Fittingly, the first outsiders to meet Hua Mei were the people who’d help turn her into an international celebrity: the media. For several hours before Mei’s public debut they interviewed staff and photographed the little cub. Finally, guests were once again allowed to move freely up and down Panda Canyon.
That afternoon was my favorite day at the Zoo ever, ever. It was my job to greet passing visitors and invite them into the panda queue - without telling them why. So primed were people that The Baby, as she was known, would be “unveiled” the next day, many were reluctant to enter an “empty” exhibit, and it took a lot of convincing and cajoling to get some folks to go inside. Those who did, however, were overjoyed and there were many happy tears and hugs that day.
The next morning dawned bright and clear, a gorgeous San Diego day, and panda fans were out in force for Hua Mei’s “official” debut. Many brought chairs for what they knew would be a wait and the lines extended down Panda Canyon and eventually up the Bird of Prey walk. It actually took some visitors as long as 90 minutes or more to meet Hua Mei.
Was she worth the wait? Absolutely! A small, awkward ball of fur, cocking her head at the guests, napping on the ground - every little twitch, every small shift produced a quiet murmur of excitement from the crowd. And each tiny, pink-tongued yawn evoked a collective “Aahhhh!” from her adoring public. The girl was a star! As the weeks passed, every detail of her development was carefully noted.
Bai Yun rapidly expressed her displeasure with the new “den,” forcibly removing Hua Mei if she tried to enter it. The den was removed, and the little bear began to climb, much to everyone’s dismay –the precious thing might fall! Well, fall she did, and we all had to learn that falling is a normal part of cub learning. One morning she rolled the wrong way off the horizontal part of the climbing structure and we had a momentary glimpse of a very puzzled cub face. That was the first and last time I saw her make that mistake: trial and error is a great learning method, and Hua Mei’s climbing technique improved steadily. She headed for the highest branches even as she was still learning, and the plastic sleeves, or tree guards, placed on the trees in that area after a particularly long and frightening fall can still be seen. They did keep her a little closer to the ground and, we hoped, a little safer, although she suffered no ill effects from her many tumbles.
Ellie Rosenbaum is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo.
It seemed to take forever, but February 2000 finally arrived and preparations were underway for Hua Mei’s public debut. For this first surviving U.S.-born cub, the attention to detail, the care taken to insure that both she and mother Bai Yun would be comfortable and calm before the public, were extraordinary. Bai Yun’s exhibit now contained a new den, the one that can be seen in our current right-hand viewing area. That side had been walled and gated to restrict access should the mother or cub show any distress. Small groups of employees from many departments were brought into the area as part of the acclimation process, allowing Hua Mei (pictured) to become accustomed to the sight and minor sounds of human viewers in large numbers. And then it was time!
Despite San Diego’s recent inclement weather, the rain showers and strong winds have not stopped me from recording the conversations made over the holidays by our family of Gabriella’s crested gibbons at the Wild Animal Park. Our ongoing gibbon research project (see a previous blog, 