To date we have raised nearly $60,000 for Wolong, which will be a big help when they start to rebuild. Of course, we hope to raise much more in the future! Their plan is first to move most of the pandas and the Reserve staff to Ya’an, where temporary facilities for pandas and people will be built. They will not be able to rebuild the main panda center at Hetauping because expert geologists have determined that it is too dangerous a location. This makes me sad because the location was so beautiful—a steep narrow valley, carved out by the Pitiao River, surrounded by snow-capped mountains. But this is precisely why it is so dangerous. When another earthquake strikes, tons of rock and debris could bury the center, taking with it many more lives. The nearby village, Shawan, may also be too dangerously located to rebuild the administration headquarters. Most probably, only a few pandas will return to a small center in the Wolong Nature Reserve. The Wolong staff is searching for new, safe areas to rebuild.

Wolong will never be the same. I consider Wolong my second home, so now I know that I can’t go home again to Wolong. Although this brings me great sadness, I am happy to know that the energetic and dedicated staff at Wolong will go on, they will rebuild, and they will continue their world-class efforts to breed and conserve giant pandas. And, thanks to the support from so many of you, you can say that you helped make that happen.

Ron Swaisgood is the co-head of the San Diego Zoo’s Giant Panda Conservation Unit.

Every single animal that was in an exhibit on the mesa had to have a plan: getting the animal out, transporting it, and having a location ready to receive the animal. Since we did not have the space at the Zoo to deal with all of these displaced animals, some were sent to the Wild Animal Park, others to institutions around the United States, and some to our large hillside holding facilities that used to be called the goat turn-around at the Zoo.

Our team still cares for a great number of these animals off exhibit every day. To make space to accommodate some of these species, we connected three large hillside areas where the animals dominated the whole cul-de-sac of goat turn-around. At our highest point, we had over 45 animals made up of 7 different species in one large, open space. Included were scimitar-horned oryx; addaxes; barbary red deer; Bactrian wapiti; Soemmerring’s gazelles; Speke’s gazelles; and Cuvier’s gazelles.

When caring for such a large group of animals, it is important to really understand all of the dynamics of each species. They would disperse across several acres of hillside, each species defining its own territory. We would feed out according to the layout of the enclosure to ensure every animal was able to safely get to food and water. With all these dynamics, there was still a leader-elect of the entire area: the dominant male scimitar-horned oryx, a large, white antelope with long slender horns that start from the head and curve back toward his rear.

Every day, the main catch pen for the whole area was serviced by a keeper, which meant it was cleaned and had fresh food added. There is only one door from the enclosure to get in, so while the keeper would be in the catch pen making noise during cleaning, all of the animals would congregate around the door in anticipation of its opening. However, with 20 to 30 hungry animals standing around, who gets to go first? That is where the dominant oryx would make his case. He would always stand at the door when it was opened, but he would not go in. He would wait for the other five oryx to make their way up and get in safely. If another oryx was across the exhibit, the dominant male would call for it to come over and everyone would wait until the last one made its way into the catch. The dominant male would stand guard and not allow any of the other species in. It just took a simple nod of his horns, in the direction of any other brave attempt, to keep them away. After the last oryx went into the catch, he would follow. It then became a free-for-all for everyone else! It was an amazing sight to watch this organization and underlying hierarchical chain commence. That male looked after his group, and for that they were rewarded every day by getting to have the first pick of the food.

The dynamics have changed a little in the past few months because our oryx and addaxes were sent to Tunisia to be reintroduced into giant protected reserves. The San Diego Zoo acted as in intermediate quarantine holding facility for all of these animals that came from institutions around the world. They were held here until all of the proper medical tests were done and permits were arranged. All of the animals made it safely to Africa, where they now have an incredible amount of space where it will take that male much more time and energy to run the show, compared to hanging out by a door flinching his head. I wish him well!

Adam Ruble is a keeper at the San Diego Zoo.

Read Adam’s previous blog, Caring for Hoofed Animals…

These past weeks, as special tour groups visited Su Lin in the late mornings, they were frequently treated to a high-spirited, romping bear. We wondered if this was her way of entertaining herself in this quiet area, but this seems to be a pattern, as she gave our visitors on Wednesday quite a show on exhibit! We saw the tentative exploration, careful sniffing, and thorough investigation typical of pandas entering an area previously occupied by another bear, but as the morning progressed, it became just plain fun. Climbing, reaching for bamboo growing nearby, hanging upside down, running and rolling, and, yes, I do believe that she was playing to the crowd. We’ll keep watching this, but she is certainly still in the “playful young panda” stage.

It’s also a surprise to see how big she’s gotten. Nearly 156 pounds (71 kilograms), she’s grown visibly in the last few months. She’ll continue to grow until she’s four years old or so.

Baby Zhen Zhen is also in a more active stage. We’re seeing a lot more play instigation, bamboo eating, and “Bai Yun-bugging,” especially when Mom tries to nap. Interestingly, in contrast to her siblings, ZZ doesn’t appear to bother Bai much while she’s eating, and this smart little bear has learned to grab and climb, taking pieces of bamboo up into the trees or climbing structures out of Mom’s way—and line of sight!

With all the gals out in the viewing areas, it promises to be an exciting summer here at the Giant Panda Research Station. And “bear” in mind that we’ll be starting our longer Nighttime Zoo hours on June 28, which will mean longer daily hours for loyal panda-watchers to visit and enjoy the growing girls and their beautiful mother.

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

Bruce started working at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park before it opened in 1972. Within a couple of years, he transferred to the Zoo. Although many of our original “hort” staff started out in other departments, Bruce was actually hired by horticulture and has stayed for 35 years! He says he has always enjoyed working at the Zoo, but he likes it even more these days. He says the crew has become more professional over the years and Bruce notes that the people working in horticulture really want to be here.

Hawaiian Garden

Some of Bruce’s favorite things about the job are working with both the people and the plants. The people are “earthy” and the plants “pretty.” He loves the satisfaction of seeing the finished garden after having put so much work into it. He especially enjoys the section of the Zoo that runs from the Terrace Lagoon to koalas. This strip begins with the Oriental Garden, and then the path meanders through our New World cycads, African cycads, the first of three Hawaiian Gardens, and below that the Australian cycads. He loves to see some of the rare plants we have growing there “going bananas.” Some of the interesting things we have been able to participate in recently include assisting a local cycad expert hand pollinate one of our more rare cycads, Encephalartos munchii. Bruce likes seeing a stark and cold building or enclosure transformed into a beautiful, natural habitat by adding the right plants.

Cycad Encephalartos pterogonus

Bruce notes several changes over the years: The Zoo has gone from using mostly synthetic fertilizers to almost entirely natural ones. We have learned a lot about working with nature and soil to create landscape designs that are healthy for people and sustainable without using chemicals. We have gone from grid maps to GIS mapping. Irrigation has shifted from manual valves to state-of-the-art centralized computer controlled clocks (in process now). We are, according to Bruce, gardening smarter. He enjoys being on what he describes as the cutting edge of horticultural practices.

Working a physical job for 35 years could take its toll on the body. Bruce has some suggestions for longevity in a gardening career. Although many people would think that as a gardener one would get exercise enough, there are other kinds of exercise needed to keep in shape. Bruce goes home most days and does some stretching and cardio training. Keeping oneself limber and strong prevents a lot of injuries at work. Bruce must be doing something right. He’s been at it for three and a half decades and still keeps up with the younger workers. We are lucky to have Bruce around!

Mychael McNeeley is a lead gardener at the San Diego Zoo.

So this morning as I was watching them I saw poor little Seronga being chewed on and attacked by Kasane and some of the juveniles. She looked pretty bad and was curled up into a ball. Kasane didn’t look so hot either. She had probably been fighting with Ngami, who usually gets more aggressive as she gets closer to giving birth.

So along with taking the pups to the hospital for their first exams, final vaccinations, and tattoos for identification, we also took Kasane and Seronga to have their wounds checked out. Both of them will be on antibiotics for their bite wounds, which they take very well. The decision was made to take Kasane out of the group for now. Of course, usually this would be a permanent move since you really cannot reintroduce meerkats back once they have left. Kasane has always been the troublemaker and we didn’t want to risk her pups being attacked by Ngami or others in the mob.

Along with the saga of the adult females was catching up the juveniles for their vaccinations. They are all basically full-grown with full-grown teeth! When catching them, I use the “gauntlet” gloves. These are thick leather gloves that reach all the way to my elbows for protection. The meerkats were very squirmy and “bitey,” and I was glad to have those gloves protecting my skin!

It was an eventful day in our meerkat manor. It is always difficult when you have to separate animals, but it is for their own good in this case. Kasane will, I hope, have her pups in peace and be able to raise them. At some point we will probably make another group with her so she will have some company. One thing I can say about working with meerkats—it is never, ever boring!

Laura Weiner is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo.

We were very excited about this pilot program and we wanted to get people excited about conservation. To get their attention, we decorated an elaborate booth filled with cute orangutan photos and canvas art pieces made by our resident Bornean orangutan, Janey. People were naturally drawn to our booth. Once they approached, we talked about the palm oil industry and its direct effect on the ecology of many animals in Indonesia, specifically Bornean and Sumatran orangutans.

The large corporate logging industries are destroying the forests in Indonesia at a fast rate. According to FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) reports, between the years 2000 and 2005, Indonesia had the second-most cleared tropical rain forest in the world. This diverse ecosystem is home to the only great ape that occurs outside of Africa, the orangutan. Other species include the Sumatran tiger, pygmy rhino, clouded leopards, and pygmy forest elephants.

Unfortunately, Indonesian rain forest is prime land for the world’s second-most produced crop oil in the world. The African oil palm Elaeis guineensis was introduced to Southeast Asia in the early 1600s. Roughly 90 percent of the palm oil produced comes from the Indonesian region. The problem comes into focus once we begin to see how unaware consumers contribute to this issue. Most Americans have no idea how many products in their home actually contain palm oil and palm-based products: detergents, soaps, cosmetics, and household products contain palm oil. One out of every five food items we buy at the grocery store, especially baked goods, contain palm oil. Other wording that is used in conjunction with palm oil is palmate, palm kernel, and even vegetable oil. There is little accountability from the large companies on where their palm oil is coming from. It’s cheap to produce, has a favorable taste for food items, and it’s a great preservative in many products.

Secondarily, the boom in biofuel as an alternative source of energy is using palm oil to run its machines. This low emission alternative comes with a high price as forests around the world are being destroyed at an alarming rate.

By becoming conscious consumers, we can have a huge positive impact on what goes on halfway around the world. Raising awareness and being able to pass this on was the message to the hundreds of people that came by our conservation booth. It was exhilarating and exhausting, but I enjoyed every second! On behalf of Orangutan Outreach, we collected over $2,000 in cash donations and another $2,000 in online adoptions. One hundred percent of the contributions went directly to benefit over 650 orphaned orangutans that lost their mothers due to the palm oil industry in Borneo.

Juan Fernandez is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo.

Watch our orangutans and siamangs daily on Ape Cam…

Ron believes this photo is of Mao Mao at 6 months old

Mao Mao and I go way back to 2000 when she was rescued from the wild by local farmers. She arrived at Wolong, shy and timid, barking anxiously every time she saw someone walk by. She settled in during the coming days and weeks and I became quite enamored with her. She had a unique personality and was always a bit wilder than the others, so I dubbed her “Wild Thing,” a name that stuck for about six months until she was properly named. She was part of our first enrichment study with the cubs which, at the time, were kept in a small enclosure. A few years later they built a new nursery with a large yard, trees, pools, and climbing structures. Before that, we provided the cubs with different kinds of novel objects, such as branches or bark, that stimulated the senses and evoked play. The data were informative, but it was also just really fun to watch! A burlap sack stuffed with straw quickly became a wrestling partner, providing hours of fun for the cubs.

Mao Mao in 2003

Mao Mao actually began her life at the center as a “he.” Young pandas are notoriously difficult to sex and we got this one wrong. Three years later, in 2003, we realized our error when she began to show female-typical signs of estrus. She became a star breeder, producing five cubs over the next three seasons. Our research assistant, Jennifer Keating, witnessed her mating again this spring, so sadly she may have been pregnant as well. Because she was unrelated to the other pandas at the center, she was very valuable genetically. Her death is a loss for the breeding program, but strategically, at least, she was well represented before she died. Of course, she still holds a sentimental place in my heart and it makes me sad to think that she is gone.

Ron Swaisgood is the co-head of the San Diego Zoo’s Giant Panda Conservation Unit.

And how about a cub update? Zhen Zhen is still spending much of the day high up in the tree (as pictured above). However, she has been coming down from the tree from time to time to engage in social play with Bai Yun. Unfortunately for Zhen Zhen, she seems to often catch mom right in the middle of a feeding bout and Bai Yun is more interested in her bamboo than playing with Zhen Zhen. Developmentally, our Zhen Zhen seems to be quite the advanced little panda. She is very good at handling objects and has been engaged in a fair amount of bamboo play, handling the bamboo with a lot of skill for a cub of her age. It is not uncommon to see Zhen Zhen sitting near Bai Yun, amusing herself with a stalk of bamboo, or for Zhen Zhen to grab a little stalk and take it with her up the tree to gnaw on. Most of the time, the bamboo eventually spills out of her mouth but Zhen Zhen has been starting to ingest some bamboo. The keepers started to see bamboo in her stool a bit earlier than any of the other three cubs we have had here at the Zoo.

The transition from nursing to bamboo feeding does not happen overnight. Cubs begin to chew on bamboo and play with bamboo as practice before they actually start ingesting it. They mock their mothers and learn from them to acquire the skills needed to fill their bellies with bamboo, whether it’s learning to efficiently gather all the leaves off of a stalk or strip off the outer layer of the culm to get to the more edible inside. If you have ever seen Bai Yun go through her bamboo pile, you know how down pat her bamboo eating techniques are. She is a great role model for her cubs to follow. As Zhen Zhen begins to eat more and more bamboo and nurses less and less with Bai Yun, she will begin to compete with Bai Yun for bamboo, which is inevitable. I remember watching some entertaining sessions with Su Lin when she got to this point. Bai Yun would hold her cub in place with one paw and eat away holding bamboo in the other paw while the cub ran in place, trying to get to the bamboo pile. I have even seen Bai Yun and her cub in tug-of-war situations over a bamboo stalk!

Su Lin has been as energetic as ever since she has been moved to the back classroom exhibit. I commonly see her hanging from the tree or gamboling around. Gao Gao has also taken his move to the right-side exhibit in stride. Both of their olfactory investigation greatly increased the day of their exhibit swap. Giant pandas leave scent marks, a kind of chemical communication in which the pandas can leave information about themselves for other pandas. So naturally, switching Gao Gao and Su Lin into each other’s previous exhibit created curiosity to investigate what information could be learned about the panda that was previously inhabiting the area.

Another great thing about summer is Nighttime Zoo, which starts June 28. We look forward to seeing all of you here over the summer for extended viewing hours!

Michelle Thompson is a research technician at the San Diego Zoo.

Jennifer Keating with Wolong keepers in April, 2008

On a different note, while I was in Wolong I was able to see how much the San Diego Zoo has impacted the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda. My first experience was in the amount of respect the research center had for me just because I was from the San Diego Zoo. They provided help for my project constantly and I couldn’t have done it without them. The research center had spent such a great deal of time working with Ron Swaisgood in past years that they have developed a level of trust and respect with the research he conducts. Being able to say that Ron was my boss made people trust that I knew what I was doing and that it would be productive research.

Rarely in life do we have the opportunity to witness the effects of donations, research, and advice given to an organization. The China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda has blossomed because of all our help. Doug Myers, the San Diego Zoo’s executive director, saw the potential and need in China for the help that the Zoo could provide for the giant pandas. The facility in Wolong reflected, in their grounds, exhibits, training, animal husbandry, and research, that the San Diego Zoo and donors around the world had made an impact. Even though the facility is in trouble now because of the earthquake, I know that it will survive and move forward because the San Diego Zoo and its friends will to continue to help the giant pandas.

Jennifer Keating is a research scientist at the San Diego Zoo.

Read Jennifer’s previous blog, Wolong: Will Fei Fei Find a Mate?

Zoo members and visitors often just happen upon what I consider to be the best day of the month at the San Diego Zoo—Plant Day! Those of us who work in the Horticulture Department focus on the Zoo’s flora every day of the week, but we share with the public more specifically the third Friday of each month. Come join us for a terrific day of Botanical Bus Tours and Orchid Odyssey some time over the summer. You won’t be disappointed.

Plant Day at the Zoo includes the opening of our orchid greenhouse to the public. Janette Gerrity, our orchidist, along with some very knowledgeable volunteers, will tour guests through the spectacular collection of plants from Orchidaceae, the largest of the flowering plant families. The Zoo is a rescue center for orchids that are confiscated at the border, and over the years we have built up a spectacular collection. You will be astonished by the beauty and diversity of the flowers.

We also offer Botanical Bus Tours each month on Plant Day. These are, so far, free with admission! Each tour is led by one of our Horticulture staff. Those who lead the tours each have their own unique style and focus, so you could take a tour each month and get a different perspective. Of course, along with that different outlook, depending on the tour guide, we also have new plants in bloom each month, so that adds to the diversity and freshness of each tour. The Botanical Bus Tours have become extremely popular, so get there a little early to reserve your place. Tours get under way at 2 p.m. and load at the bus unloading area. Turn right after entering the front gate and follow the signs.

If you are unable to make it to the Zoo on Plant Day (our next one is June 20, 2008), consider stopping by and picking up a self-guided walking tour map. There are maps available at the entrance and also near the Orchid House. Just past the Kopje, make a left. There you will find a display board with many tour maps covering everything from Fern Canyon to Ficus and Palms.

Other Plant Day Happenings
Throughout the year, we will have events scheduled such as Tropical Fruit Tasting, Pruning Demonstrations, and Botanical Beverages. Check out our “Plant of the Month” near the dining area across from the Reptile House.

For additional Plant Day information and dates…

Mychael McNeeley is a lead gardener at the San Diego Zoo.