Bai Yun is carefully watched for any changes in behavior or physiology, both of which are important indicators of upcoming ovulation. This information will help the keepers and staff decide exactly how to move the bears, when to allow protected contact and visual access, and eventually, when to allow the bears to meet. From the viewing area, while Bai hasn’t shifted “scientifically,” we’re seeing more activity, more restlessness, and more water play than usual. She’s even begun urinating and then curling her tail under to dip it in, the better to smell like a female panda approaching estrus and notifying local males of that fact.

And speaking of local males, our “local male,” Gao Gao, has gone “national” in more ways than one! As a wild-born male, Gao Gao is unrelated to any other pandas in managed care, except for his own offspring, Mei Sheng and Su Lin. Because of his unique, wild-born genes, semen collected from Gao during a recent physical was used to artificially inseminate Mei Xian, the adult female at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., this week. Any cubs resulting from this would themselves be genetically valuable, adding diversity to the gene pool of captive pandas. Combined with the expansion of protected panda habitats, a diverse, self-sustaining captive population may eventually help insure the survival of this beautiful and beloved species. As a result of this, interest in Gao Gao has grown. He will be on exhibit for now as we continue a gradual introduction to Bai Yun prior to a hoped-for mating, when we close the viewing area to give the bears quiet and privacy. (During that time, an alternate area will be available for live panda viewing at the Zoo.) Until then, log on to Panda Cam or stop by to get a better look at “the man of the moment.”

We’ll all be watching and waiting, as we do each breeding season, and will try to keep everyone informed as to the progress here. As I’m sure we all agree, the world cannot have too many panda cubs!

Ellie Rosenbaum is an educator and panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo.

We trekked in together from the remote village of Iboti, after introducing Fred and Matt to the Chief and his councilors. I organized the five porters needed to carry the food and recording equipment on the seven-hour trek to the research station, deep in the heart of the forest, and we set off from Iboti at 6 a.m., just as the sun was climbing over the tree-carpeted mountains. We arrived late in the day after negotiating the narrow log bridge over the Nouye River, the now-abandoned hunting camps with their ancient iron cooking pots, and the mountains and valleys that characterize this forest and give it some protection from the intense hunting that affects other forests in this part of Cameroon.

Matt and Fred were welcomed at our research station by our research team, who helped set up their tents and prepared food before we all fell into out tents to sleep. Noises throughout the night can seem unfamiliar and disconcerting to visitors: it is not unusual to be woken by footsteps of an inquisitive duiker (small forest antelope) or by the heart-stopping screams of tree hyraxes in the adjacent valley. Matt and Fred also experienced the joy of being woken at night by army ants moving though the camp. At their worst, I have been woken by what I thought was the sound of raindrops on my tent, but soon realized my mistake when turning on the torch to find everything covered by ants and having to run out of the tent, yelling in pain. Nevertheless, the joy of being woken in the early morning by the cries of chimpanzees and putty-nosed monkeys more than makes up for the occasional ant attacks.

On the first morning, we set off to try to record monkeys. Within 500 meters (550 yards) of the station we encountered a mixed-species group of putty-nosed monkeys, mona monkeys, crowned guenons, and Preuss’ guenons. Fred and Matt (pictured) were amazed; they hadn’t dreamed of having such success within the first hour! Furthermore, another few hundred meters along the trail we heard the unmistakable calls of drills. Over the subsequent days, Matt and Fred managed to record and see almost all the species of primates in the Ebo forest. One particular day towards the end of their trip was outstanding: we saw and recorded two separate drill groups and recorded the buttress-beating and screams of two groups of chimpanzees at close range during an inter-community encounter. I could not have hoped for our visitors to have a more successful trip.

Back at the research station, Zacharie Bekokon, one of our locally recruited field assistants who used to be a prolific hunter in the Ebo forest, sat down with Fred and Matt and listened to the recordings, matching calls to species. On our return to our base in the coastal town of Limbe, we sat down together to listen to some of the recordings and to plan the next step in analyzing the vocalization data to see if there is the potential to conduct an in-depth study of the associations between species and how the vocalizations are used to cohere the groups, what they may ‘mean’, and how they might be modified under different circumstances. All this information has the potential to revolutionize the way that mixed species groups are kept in captivity and how to make their lives as complete and fulfilling as possible.

Matt and Fred left Cameroon on Thursday. Everyone in the Ebo Forest Research Team received a San Diego Zoo baseball cap, which they are now wearing proudly, having learned new skills and gained a deeper understanding of another facet to their daily work in the forest. We hope that Matt and Fred will return to Cameroon, and in the meantime, we will be continuing our work surveying the primates of the Ebo forest and thinking a little bit more about the calls that they make to communicate with each other.

Dr. Bethan Morgan is a Conservation Research Fellow for the San Diego Zoo’s CRES.

Here’s more information about Bethan’s project in Cameroon.
Read Bethan’s previous blog, Cameroon: Teaching Hunters about Conservation

On Monday, April 16, at 3 p.m., a special FREE seminar will be presented by Fred Bercovitch and Matt Anderson at the Beckman Center for Conservation Research on the topic “The CRES Ebo Forest Research Station and Primate Bioacoustics.” Come hear about fieldwork in the rain forest of Cameroon and listen to the sounds of the local wildlife. This seminar is open to all. Here’s more information…

Upon examination, a myriad of problems became obvious. In addition to metabolic bone disease, she had hydrocephalus (water on the brain) and kidney failure. The hydrocephalus made sense, explaining her neurological symptoms (walking in circles, head tremors) which were steadily becoming worse. There was truly nothing we could have done to help her live a normal life, but this doesn’t make losing her any easier for all of us who loved her and worked so hard to help her.

Her poor health seems to have been caused by birth defects. This explains her low birth weight and failure to thrive. In a wild pride, she probably would have survived only a short time. Here at Lion Camp, she at least was able to be with her family for awhile, and she did have a significant amount of time when she felt well and was able to play with her siblings.

We were lucky to have known Mandisa, in spite of the shortness of her life. She was truly a special animal, and we’ll all miss her.

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

Later that day, Kinah’s keepers were counting their lucky stars. Things were going so well that we were hesitant to separate the newly formed family. This introduction could not have gone more smoothly, and Kinah seemed relaxed and happy in Bunzi’s arms. We decided to let Kinah spend her first night with her swamp monkey family. There were only a few small details to work out that afternoon: we needed to arrange for delivery of Kinah’s evening bottle. Since Kinah had been receiving bottle feedings during the daytime with her family for sometime, this would be no substantial hurdle for her. Kinah was now a pro at nursing her bottle from an opening in a small shift cage modified for the purpose. The night nursery crew was alerted and everything was set. That night when the nursery keeper came to feed her, Kinah accepted her evening bottle calmly. Afterwards she was relaxed and happy to return to the other animals.

The next morning keepers needed a flashlight to locate Kinah. What they saw were two bright, tiny eyeballs peeking out from the protective lap of Bunzi. Kinah had spent her first night away from her human caretakers, snug in the arms of her new custodian, Bunzi.

Bottle feedings will continue until little Kinah is weaned. She is active and adjusted and is gaining weight every week. As we wind down on the care needed to sustain Kinah in these final weeks, we reflect on her history. We were the lucky ones to see Kinah through the difficult days of her recovery and the reintroduction to her family. We thank Kinah for the many sweet memories and special times she leaves behind. To us, Kinah will always be a tiny fighter who managed to win all of the battles put before her.

Janet Hawes is a senior keeper in the primate nursery of the Children’s Zoo at the San Diego Zoo.

Now, here comes the turning point: I put the item on the ground, let go of it, then asked for the “inside.” He did it! Yep, on the very first try he picked up the paper towel holder from the ground and moved his mouth over to the tub and dropped the item into the tub! I thought I was going to do a back flip for joy, but instead I kept my training cool, bridged, screamed, “Good boy! What a good boy you are, Mr. Sven Olof!!!” and fed out my entire bucket of treats.

The next day we did the same thing and again he completed the behavior. He now had the concept of picking up the paper towel holder from the ground and dropping it into the tub on the verbal cue, “inside.” However, he would only complete this behavior from left to right. I needed to generalize this behavior to anywhere around the tub and introduce the plastic bottle and aluminum can. And I needed to show some of the other trainers what we had been up to for so long. Sven was a little shy when others were watching (are you starting to see a pattern here?). I was still working with him inside the locker room, but with every new audience he was getting braver and more confident, and finally we took it out to the stage. First thing every morning I would start his music and we would recycle on stage.

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

Look for Maureen’s next blog, Sven is a Conservation Star