Conservation Center, part of CRES’s Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program.

I spent several hours discussing conservation issues with the men selling him, who were not the men who had shot Soso’s mother, but go-betweens who were hoping for a quick profit from his sale. They did not expect to meet a CRES researcher however, and my official papers together with a careful explanation of why what they were doing was wrong allowed me to take him from them, without payment, after much (heated) discussion.

Soso fell asleep for the next few hours until I arrived home, when I was able to persuade him to drink some milk while I decided what to do next. Soso ended up staying with me for four days until I had the opportunity to take him to the LWC, where he was mothered by a human volunteer for three months before being introduced to another drill orphan, Eumujock. They soon became firm friends, and now when I visit Soso I am happy to see them playing together.

My mission here in Cameroon is to study drills in the wild, but inevitably living in such an environment causes you to consider the plight of orphans such as Soso, of which there are all too many. The Zoological Society of San Diego has supported the LWC’s parent organization, Pandrillus, for many years now and it is great that we were able to help each other out with this case. CRES is also conducting long-term studies of bushmeat markets in Cameroon, which I will talk about in future Weblogs.

Only last week when I was driving past the same roadside stall, I saw the carcass of an enormous male drill for sale as bushmeat. This time I could do little; the hunter was defensive, and having lived in Cameroon for many years I know that only the government has the power to confiscate bushmeat. I did manage to discover that this enormous male drill came from the same forest as Soso. Given that it is only the few large male drills that father infants in a drill group, as I drove away sadly I asked myself if that fantastic specimen of one of the most spectacular animals in existence might just have been Soso’s father.

Dr. Bethan Morgan is a Millennium Postdoctoral Fellow for the San Diego Zoo’s CRES, working in Cameroon, Africa.

The smallest lion was very enthusiastic about getting fed and he drank his formula quickly. Then he settled down some and rolled around on his back, appearing to pose for video and photos…it was amazing to be so close to such an awesome wild feline….a cat that is going to grow into a very large lion and be a wonderful addition to a lion conservation program either here at the Wild Animal Park’s Lion Camp, or possibly another facility. There will be much more about this little lion in the coming weeks.

Tammy Spratt is a photographer for the Zoological Society of San Diego.

See video of the lion cub!

When I was in Wolong, I didn’t see cubs with this same color pattern. I now read that Tai Shan at the NZP is also showing signs of pink. What accounts for this difference?

We have our suspicions that the maternal diet is the key. In San Diego, we feed our bears leaf eater biscuits, filled with vitamins and minerals to ensure the animals’ health. Many visitors to our facility have seen these biscuits in the exhibits, as their red coloration makes them hard to miss. Some other zoos in the U.S. also feed these biscuits to their animals. In Wolong, however, they bake a special bread for their pandas that is yellowish brown in coloration.

It is likely that the coloration in the biscuits is contributing to the pinkness observed in the coats of Bai Yun’s cubs. We suspect that the coloration is not passing through the maternal milk; rather, Bai Yun is covering the cub with pink when she licks and grooms her.

Su Lin will grow out of her pink coat before too long. She is less likely to sit still for long grooming sessions as she ages. If the pink chemicals are in fact passing through the milk, this too will have less of an influence over time as Su Lin begins to incorporate bamboo into her diet and therefore nurses less. Soon, her coat will appear only black and white.

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

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We had been anxiously awaiting the calf’s arrival, after a long 13-month gestation. Several times during her pregnancy, Rose allowed us to perform an ultrasound on her growing abdomen. We were able to see the difference in the sizes of the spinal column and beating heart as the fetus grew larger as the months passed.

Now that he is finally with us, it is amazing to watch how quickly he is growing and learning the ropes. Today for the first time, the unnamed male calf followed his mom as she shifted into another bedroom for breakfast. The two days prior, the keepers had to go in with him to help him shift. While we were in with him we weighed him- just over 18 pounds (8 kilograms) on his first day! He’ll grow very quickly, I’m sure, and soon enough he’ll be as big as his mom- 800 pounds (363 kilograms)!

Because of the chilly mornings and the steep ramp that needs to be navigated to get into the exhibit from the bedrooms, we will be keeping our young tapir behind the scenes for about a week. By then we’re hoping that he’ll be big enough and coordinated enough to be put on exhibit. I’ll let you know when he’s ready!

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