Panda Cub Updates

Monday, August 29

Happy Birthday pandas! This is a fun time because every panda is getting a special treat to celebrate his or her special day. Lun Lun recieved some great gifts to destroy and an ice cake. Right now we are gearing up for Xi Lan's birthday, which is on Tuesday the 30th. He will receive an ice cake and a toy rattle made out of bamboo and paper mache. The rattle was inspired by one of our guests.A little girl visiting the pandas dropped off a present for Xi Lan a few days ago and we took a little peak inside to see an adorable baby rattle made out of a stick and some colored balls. Jen and I decided that we were going to make a copy of this toy that was panda proof and offer it to Xi Lan on his birthday. Thanks for being so thoughtful! I hope he enjoys it as much as his little brother enjoyed Lun Lun’s ice cake. Check out Xi Lan’s birthday surprises on Tuesday on PandaCam.
Sheena Braman
Keeper I, Mammals

Check out the panda antics from Lun Lun's birthday

ZA Lun's Birthday < ZA's Video Link

Happy Lun
Happy Po

:movie: 8/23/11~Oh! Po!~7.22 min. < Video Link

This is from before the end of the cam day a week ago: Mama Lun trying to get sleepy:blink: Po:dry: to leave the dayroom :huh: Gr8 & patient Mama and gr8 cubbie.

Panda Cub Updates


August 30

HAPPY BIRTHDAY XI LAN!


Wednesday, August 31
Xi Lan had a really fun birthday yesterday! He loved all of the enrichment items we made for him. He shredded his paper mache and bamboo “rattle” immediately to retrieve the biscuits hidden inside. Then he ate some of the bamboo that made the rattle’s handle. Since eating is much more important than playing for a panda, Xi Lan climbed up into the structure and ripped open the large paper bag filled with hay and biscuits. After another bamboo snack, he was ready to play. He rolled all over the room with his ice cake, rubbing himself all over it, especially the Tabasco-scented tier. I guess he got some Tabasco on his fur because he continued the self-anointing behavior even when he was on the other side of the room from the ice cake. Finally, he ate the bamboo candles on top of the cake. After all that activity he was wiped out and took a long nap. However, he must have started the party up again long after I had gone for the day because he slept in late this morning and his dayroom was a wreck!
Heather Baker Roberts
Carnivore Keeper II[/b]

:movie: Happy 3rd Birthday, Xi Lan! < Doxie's Video Link Doxie

:movie: 8/29/11~Po & Mama Lun...~4.25 min.<Video Link

..go inside & outside. Po explores the pool, and seems to try to see if he can back into it on the left, but ends up going down the ramp on the right. Then he checks out a tree for future climbing ~& Lun is always near~& he usually is right behind her. It is gr8 to see him enjoying the outside~he hasn't been able to much, with the hot summer.

Happy 5th Birthday to Wonderfully Beautiful Mei Lan, physically in China, but still here in our hearts & fondest memories

Panda Cub Updates

Friday, September 2
Are you watching Po right now on PandaCam? I am! I rarely get to check out what he's doing on the camera and all of you panda fans are right, it's pretty fun! Even though I usually collect data using the very same camera system, it looks different from some reason on the website. And it's hard for me to watch this way, because I can't control the camera from here like I can from the Zoo! I missed my data collection sessions the past two weeks (shame on me, but I had good reasons), so I haven't spent nearly as much time watching Po as I would like. Right now he's working on what looks like Arrow bamboo. Of course he's much less efficient with his bamboo than the adults and he's spending a lot of time manipulating it and mouthing it. But still, it's progress. I can't see Lun Lun in the shot right now, but given the time of day, I can guess what she's doing: eating or sleeping. Well, maybe that has nothing to do with the time of day...
Megan Wilson, Ph.D.
Assistant Curator of Mammals

Wednesday, August 31
Xi Lan had a really fun birthday yesterday! He loved all of the enrichment items we made for him. He shredded his paper mache and bamboo “rattle” immediately to retrieve the biscuits hidden inside. Then he ate some of the bamboo that made the rattle’s handle. Since eating is much more important than playing for a panda, Xi Lan climbed up into the structure and ripped open the large paper bag filled with hay and biscuits. After another bamboo snack, he was ready to play. He rolled all over the room with his ice cake, rubbing himself all over it, especially the Tabasco-scented tier. I guess he got some Tabasco on his fur because he continued the self-anointing behavior even when he was on the other side of the room from the ice cake. Finally, he ate the bamboo candles on top of the cake. After all that activity he was wiped out and took a long nap. However, he must have started the party up again long after I had gone for the day because he slept in late this morning and his dayroom was a wreck!
Heather Baker Roberts
Carnivore Keeper II

8/30/11~Xi Lan's 3rd B'day`ZA's Video < Video Link ~53 sec.

Panda Cub Updates

Wednesday, September 7
Pandas love cool weather. After months and months of hot humid days, yesterday we are able to put Xi Lan outside for the afternoon. The rain and storms that passed through Atlanta the past two days made the weather cool off enough for him to go outside, which he really enjoyed. He was able to feel the cool, wet ground underneath his paws and just chill and eat some bamboo. He also spent some time reclaiming his habitat by scent-marking the rocks.
Katie Gatlin
Mammal Keeper 1

Tuesday, September 6
The past few days in the giant panda area have been different… On Wednesday we let Lun Lun and Po spend the day in Dayroom 2, rotating the pandas around like normal. Everything was great until we tried to bring Lun Lun and Po in that night. Po had no desire to leave the climbing structure and Lun Lun was not in the mood to go up that structure to get her unyielding cub. So we let them have access to an off-exhibit den for the night; no big deal! Well, at some point Po decided that Dayroom 2 was awesome, and he had no desire at all to come down from the structure (I'm sure he came down at some point because he needed to nurse, we just weren't there to see it). So Lun Lun and Po spent three days in Dayroom 2 because he didn't feel like cooperating. He lost one of his baby teeth around the same time. Maybe he didn't feel so well because of that and felt safe and comfortable up in the structure. He finally came down Saturday morning (day 4) thanks to his mom's coercing and the rotating schedule is back to normal; we hope. Po is definitely over whatever problem he was having because he's been nothing but playful since coming down. He even went outside Sunday morning! It's always interesting to see how different all of the cubs that have been born here are. I'm told Mei Lan and Xi Lan didn’t camp out like that, but Po is a unique individual. He's still cute and we still love him, even if he decides to “pitch tent” somewhere for 3 days!
Jen Webb
Keeper I, Carnivores

Panda Cub Updates

Friday, September 9

Happy Birthday Yang Yang! Our biggest panda turned 14 today!

To celebrate it, all of the panda keepers got together once again to construct an ice cake. Sheena (our newest panda keeper) was the mastermind behind this ice cake and Yang certainly enjoyed it! The base layer had some apples frozen on the bottom and a middle layer of tabasco sauce, which he went crazy over!. The top tier of the cake (supported by bamboo stalks as the pillars) had some more frozen apples and bamboo leaves. We put the ice cake in Dayroom 1 and Yang Yang played with this for a good 10 minutes, alternating between rolling around on the cake, rubbing it all over himself, and then playing with the new 'beach ball' we gave him. After that excitement was over, we placed his bamboo and a large paper bag (painted for his special day) filled with treats and hay in Dayroom 2 and watched as he went straight for the bag to rip it open. It was a lot of fun to see Yang Yang, who is pushing 300 lbs, playing like a cub and enjoying his birthday.

He eventually settled down to eating some fresh bamboo, which brings me to Po. The weather has been beautiful here the past few days and we were able to let Lun Lun and Po be in one of the outdoor habitats all day; Xi Lan was in the other outdoor habitat. I thought for sure that Po would have crashed mid afternoon with how rambunctious he was throughout the morning, but he didn’t. He was a little ball of energy all day! We were able to put them outside again today and he's a little less hyper but was still inspecting every nook and cranny. I wish these days would stay but the heat is forecasted to come back. I can't wait for the fall!
Jen Webb
Keeper I, Carnivores