Will a panda prefer to play with an unscented ball or a ball that smells like clove? I must admit that was an unusual question to start our day with behavioral ecologist Megan Owen. It turned out we were going to run our own little experiment the same way someone studying the behavior of pandas would. The panda subject was male cub Mei Sheng and our hypothesis was simple enough: Mei Sheng will prefer to interact and play with the object that is scented. We were provided with clipboards and a packet with an ethogram and data sheets. An ethogram is a list of identified behaviors with their code and definition. For example if the behavior is walking the code would be WA and the definition " short bout of directional travel, fast or slow, between two points." The codes are then used on a behavioral data sheet that records behavior at minute intervals.

After we threw the unscented and scented balls into Mei Sheng's enclosure we recorded his behavior for fifteen minutes. An example of one line is from minute fourteen of my data sheet, which read: WA, OI, FD, WA. All that means is that when that minute started Mei Sheng was walking, then sniffed (OI is for olfactory investigate), ate something (FD is for feed) and at the end of the minute was walking again. Unfortunately our results were not too conclusive because the unscented ball rolled into the moat before Mei Sheng even had a chance to see it. In this case there was an obvious source of error, but conclusive results cannot always be seen by directly looking at the data collected. Computers are used to completely analyze raw data and compare it to other recorded behavior. In fact most of Ms. Owen's job is creating and using computer-generated statistics. She also is responsible for turning that statistical information into forms that others at the Zoo and in other areas can use like graphs.

Our experiment just seemed like a matter of panda preference, but it is much more than that. Because Mei Sheng is still young at 20 months old, researchers needed to know if his sense of smell is developed. In the wild smell is important to pandas because they are solitary creatures that communicate through scent when they are ready to mate. If they can't smell they can't find each other at the right time, and that creates problems. Ms. Owen studies data from experiments and observation from captive pandas to learn things about their social and reproductive systems that can then be applied to other pandas in captivity and pandas in the wild. The goal from studying behavior is to answer questions important to the conservation of pandas such as why six weeks after arriving male panda Gao Gao successfully mated with Bai Yun, when the whole six years the other male Shi Shi was at the Zoo, he did not show any interest in her.

Ms. Owen also showed us how studying behavior is important in determining how good of a job a mother panda is doing. Since panda cubs are born so small and underdeveloped, the care they are given is very important. In fact, unlike most bears, pandas actually hold their young in one cupped paw at the time which puts the cub in great danger if the mother falls asleep and rolls over or drops the cub.

Behavioral observation is also being used to develop a map of bear behavior and how it is evolutionarily connected. For example pandas don't have a thumb, but a modified wristbone, which they use with great dexterity. For Ms. Owen it is amazing to watch them strip away layers of the tough and woody bamboo. We got to feel some of the hard bamboo pandas eat and now I know why pandas have the strongest jaws of all bears. I tend to forget that they are eating some very tough bamboo that you need a chainsaw to cut through because they just sit there easily chomping away as if it were celery!

Contributed by Mariah - Zoo InternQuest Conservation Team

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