Panda updates minus some outstanding photos:Friday, September 16
Happy Friday from the nursery! It has been a week since I have seen these little twins, and I am always impressed with how quickly they are growing and getting their nice black coloring. Before we know it they will look like full-on pandas. The tiny ball of fur version, of course. As I am writing this I am very distracted by our cameras where I can watch the hilarious antics of the twins’ older siblings. Mei Lun and Mei Huan were battling it out on the top of the structure in Dayroom One to see which panda could hold onto the top spot the longest. It looked like Mei Lun was losing. But I digress. Back to nursery life! Lun's appetite is continuing to come back, and this week she is choosing to culm the bamboo we are offering her. That means that she is preferring to eat the stalk rather than the leaves. During feedings we also offer some of her biscuits and produce, all of which she loves. Sometimes she will try to get biscuits and produce without eating her bamboo. Today we enjoyed a big laugh when I offered her a piece of bamboo, and she threw it away and looked at me for a biscuit. She needs to eat the bamboo to help with her digestion, so I gave her the hand signal for "bamboo" and asked her to go eat some. She knows that if she does this she will then get a biscuit. She promptly sat up, found her discarded bamboo, and ate it eagerly. Followed up, of course, by a biscuit.
Jenny E.
Lead Keeper, Carnivores
Thursday, September 15
By now the cubs have gotten big enough to be able to see on PandaCam, but they do still hide either when nursing from Lun Lun or napping under mom’s chin. In the case of the photo of Lun Lun with Cub A, peeking out from Lun’s belly. I personally can’t believe how quickly they are growing and am so excited to see them each morning. In just 12 short hours they have gotten bigger and darker, slowly looking more and more like pandas (and less like naked mole rats). To answer a few of the common questions I’ve been getting: the yellow cords you see in some of the incubator pictures are temperature sensors. Because giant panda cubs get cold so easily, we closely monitor the temperature and humidity inside the incubators and the body temperature of each cub. We also weigh them, a lot! To ensure they are getting enough milk from Lun Lun we weigh them when they go in with mom and on their way out. Cub A (pictured here) is still a little smaller than Cub B, but catching up fast. Never a dull day in the nursery!
Stephanie B.
Curator of Mammals
Wednesday, September 14
Greetings from the "other side!” While the nursery keepers and vet staff (and mom Lun Lun) are busy bees caring for the these new little nuggets, those of us taking care of the "other pandas" have been having nice, relaxing days. With only two groups of pandas, and those pandas wanting to only eat the leaves off the bamboo, routine has been pretty easy. So much so that we've had extra time to spend on cleaning, enrichment and my never-ending side projects. We also make sure we train and socialize with the pandas every day since we've been housing them all in the dayrooms overnight. Why, you ask? Well, easy-peasy as things are, we're a little cramped back here since the front of the building is being used by the panda nursery team. So, it's easier to keep our one off-habitat den clean and empty all the time when servicing the bears. But, while that makes routine easier, Heather and Shauna (who work the night-owl nursery shifts) have been going through a bit of withdrawal not seeing these pandas. So, to change things up, we randomly house someone in an off-habitat area overnight for a change of scenery, and so they get a little extra attention when the nursery keepers pass by on their quest for fresh bamboo for Lun. For the "other pandas,” life is pretty much status quo ... but I'm looking forward to my turn working some nursery shifts!
Jen W.
Keeper III, Mammals