A recent article published in the New York Times quoted the director of Zoo Atlanta as saying that unless loan fees are reduced, zoos will begin returning their pandas to China. In my role as giant panda species coordinator for North American zoos, I repeatedly heard comments that the cost of keeping pandas was not offset by the revenues they generated, so I asked for help in doing a cost/benefit analysis of zoos’ cumulative experience. When the bill was totaled for all four zoos having pandas, it indicated that so far the cost of keeping them is substantially more than the revenues they generate. The existing loan agreement for Bai Yun and Gao Gao (pictured above during the last breeding season) expires in 2008. Does this mean that unless costs are reduced, a day may soon come when San Diego will be without pandas?

When their existing loans come up for renewal, it is indeed the case that zoos hope to reduce loan extension fees, and discussions on this point are under way with the government of China. These talks are proceeding in an atmosphere of friendship and trust that has been built up over several years. It will be to the benefit of both parties to come to a mutually satisfactory agreement. Can anyone doubt, for example, that the birth of Hua Mei in 1999 was the beginning of a process that greatly increased world awareness of giant pandas? The subsequent
births of Mei Sheng and Su Lin in San Diego have established that her birth was not a fluke. The birth of a cub at the National Zoo last year added further credibility to the international loan program.

But despite their tremendous appeal, newborn cubs are not the only benefit China has realized from sending pandas abroad as “ambassadors” of their kind. Our tremendous growth in knowledge of giant panda biology and investments in training Chinese personnel have shifted much of the burden of saving pandas from
extinction more directly onto the shoulders of their homeland. One result is that China today is investing huge sums of money into saving habitat for its incredibly rich flora and fauna. The giant panda is a principal beneficiary of this effort.

While it is certainly the case that if each species cost zoos more than its capacity to encourage visitation by the public, zoos would soon be out of business. But for us, this is not a commercial enterprise. We are in the conservation business, and the benefits to conservation of giant pandas have been substantial. When we focus on the benefits side of the equation, we see compelling reasons for continuing the loan program.

Don Lindburg is the San Diego Zoo’s Giant Panda Team leader.

View pandas on Panda Cam.

Check out blogs from other areas of the Zoo and Wild Animal Park!

At the San Diego Zoo’s Veterinary Services Department, we use a specially designed mobile lift to transport and lift animals that are up to 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms)! Affectionately known as “Daddy Long-Legs,” this lift (see images below) was designed and constructed by the Zoo’s Construction and Maintenance Department and has been extremely useful to our hospital staff on many occasions! We have used the lift to transfer sedated animals such as polar bears, wapiti, pygmy hippos, tapirs, and even Galápagos tortoises, just to name a few.

The benefits are many. When animals are under sedation or anesthesia, time is an important factor. Safety is another factor: human safety, that is. Lifting an animal from the floor or trailer to an operating table can be a lot of strain on the human back. When using the lift, however, all we have to do is connect the animal to the lift and turn the crank. No muscle or leverage is required; “Daddy-Long-Legs” does all the lifting.

Bob Cisneros is a senior hospital keeper in the San Diego Zoo’s Veterinary Services Department.

A McNeil’s Deer is placed on a tarp, the lift is attached to the outer straps of the tarp, and the deer is hoisted off the ground and placed above a scale that is protected by plywood. After weighing, the lift is used to transport the deer to Radiology for X rays.

We first ran this study a few years back, when our study subjects were Hua Mei, Shi Shi, and Bai Yun. We rotated the pandas weekly for 12 weeks, and found that in the early stages, the process seemed enriching for the animals. Upon entering a new pen on the rotation day, the bears spent a fair amount of time investigating the scent of the previous occupant. They sniffed everywhere and often scent marked several times in response to the scent they were exploring. They spent several minutes checking out the layout of their new enclosure, climbing and exploring. Commonly, they would perform these behaviors before they had even depleted their available food… so you know it had to be important to them!

As the study wore on, the bears seemed to acclimate to the scent of the other bears, and spent less and less time investigating on rotation day. They grew accustomed to seeing new places and didn’t respond as enthusiastically to their changes in scenery. Towards the end of the study, we saw something a bit unexpected: some of the bears started to show signs of increased agitation. Was it somehow stressful for them to be rotated in this manner? Or was there something else going on? We ended the study early because of our desire not to contribute to such behavior.

We opted to reinstate the study with Gao Gao and Mei Sheng for several reasons. First, these two bears were not in the original study, and adding them to the data pool would be beneficial. Second, their personalities differ a bit from some of the bears in the previous rotation study, as they are both more easygoing than their counterparts in the earlier trials. They may demonstrate more flexibility with a schedule of frequent rotations. Finally, we would like to know more about what kinds of rotations work for these animals so that we can devise optimal viewing schedules that will work for the bears during the summer months, when the Zoo operates for longer days.

So far, the boys are showing a similar trend in investigating their new exhibits and the scent of the former occupant when compared to the other bears. Early on, they were very active in exploring their new areas, but they have become more nonchalant over time. Mei Sheng still seems to prefer being out front where he is visible to our guests; is he being social, or does he just like that exhibit better? Fortunately, we haven’t seen any signs of increased anxiousness in these pandas so far.

This study will continue for a few more weeks, and then we’ll be able to look more closely at the results. Until then, look for the boys to be maintained on their regular Tuesday rotation.

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

Each cheetah has a different style of running. Honestly, the way these cats are running we just might have to add a booster to the wench motor that pulls the lure they chase. Karroo will catch up to the lure and then pull back to keep the chase going. As I wrote in my earlier blog (”Learning to Run like the Wind“), Karroo’s biggest challenge wasn’t running (of course) but in finding something interesting to run after. It turned out to be a bright green giggle ball. Even though she will run wild for it, the ball is hard to pull because of the round shape. We have tied a swatch of fabric to the ball, acting as a tail which helps in correcting the zigzag pull, but have found that it will travel sideways on its own and when moving that fast will not make a safe entrance into the box. Instead, the ball sometimes pops up and bounces away from the catch site. Karroo’s recall behavior is strongly in place; she always returns to the catch trainer, but the fun for the audience comes in the guessing and watching where the ball will finally land. We are presently cutting the ball down, trying to wean her off the giggle ball and hoping to transition her to the swatch of fabric instead.

Karroo is starting to look like those well sculpted athletes we see in the Olympics: a lean, mean running machine. Make your reservations before the end of March and watch this fast-paced cat do her stuff: tearing up the turf at the Wild Animal Park.

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

Here’s a profile of Majani and Kubali.
Here’s more information about Cheetah Run Safari at the Wild Animal Park.

Sounds strange, but guests are asking about two different things. It could be that the animals’ distinctive coloration may help these normally solitary animals identify each other as they meet for breeding season. It may be the size of a panda and sound like a panda, but is it really a panda? One look at that graphic coloration and the animal could be sure. Another idea is that the broad blockings of contrasting color may serve to camouflage the panda in the bamboo or treetops. Anyone who’s tried to spot one of our panda cubs up in the tree napping can verify how difficult that can be! Scientists have yet to confirm what the real purpose of the panda’s coloration is.

But animals that walk, sit, and roll in the dirt don’t stay a pure black and white. Since pandas do not naturally groom or bathe, we don’t wash our pandas, so they can look a bit grubby compared to the pristine pandas you see in magazines or books. But photo pandas have the benefit of retouching or editing. Real pandas have bits of dirt or leaves clinging to their thick coarse coats and, over time, their rear ends become stained from sitting on the ground, eating their bamboo.

There is also a rare brown and white variation of the giant panda. This unusual color form might be the result of that panda having two recessive genes for the color. When an animal has only one recessive gene, its expression is masked or hidden by the other, dominant gene for black.

Thinking about black and white led me to look around the Zoo and start asking animal-minded people about other black-and-white land species. When you think about it, there are surprisingly few: zebras, of course, and Angolan colobus monkeys, black and white ruffed lemurs, and Malayan tapirs. Among birds, the Bali mynah is purely black and white, but the black-necked swan has red on its’ beak. Many penguin species have streaks or flashes of color on their faces. I’ve learned that there’s a black-and-white Amazon milky tree frog to represent the amphibians; the Boelen’s python and some California king snake forms are about it for snakes.

With a color combination that is comparatively rare, it seems pretty amazing that it appears on an animal so beloved by so many around the world.

Ellie Rosenbaum is a panda narrator/educator at the San Diego Zoo.

For more information about panda coloration, read Megan Owen’s Weblog, “Black and White.”

In December, seven endangered frogs, one female and six males, arrived into quarantine at CRES, the hospital’s closest neighbor at the Wild Animal Park. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Forest Service rescued the frogs as tiny tadpoles in the San Bernardino Mountains. Debris flows from the fire-ravaged area caused winter flooding that buried their habitat under 10 feet of choking sediment! The frogs were immediately relocated to the Los Angeles Zoo and were later delivered to the CRES facility with collaboration from the USGS, the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, with the intention of initiating a captive-breeding program and saving the species.

Since these frogs and many other amphibians have been dying off at an alarming rate due to a fungal infection called chytridiomycosis or “chytrid” disease, as well as other environmental hazards, it will be a critical effort to undertake. Medical Center and CRES staff members work very closely to monitor the frogs’ health and well-being and research their behavior. Every bit of information gathered and disseminated about them is used as a weapon to fight their demise.

Last week as part of the ongoing research, it was decided that radiographs, or X rays, should be taken to reveal the frogs’ bone density. A male and one female were selected and prepared for the imaging procedures. How, I wondered, does one radiograph a frog? Frogs, after all, have an innate need to jump, and radiographs don’t turn out very well when done on a moving target, especially a tiny, wet, slimy one. My first thought was, “very carefully.”

Once the frogs were placed on the table, Dr. Cora Singleton, with assistance from hospital and CRES staff, gently removed the first frog and placed it in a one-gallon plastic baggie. This provides a safe way to restrain the frogs while leaving them in a good position for radiographs. The whole process took, at most, 20 seconds. Brilliant!

The frogs’ images were taken utilizing our new state-of-the-art digital radiography unit, and we got an amazing look at their inner structure. In the accompanying radiograph image, you might detect a small, “unnatural” looking object near the left rear leg of the frog. This is a transponder, which is placed under the skin as a unique identifier. As you might imagine, frogs tend to look alike (unless you’re another frog), and the transponder provides a much more accurate method of identification.

Both frogs were removed from their “restraints” and returned to their plastic transport containers, no worse for wear after their first photo shoot. They were returned to their climate-controlled tanks to eat their crickets and night crawlers, with no concept of how important they are to maintaining the rest of their species. Their 15 minutes of fame with our hospital “paparazzi “ provided more information for researchers and, it is hoped, will contribute to their ultimate survival.

Valerie Stoddard is the senior administrative assistant at the Wild Animal Park’s Paul Harter Veterinary Medical Center.

Here’s more information about frogs.
Tours of the Harter Veterinary Medical Center are available. Here’s more info…

There are about 600 species of carnivorous plants (who knew?!) and the Zoo grows four different kinds—Venus fly traps, sundews, pitcher plants, and butterworts. We were fascinated by the different approaches to luring, trapping, and digesting prey. Christy opened up a pitcher plant leaf and we saw the remains of hundreds of bugs, stacked nearly 7 inches (17 centimeters) high! And boy, did they stink!

Many of these amazing plant species are endangered due to habitat loss, but you can find another small bog in a bright spot next to Bugtown–The Itty Bitty City in the Children’s Zoo! Visit either of the Zoo’s bog gardens for a look at some of nature’s most amazing plants! And no, we don’t feed them—they catch all of their own food!

Special thanks to Paul and Christy for meeting with us and teaching us about the ferocious ways of the Zoo’s carnivorous plants!

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.

Bob headed straight for a group of trees with a lot of new growth at the tips. Because of the toxins that protect the tree, koalas prefer the new growth, which is easier to digest. In order to have a supply of fresh tips all year round, harvesting is selective and sites are visited on a rotational schedule that Bob keeps in his head. Having done this for so many years, I guess it becomes second nature.

We worked together, Bob snipping off branches about the thickness of a finger and between 4 and 6 feet (1.2 to 1.8 meters) long, me wrapping them in bundles of 80 or so and securing them with twine saved from the hay bales at the Zoo. (We recycle all sorts of stuff!) There’s a technique to wrapping a bundle so it stays together. I stack the branches across the twine so that the cut ends, or butts, are all lined up evenly with the twine about 18 inches (46 centimeters) up along the stem. After creating a pile, one end of the twine goes through a loop at the other end and is pulled tight, compressing the branches. Once it’s cinched together, I tie it off and lift it onto the truck. When done properly, the butts stay together and fit easily into the water barrels in the big walk-in cooler back at the koala barn. Each day, we deliver 10 to 15 bundles of branches.

I understand now why the Browse Team starts so early in the morning. Harvesting while it’s cool keeps the leaves fresh and provides the keepers with high quality food to offer their charges.

Patti Turkle is a bus driver/guide at the San Diego Zoo.

Here’s more information about our plants and gardens.

Years ago, Wolong was home to a much smaller population of bears that were typically housed in small, barren pens. The facility, built in the 1980’s, had ten main pens, each with an attached bedroom area. Over the years the facility developed a few additional pens, including two large outdoor yards that incorporated wild habitat adjacent to the breeding center.

As breeding success improved and hand-raising of cubs became more successful, the population in Wolong boomed. The number of pandas there now varies a bit, but remains consistently over 55 animals. Several pandas each year are sent to other places to live in order to make space. Young, non-breeding animals are sent to live at another facility a few hours away until they come of age. Old, non-breeding animals are often sent to other zoos to serve as ambassadors. Animals of breeding age are kept at the facility to contribute to the population while they can.

To accommodate the growing population, the facility itself has also grown and changed. Initially, a second row of ten pens was added and two additional large outdoor pens were built. Since 2000, a new nursery building and several new large pens have been added. Most recently, the old row of ten pens was demolished to make way for a smaller number of larger pens.

But the changes for the bears go beyond these construction activities. Our staff has played a role in improving the diets of the animals there by developing a bread recipe that provides the pandas with many of the same nutrients that our leaf eater biscuits have. Behavior staff has helped to improve the complexity of the exhibits that the bears live in by encouraging the development of climbing structures, digging pits, pools, and other interesting features in the new (and old!) exhibits. We have also provided the facility with a variety of enrichment items over the years to stimulate the bears.

Zoos in the U.S. have undergone significant changes in the last several years as well, moving in the direction of improved animal welfare via more complex, stimulating, and naturalistic environments. The improvements at Wolong mirror the movement in western zoos. They have really come a long way.

One way to help to promote this positive change is to go to Wolong yourself, if at all possible. The influx of tourists who value the panda has been a part of the impetus to change there. By visiting and talking with staff (many speak some English) you can help to encourage the forward momentum in Wolong.

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

Kenai has spent Mondays with Keeli, but rarely would actually spend the night. He has been there for two weeks now and is having a great time. We visit Kenai every day, taking him for walks. Sometimes his brother accompanies us. If Keeli stays behind, it’s because he has another wild dog friend, Montana, the New Guinea singing dog. Montana weighs about 25 pounds (11 kilograms) but has an attitude as if she weighed 250 pounds (113 kilograms!). She has her 95-pound (43-kilogram) wolf friend, Keeli, wrapped around her little paw. Keeli will take a back seat when Montana barks, looks disappointed, or even cocks her head to one side in a curious manner. While Kenai has been sleeping over with his brother, Montana has been playing it solo; when Kenai is out for his walk, Keeli and Montana have time to play together.

Kenai has been seen on Reptile Mesa, his new favorite stomping ground. For some reason, Kenai loves to watch the Galápagos tortoises there. He will run to the exhibit and watch in fascination as these large boulders move or eat. Then it’s off to see the gharials and other Reptile Mesa inhabitants. One can only wonder why he is attracted to these interesting animals. But we find it relaxing and stimulating all at the same time. Kenai will return to Hunte Amphitheater at the end of February. We are all looking forward to his return and are happy to offer him a new and improved compound.

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

Read a previous blog about the wolf brothers.