As we start our summer hours, the Giant Panda Research Station at the San Diego Zoo is open until 8:30 each evening during Nighttime Zoo. Since we are open later, a few changes are occurring to condition the bears. Usually in the summer we offer their evening feeding a little later, so as we start you may see the pandas on exhibit looking for their keepers. Do not be alarmed: this is normal as we change their feeding times, and they will soon get used to it.
(more…)

Hello again, panda fans! I was excited to read all of your questions in response to my previous post (see Panda Keeper Questions)!

It seems that our Panda Cam provides not only entertainment but a chance for our viewers to study panda behavior and to wonder where some of the pandas’ actions come from. Well, wonder no more! Part of a keeper’s job is to learn about and to educate others on the animals’ natural and zoo behaviors. Animal behavior is one of my favorite topics; it’s a big part of why I decided to become a zookeeper in the first place, and I’d be happy to enlighten you on the subject.
(more…)

As we approach the birthing window for Bai Yun, we are busy making preparations to ensure that things go smoothly for her this summer. Over the years, we have a series of tried-and-true checklist items we believe help us to ensure the health and wellbeing of our prolific panda and her offspring. One of the basic items involves readying the birthing den itself.
(more…)

I had planned to write a simple, uneventful post—how the panda kids have settled into their exhibits, how Bai Yun continues to quietly thrive behind the scenes, how ultrasound procedures have begun (more to re-acclimate Bai Yun to the routine rather than to find anything at this early date)—but shame on me. It really is bad to underestimate the antics of Su Lin, as I was reminded the other morning.
(more…)

Right now we have the two sister pandas on exhibit! Su Lin will be four years old on August 2, and she is about 190 pounds (86 kilograms). She has already gone through her first estrus with flying colors and has been very active out on exhibit so far.
(more…)

Greetings, Pandafanatics!
I’m a relatively new panda keeper at the San Diego Zoo and have recently been asked if I’d like to contribute an occasional blog. I’ve heard that there are sometimes questions asked by our blog readers that can’t always be answered by anyone other than a keeper, and I’d be happy to help out. This being my very first blog and all, I thought I’d take that helpful hint directly. It’s time to answer some of those recent keeper-directed panda questions!
(more…)

With all the excitement of the opening of Elephant Odyssey at the San Diego Zoo this past weekend, it may seem that nothing’s happening here in Panda Canyon…and thankfully, that’s pretty close to accurate. The “Sister Act” of Su Lin and Zhen Zhen continues in the viewing area, with most of the heavy construction at Elephant Odyssey completed and the noise diminishing more and more each day. The buses have once more begun to run up toward and past Polar Rim, leaving the Canyon once again quiet and tranquil.
(more…)

We have had confirmation from our friends in China that Mei Sheng, our beloved boy born to Bai Yun and Gao Gao in 2003, has indeed copulated with a female in Bi Feng Xia (BFX). Way to go, Mei Sheng!

In some ways we are all a bit surprised to hear this, since he is so young. Even our Chinese colleagues expressed their surprise at his success. It is definitely atypical for a male to achieve a copulation with his first-ever breeding encounter, especially when he is only five years old. But there are many reasons why Mei Sheng might have had the odds stacked in his favor. (more…)

As we’ve been anticipating, the great panda rotation has begun. Zhen Zhen has replaced her mother in the left-hand enclosure, and Bai Yun has been moved back into “her” area, the “classroom” area off exhibit that was her first home when she arrived here nearly 13 years ago. Bai Yun’s weight is up to around 220 pounds/100 kilograms, but whether this is due to a possible pregnancy, a pseudopregnancy, or the ability to eat uninterrupted by a persistent cub is anyone’s guess. We’re still watching and waiting; it’s been pretty standard procedure in the past to move her to the back soon after mating season, so we know nothing definite one way or the other.
(more…)

One panda sits peacefully munching her bamboo, gracefully stripping leaves from the stem, rolling it into a wad, and holding it in her paw to eat. Another rolls around, head over heels, playing with his new enrichment item. A new panda mother comforts her squawking cub, secure in her new den. Such is the life of a panda.

Scenes like this have played out for years in Wolong until, a year ago, everything suddenly came crashing down, quite literally. The earthquake that struck Sichuan last year, causing so much devastation and loss of life, also struck at the heart of China’s giant panda breeding program at Wolong. Most of the breeding center there now sits empty, its panda and human inhabitants now relocated to Bi Feng Xia, some several hours away. Today, the same scenes witnessed a year ago in Wolong now play out in Bi Feng Xia.
(more…)