Panda Mesmerized
Posted at 10:20 am February 12, 2007 by Kay Ferguson
I watch daily as people come into the Giant Panda Research Station at the San Diego Zoo and become totally overtaken by the pandas' beauty (Su Lin is pictured here). Not many people have seen these bamboo bears from a far-away land called China. They come, watch, and return many times in the day to see them. What makes them so fascinating? What makes you want to take 50 pictures of one animal? Because they don't look like any other animal in this world; they hold you spellbound. I call it " panda mesmerized." Many visitors are totally and completely stunned by the pandas' looks.
I am one of those who loves to just look, take pictures, and become so totally involved in their actions that I cannot get enough of them. At the exhibits, I always invite our guests to do the " panda loop" out the exit gate and back into the entrance gate; they can loop around all day long if they desire. Many do just that, taking more pictures and more time with each pass. It is so much fun to watch our guests become panda mesmerized, just like me.
In our country today there are 12 pandas, can you believe that? Only 12, so you could say they are rare to us and that makes them a " want to see" animal, a main attraction in our country, a must-see even if you have to travel several hundred miles to get a look at them.
People will always love this magnificent-looking bear. They just don't look real, with their beautiful black-and-white coats glistening in the sunlight like velvet, eyes like black pearls shining out to look at you.
.
The other day I watched Mei Sheng sleeping on the Keebler tree with two legs hanging over the edge. Pandas can sleep in very awkward positions and I have found they would not sleep in that position unless it was comfortable to them, so we even become panda mesmerized by their sleeping positions. Many of you watch the Panda Cam; now this is truly a form of being panda mesmerized!
Kay Ferguson is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Scroll to the end to leave a comment. Pinging is not allowed.
February 12th, 2007 at 10:43 am
Kay, I TOTALLY agree with you. I travel several hundred miles several times a year to see the NZ pandas. I can't get enough of them on their webcam or in person. I am a total panda-holic. I am also asking my zoo about looking into getting a panda here. Perhaps that could be a future blog-how a zoo acquires a panda.
February 12th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Kay, I admit I too am one of those that has become " panda mesmerized" . It took one look at Hua Mei and I got hooked, now I can't stop watching. Last year I had the honor to see Tai and family in D.C., seeing them in person made me crazy, my friends had to drag me away from the exhibit. My boss is very understanding about my use of the computer and always asks how are the pandas, I think he's hooked but won't admit it.I think we need a support group for all us pandaholics.But no matter what these smart, beautiful and funny bears will always be my morning fix, my afternoon pick me up and my nightly cup of tea.
February 12th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Thanks, Kay. I get so panda mesmerized that I am afraid I might go to far and get fired because I loop back in all day long between tasks. I also loop through all 4 US panda populations keeping up daily with whatever is going on. I try on the weekends too, but usually end up playing catch up on Monday AM. I am so thankful for the blogs and the bloggers who post notes about activity that I missed.
Thanks to keepers, curators, and meerkats for such wonderful care of the bears, and for letting us mere humans get such an inside look into these wonderful animals' lives.
February 12th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Pandaholic here or is it panda mesmerized. Not sure. Has this been identified as an addiction? If so, we definitely need a support group as I've been watching since Mei Sheng was born. I can't get enough of watching these beautiful bears. The fact that China has lent them to a few zoos across the United States is a miracle and to add the part you all are playing in revitalizing the population is just an extra bonus!
I appreciate all of the updates on the bears and am so thankful the zoos allow us " pandaholics" to watch panda activities via the web cam. Thank you for all you do for the bears and for us!
February 12th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Thanks for your post, Kay. I'm panda-mesmerized and proud of it! Those black and white cutie-pies make my day.
Thanks also to the Meerkat who followed Su Lin and Bai Yun around about noon PST. Great close-up shots. Su was really shadowing her mother for a while. And a couple of times it looked like Bai was either pinning down the cub in order to make her keep her distance, or trying to give her a bath.
February 12th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
We're fortunate here in Tampa to have Manatees at Lowry Park Zoo. Manatees also have that same mesmerising affect on me. I can watch them all day. I'm making my annual " Panda Pilgrimage" to Zoo Atlanta in early March. I was at the National Zoo in 2001, SDZ in 2002. Just have to work in a trip to Memphis sometime.
February 12th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
This topic really makes me laugh! My husband and kids have at times called me NUTS but they have gotten used to it now. I envy all of you who have seen them in person. I threaten to take a PANDA VACATION to all 4 zoos and drag my husband along. I'm proud to say that my 2 1/2 yr. old grandson and 2 yr. old grandaughter are now pandaholics too! When they visit they always say " Grandma, let's go see the pandas" and climb up on the chair in front of the computer! They have even named my stuffed toy pandas Su Lin and Tai Shan. What better thing to teach them!!!
February 12th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
I just noticed the latest weight measurement taken on Gao Gao and Mei Sheng. It looks like Mei Sheng will grow to be big like his mom!
Thanks for updating the info!
February 13th, 2007 at 1:02 am
I have to admit. I am hooked on the panda cam. After reading your blog, I am going to get a season pass to the Atl zoo. I have Mei Lan 15 miles from my home and I haven't seen her yet. Thanks to everyone who posts. Love the China Bear.
February 13th, 2007 at 8:26 am
I have to laugh. I missed the whole Hua Mei thing probably because my granddaughter was born 3 days later and I was kind of tied up with that. However I started watching the cam from the minute Mei Sheng was born and have had all the cams on my desktop since then. I check in with all of them daily. Now when I make the 5 hour drive to PA to see my granddaughter, the first thing I do is get on the computer and check the cams. The last time I did it, I could hear my granddaughter Megan yelling through the house " Mom….Grammy's checking the Panda's on the computer again!!" "
February 13th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
First of all thank you again for all your efforts to make the pandas available via webcam to us viewers who are unable to visit the pandas. I could not agree more! These lovely bears seem to " grow more and more" on me every day. Having been a keen catlover all my life, i. e. keeping (live) cats and also having a large collection of cats I have now started to collect pandas as well in the form of plush toys, artefacts, pictures etc. The first time I fell in love with pandas was about 20 years ago when I was given original Chinese papercuts of panda bears by a friend who used to live in China. Whenever looking at them now picturing mother and baby panda I have to think of Bai Yun and Su Lin who have definitely found a special place in my heart.
February 13th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Great blog, Kay!! I'm not sure how it happened, but I've been obsessed with the black and white sweeties for half my life now! When I come to the Zoo, I walk straight to the panda exhibit, stand there for a minimum of 3 hours, shop in the panda gift shop, then leave! I think I'm verifiably hooked! I've watched the Panda Cam since Hua Mei was born and it's most definitely one of the websites I visit on a daily basis. One of my goals is to some day, some way, be able to hold a panda..Just in case you'd ever like to move to Dallas for awhile, I'd be glad to switch jobs with you!
Thanks so much for the great info we get from you all so frequently!!
February 13th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
What's with the keeper flagging the bamboo at 12:45 PM PST? She then put her hands on her hips and looked up into the tree, so my guess is she wanted Su Lin to come down so she could clean up her exhibit, but she declined. Guess those trees are too inviting! She sure seems happy up a tree.
February 13th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
A question and a comment, please.
To Kathi from Dallas (#12): How have you managed to admire our panda friends for three hours at a time? After about 15 minutes or so, that security guy asks everyone to move along…and this has been when the area was uncrowded. So I've gone out and come back in, but would love to just stay and enjoy.
My comment is actually another question (LOL): Is there a way to regulate the speed of the time lapse video? It moves awfully fast and i just wondered how to slow it down for more enjoyment. I've asked this before, with no answer, and don't know exactly where is the proper place to ask. (have emailed the " zoo information" few weeks ago and not heard).
Thank you again, SDZ, for the wonderful opportunity to visit with the pandas online.
Aloha,
Noreen.
Moderator's note: We have the time lapse feature set at the particular frames per minute because of our high bandwidth usage for the Panda Cam overall. We could either sacrifice the quality of the live cam and slow down the time lapse, or leave the live stream quality as is, as we believe most people prefer.
February 13th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
When I am away from home the thing I miss the most is checking up on the panda events of that day and seeing the pandaCAM. It is like my night-time ritual. I have a hard time going to sleep without it!
I guess it is similar to reading a bedtime story each night.
So, thanks for being there for me each night so I can sleep peacefully with visions of pandas dancing in my head.
February 14th, 2007 at 11:10 am
Have you noticed how US panda mothers have perfected the art of eating while their cubs play with them?In the past couple of weeks I was watching Su Lin wrestle and play with Bai Yun while she kept on eating. Tai Shan was just climbing all over his mother and she held on to her fruitcicle even when he was pulling and biting her hind legs and rolling her over. He often climbs all over her head while she is propped against a log, and she keeps on munching her bamboo. Mei Lan climbs all over her mother, and she just keeps chomping on her bamboo.
Their constant need to eat so much bamboo in a day is definitely a motivator, plus returning the play would burn up far more calories than eating does. Besides, since all three cubs are still nursing, mom needs the scant nutrition found in food to keep them both going strong.
February 14th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
My extensive research revealed that (ahem!) the time lapse video isn't really a video. It's more an animation. It consists of a series of screen captures (every 2 minutes). The speed really depends on your internet speed. If you have a really fast connection, it goes really fast. If you have a super slow dial up, it goes really slow. If you think the " video" is too fast, well, blame it on your ISP for such fast connection! You can always go to your internet cache folder (temporary internet files) to retrieve screen shots for each frame, if you are interested.
Oh, and I only take about 1,000 giant panda photos (and a couple of hundred more of other animals) during my typical visits to the SDZ. Hardly obsessed. Really. Going round and round the exhibit is good for you. You get to walk a lot! And of course, you get to find something new about our pandas on every round.
February 14th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Sayuri - your blogs always make me smile… you seem like a very charming person. I hope to meet you one day at the zoo - perhaps while we are both doing laps through the panda exhibit ; ) And it seems true about the time lapse. At work, it goes too fast for me to really follow - but at home, it's quite a bit slower - so I can get a much better view of my furry friends and see how their day went. They really are a joy to watch. I hope the valentine cupid left them a little extra something sweet today.
February 16th, 2007 at 4:19 am
I'm a great panda fan from a far country, Poland. I'm panda mesmerized too. Thanks for your great update, I agree with you 100%. But if I ever go to San Diego i will stay all day and look at our pandas, and you will have to throw me out of the Zoo:) Thank you for your great job, friends!
February 19th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Hi Noreen #14!
It's hard not to find a prime spot and just stay there for hours!
Sometimes I'll just circle around, but if the exhibit isn't overwhelmingly busy, I can find a little spot in a corner somewhere, in order to stay out of the way of other folks and watch our black and white friends! Like Sayuri, I take tons of photos, so I try to find an out of the way perch to hang out in for awhile! But, I do gets lots of exercise walking around in circles!