Speaking of that, it’s been a week or so since Sheng and Su Lin enjoyed their overnight arboreal adventures. If you’ll remember, they resulted in the installation of a new tree guard in Sheng’s area. The update, no surprise, is that within 48 hours he’d mastered the technique for climbing over the new “obstruction” as well. What a guy!

We here at the Zoo look forward to seeing many of you between October 5 and 14 as you deliver your suggestions for the name of our newest baby girl. The selection process will move forward with all deliberate speed: since the Little One is 9 weeks old, that doesn’t leave many weeks until she will need a real name.

Remember - once the final list of names is compiled, we are counting on YOU to help select the right one via an online poll, so keep checking the Panda Cam page!

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

We started with the basics: bringing new logs and branches into the exhibit from different areas in the Park. The girls might inspect the new item once and then ignore it completely. Food is usually a good motivator for any cat; with that in mind, we tried hiding meatballs in small boxes. The idea was that the girls would have to figure out how to get the meat out of the box. Well, our cheetahs are obviously well fed because after sniffing the boxes they all walked away without so much as a single morsel of meat eaten! We hung toys from tree branches, but if the toy was not moving, the cheetahs weren’t interested. We tried novel food items, but still no success. I guess our girls are partial to their regular food, a ground meat product made for carnivores. One of the keepers got very creative and collected feathers, which she tied to the end of a long rope, making a very oversized kitty toy. Unfortunately, this still had no cheetah appeal. While we were making great progress enriching ourselves, the cheetahs were proving much more difficult!

One of our funniest attempts was bringing a “weeble” into the exhibit. A weeble is a large, weighted, plastic cylinder that will rock but will always right itself. Our tigers LOVE the weebles; the cheetahs, not so much! Pombe (pictured with her back to the camera) and Moyo were interested but apprehensive when a keeper hit the weeble to make it move. Etana (pictured facing the camera), on the other hand, HATED the weeble! She would inch forward but when the weeble moved she would jump backwards and hiss! Not only that, but she would associate the very scary weeble with the keeper until you could convince her to forgive you; usually this meant feeding her!

Finally, we found success with a very unlikely toy: several small water buoys were donated to the Park and these were the hit we were waiting for! The keepers brought in several old lunge whips, and the buoys were tied to the ends. The cheetahs couldn’t love a toy more than this! They chase the buoy until they are exhausted; they try to cut corners and anticipate where the buoy will go next. Eventually, all the girls collapse to the ground and, with their last bit of energy, bat at the buoy with one paw as it passes in front of them. The only downside to this enrichment item is that the cheetahs may love it too much! We have already gone through three whips because the girls try to steal the buoy and rip the rope right off the whip while playing a great game of tug-o-war!

Kym Nelson is a keeper at the Wild Animal Park

We left this morning to spend a couple of hours on the tundra. We saw a polar bear as well as several species of birds. We returned to the buggy to listen to a presentation by Michael Goodyear from the Northern Studies Research Center regarding the ringed seals, which is the primary prey of the polar bear. He described the natural habits of the seals and their reliance on the ice for birthing. Their “livelihood” is supporting the polar bear population and the Inuit community so their presence is crucial in the arctic biome.

After a delicious lunch of pizza, we headed out once again on the Tundra Buggy. Each time we head out, the facilitators remind us to bring our books and notebooks because we will be having a discussion about ambassador presentations or an activity when there isn’t any wildlife around. Yet all of our trips have had a constant presence of wildlife, each more exciting than the next! Our discussions turn to polar bear tagging and species migration and our activities turn to taking pictures, filming wildlife, and awing at the tundra beauty.

Today we saw a bear lunge after a swimming muskrat in the middle of a tundra lake. The muskrat got away and the gasps of disappointment were audible from the whole group. We are still hoping to see a polar bear’s predatory skills in action although this time of year they are mostly languid. It was exciting nonetheless to witness the bear’s agile movements and patience in tracking a possible source of food. The behavior of the muskrat was also intriguing as it nimbly swam out of the polar bear’s reach and stayed downwind of the bear so that it remained undetected. The experience really made me appreciate the adapted survival behaviors of these animals.

Tonight we are all looking forward to an AFAP (as Fancy as Possible) dinner, which is being cooked by the Red-Yellow group. We have witnessed their extensive labors for this feast…namely their folding of 32 paper napkin swans. We will be meeting in a couple minutes for “before dinner” appetizers and entertainment before being cordially invited into the dining car. I can’t wait. Well, I’d better go get dressed for dinner.

From the wild Arctic tundra,
Ronit

Caption: The Applied Animal Ecology Division of Conservation and Research for Endangered Species (CRES) and Polar Bears International are working together to collect polar bear vocalizations in order to create a sound library.

An old-style panda pen

The Wolong breeding center was built in 1985 via the collaborative efforts of the Chinese and the World Wildlife Fund, who funded the construction of the first exhibit spaces there. Originally, there were 10 small pens with high cement walls and dirt exhibit spaces attached to small bedrooms for the panda population at the facility. Since then, the influence of researchers from Western collaborators such as the San Diego Zoo have helped to improve these old pens with the addition of natural substrates like grass and wood as well as improved exhibit furniture in the form of climbing structures.

In the 1980s, Wolong was home to a small number of pandas captured from the wild. As little was known about the biology of the panda, husbandry and management techniques were not yet perfected for this species. The captive population was not sustainable, as the number of births in captivity did not exceed the number of deaths. More wild pandas were brought in to the facility to continue to try to develop a self-sustaining population, but success was elusive.

Suzanne is pictured observing pandas in an old-style pen in 2000.

The San Diego Zoo’s first CRES researchers arrived to work in Wolong in 1995. The behavior, nutrition, and endocrinology of the bears was carefully studied, and Chinese researchers came to San Diego to further expand their knowledge base about the science of saving species. Other organizations, such as the CBSG (Conservation Breeding Specialist Group), comprised of experts from many institutions in the U.S. and around the world, undertook extensive surveys of the captive population including bears from Chengdu and Bejing. Our understanding of panda biology, and what might be involved in developing a self-sustaining captive population, grew by leaps and bounds.
By the end of the last millennium, Wolong had dramatically turned around its trajectory of decline in favor of a burgeoning panda population. Improved management and nutrition lead to an increase in bears participating in the breeding process, and improved survivorship of cubs born at the facility. Births now outnumbered deaths, and wild bears were no longer needed to supplement the growing number of residents at the breeding center. It seems every year now they produce a record number of panda cubs, and 2007 is also on track to be a good year. As of mid-September, 13 cubs had been born in Wolong…and they may not be done yet!

In my next installment, I will address the changes to the Wolong facility that have occurred over time in an effort to house and maintain the ever-increasing population of bears there, and some of the research we have been able to conduct as a result of our collaboration with the Wolong staff.

Suzanne Hall is a senior research technician with the Giant Panda Unit of Applied Animal Ecology/CRES.

Clarification from Suzanne: There appears to be some confusion about Mei Sheng’s status based on some of my opening comments. To clarify: he was only off exhibit for the day due to his exam. Today he is back on exhibit.

Though I cannot say precisely when he is scheduled to leave, I would encourage those of you who wish to see him before his departure to come by very soon. We currently have a green light for his return and barring unforeseen delays he will not be here much longer. Further, at any time he can be pulled off exhibit as a part of preparation for his voyage, a situation more and more likely as his departure date nears. So if you are planning a trip to say goodbye, please make it very soon.

With this in mind, Gram needed to get used to hearing someone walk on top of the crate and the sound of chains rattling against it. As with everything else, he was reluctant at first. I climbed up on the crate and just let him know I was there, which caused him to immediately back out. As with every new behavior, animals need time to grow accustomed to the change. I used his target to bring him back into the crate and gave him a treat when he touched it. This was a slow process, as you can imagine. Our animals live outside with no upstairs neighbors stomping around like…well, like a herd of elephants. Every day I climbed on top of the crate and he grew more comfortable with hearing me above him. Of course, the yams and apples make it much easier to get used to!

Along with being on top of the crate, I also started to drag a chain across the top and sides: new sounds and new snorting from Gram. Once the chain accidentally slipped into the crate, which was not received well. But Gram came right back in after some huffing and puffing.

Along with this training, he also needed a pre-shipment physical. Every animal leaving the San Diego Zoo receives one: blood and fecal tests, weights, etc. Many animals are anesthetized for this procedure, but Gram was able to have his physical fully awake in his chute, a relief for Gram and me! His trained behaviors allowed us to draw blood, check his overall body condition, weigh him, check his feet, look in his mouth, and make sure he is healthy. He passed with flying colors.

The last behavior he needed to learn was how to drink from a hose. This was challenging because although he enjoys a bath with the hose he does not like water in his face. Every day we sit with the hose on very low so it won’t spray in his nostrils and place it in his mouth. I ask him for the “open” behavior to open his mouth and then “drink” so he knows the hose is coming. He pulled away many times in the beginning because it was something new and uncomfortable. As time has passed he has learned that he can swallow the water in his mouth and get a carrot.

Laura Weiner is a keeper at the San Diego Zoo.

It began to rain early this morning, waking me up with a pitter-patter on my window. We decided not to go out on the Tundra Buggy today because of the rainy weather; the bears and other wildlife tend to hunker down behind rocks and seek refuge from the cold rain and wind. Instead, we started working on practice presentations on various topics suggested in our required reading, Impacts of a Warming Arctic. We chose an audience in addition to our presentation topic. My team focused our presentation about the observations, consequences of, and responses to a warming arctic to engage a civic group of businesspeople. Other groups focused their talks to engage elementary school kids, senior citizens, and corporate leaders.

In the middle of the critique of the final group, however, Robert Buchanan (our valiant leader) politely interjected, “Bear Break!” and everyone scrambled to the windows to watch a curious female polar bear wander into camp. (I am learning to carry my camera 100% of the time for fear of missing out on the constantly amazing experiences!) The bear was splattered with dirt, in patterns that suggested she had been scratching her back in the soil. She was very active; entertaining us for over an hour as she busily licked the water from the sides of the Lodge and rolled playfully in the grass. She has remained beside the buggy for several hours and even now as I am writing, she is laying in the brush, scratching her belly. I was severely saddened, however, when she began to chew on a large white piece of Styrofoam that is sitting out on the tundra outside. It was a heart-wrenching reminder of how much of an impact humans are having on the daily life of these beautiful bears.

Well, I have to go for now because I am due for dinner duty…

More tomorrow,
From beside the Hudson Bay aboard the Tundra Buggy,
-Ronit

We started off the day by visiting the polar bear “jail” in Churchill, which is a facility that Manitoba Conservation officers use to hold polar bears that enter the town or cause trouble. It was reassuring to see the humane traps made from giant metal tubes they use to capture the bears without having to tranquilize them first. The people of Churchill care about the polar bears but they also have to live here too, so this is the system they have to coexist. At the time of our visit, there were 8 bears there waiting to be transported to somewhere far away from town so they can wait for the Hudson Bay to freeze over a safe distance from humans.

I wish I could capture the feeling of being in the tundra. There is so much more than polar bears and snow (actually there is no snow right now). At the Parks Canada headquarters, which is also the train station, I found out so much more about this complex and fragile ecosystem. There are actually different kinds of permafrost, and it’s not all permanent! But, some of the permafrost is melting in places that it hasn’t before and it is causing problems for people. For example, the historic Fort Prince of Wales that was built here in the 1700s is cracking and the Parks Canada Department is doing a wall reinforcement project.

Finally, we embarked on our Tundra Buggy adventure! We stepped off the “launch pad” and into a buggy containing our pile of luggage and all the food supplies we will need for the next week. The first hour of our journey was rather uneventful and we saw little wildlife. Suddenly we saw a large flock of ptarmigans. The entire group went really crazy: jumping up to click their cameras and record on their video cameras.

We set off again; however, a few minutes later the Captain stopped the buggy and pulled out his binoculars. We all wondered aloud, “Why did he stop?” Then somebody yelled, “It’s a polar bear! And a caribou!” The flurry of activity began again as we witnessed our first polar bear of the trip! It was incredible.

None of us (students) had ever seen polar bears in their natural habitat before and we marveled at how different the wild bears seem from those in zoos. Again, we stopped for a long time, as pictures were snapped and movies made. But again, when we started off we were greeted with an even greater sight…two polar bears came right up to the buggy! Both bears even stood up on their hind legs against the buggy! We were ecstatic at our good fortune and spent almost half with the bears. After our cheeks were red and fingers frozen, the sun began to set and we drove to the Lodge. Settling into our bunks was an adventure in itself, as was making dinner in our new home for the next week.

More to come from the Tundra Buggy….
and stand by for more photos!
Ronit
(Arctic Ambassador Cesar contributed to this blog)

Elephants are pregnant for about 22 months, but compared to their mothers, the newborns are actually sort of small. A baby elephant is born weighing about four percent as much as its mother. We probably don’t need to tell human mothers about this, but birth in people is a lot more trying than births in elephants because children are about twice as big as elephants compared to their mothers. So if a baby elephant were born in the same proportion to its mother as a human, the “little” guys would be nearly 450 pounds (204 kilograms) at birth!

Newborn elephant calves seem a bit silly at first because they are sort of clumsy until they fine-tune their coordination, but they actually develop pretty quickly. In general, a young calf is standing on its own about one half hour after birth and can walk on its own about one hour later. Takes a bit longer to get to the nipple and suckle for the first time because this requires a dual effort with the mother, but calves usually accomplish this within 10 hours of birth. Then they begin to grow and grow and grow. A baby elephant puts on about ¾ of a pound a day!

Our newest girl has joined the herd and if you come to the Park, you can see our elephant “playground.” We now have three young calves and an older calf romping around the enclosure and goofing around with each other. As they do so, if you watch the rest of the herd, you’ll see that their moms and aunts are keeping an eye out that all is well. Sometimes, though, you might see one of the calves near a female who isn’t the mother; don’t be alarmed by this because elephants will baby-sit calves who are not their own babies. They simply have strong family ties.

It’s been some time since our last blog (see Security and Saving Elephants), but we haven’t forgotten about you. Because the last two births have occurred during the night, and because we do not want to interfere with either the birth or the mother-calf bonding process, our video films of birth do not show very much. When Ndula arrived from Africa, she was pregnant, so we do not know who Moose’s father is. The other three calves are all half-siblings who share a father, Mabu. Elephants may start mouthing solid food and browse when about one month of age, actually consume it from about one month to four months of age, and some of them still go back to mom for milk when older than three years! Any more questions, just keep posting them and we will eventually get you an answer.

Fred Bercovitch is head of the Behavioral Biology Division, CRES.
Jeff Andrews is animal care manager of elephants, Wild Animal Park

Watch the Wild Animal Park’s elephants daily on Elephant Cam.
Listen to an iZoofari Chat about the newest elephant.
Watch video of the new calf.