Where's that bamboo?
Recently, one of our readers asked us how much bamboo Yun Zi is eating at this point. At nearly a year of age, our littlest panda is beginning to use this foodstuff as a source of daily calories. Although this is a recent development for him, he has been engaged with bamboo for many months.
Our research on Bai Yun’s first three cubs has shown that investigation of, and play with, bamboo begins as young as four months (see graph below). The cubs will sniff, paw, and mouth the plant as they explore their environment. They even sit down and mimic their mother, practicing chewing and grasping the leaves in little rolls. All of this practice becomes important later on, as good food-handling skills can increase the efficiency with which a bear can process bamboo. That’s important, considering that the plant is not nutrient dense; pandas must ingest a lot each day to meet their caloric needs.
The need to develop good food handling skills is only part of the reason that panda cubs don’t routinely ingest bamboo at a young age. The other reason is hardware; or rather, lack thereof. Young pandas simply do not have the appropriate teeth for grinding and processing bamboo. These teeth erupt late in the first year, making it possible for the bear cubs to begin extracting nutrition from the plant.
Once bamboo feeding begins in earnest, there is a lengthy period of mixed feeding that follows. During this time, the cub is ingesting both milk and bamboo. The weaning window at about 18 months corresponds with the time when a cub is fully capable of meeting his or her nutritional needs without milk. However, we have seen with our recently weaned cubs that they typically spend more time feeding on bamboo than our adults do. This indicates that the cubs still haven’t developed adult-level proficiency in processing the food quickly at that age. It appears to take another six months or so before their feeding time is comparable to that of an adult.
Suzanne Hall is a senior research technician for the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research.
When do we get postcards back? Why can’t we take them in the first place? Can we take postcards on the panda’s birthdays? Thanks for the cool blog! I was wondering when babies started to eat bamboo!
Moderator’s note: The “new” Panda Cam” page is just to help promote the Panda Birthday Week. You can still access the “normal” Panda Cam page for the postcard, time lapse, and Cam IDs at: http://www.sandiegozoo.org/pandacam/index2010.html
The new ‘birthday’ page is stunning!! Love the red, black and white.
Interesting post… never thought about important it is that pandas develop good hand (paw) skills.
I was wondering when and if the cubs start to eat their mamas’ leafeater biscuits and fruit. I realize these aren’t given to cubs until they’re older, but do they occasionally get hold of mama’s and nibble on a few?
Moderator’s note: They do try to sample anything Mom eats
Thank you Suzanne this updates is very interesting again and we learn something about Panda.
I am already glad on birthday-week and also hope online to see something.
Thank you for many interesting blogs, dear greetings everybody from Vienna
I bought a bamboo plant today.
I found out about the life cycle of bamboo in the wild. It goes though a process of “die off” when the bamboo becomes no longer alive, and in a few months or weeks, it comes back to life. I found this out at the library in a panda book. That is when pandas find other foods, like bugs (gross I know), fruits, veggies, and maybe meat if some is availabe. And when I was at the store in the make up place, I saw some makeup face powder in a bamboo case, and it said Bamboo on the package, I also saw lots of other things made from bamboo, cutting boards (big thick bamboo cutting board), makeup, cooking sticks, and I know people make floors out of bamboo, I wanted bamboo stuff, but that might have been a pandas lunch. I really hope they don’t take bamboo to make stuff, they try to make it eco, and earth friendly, so they don’t cut down trees (animals habit) but they are ether taking food, or home away from animals, includeing pandas. I so hope they will stop cutting down bamboo and grow there own bamboo and take there bamboo they grow and make stuff out of it. Like your own bamboo garden, to make stuff like make up cases or cutting boards out of it. I hope logging and cutting down bamboo will STOP. Because pandas all ready have to deal with “die off” with bamboo. Why make it harder on them. And I hope logging will stop too, don’t distroy there habit home. I might write a book called “Save the Pandas” I know that title has all ready been used but, they mostly talk about logging, and I know that is inportant but I wish they would have said something about cutting down bamboo. Or at least make fake bamboo cutting boards or makeup cases.
Here are some links for bamboo “die off”
msnbc (dot) msn.com/id/21768608/
articles (dot) latimes (dot) com/2005/mar/28/world/fg-briefs28.2
rps (dot) psu (dot) edu/mar94/panda.html
Moderator’s note: Britney, I don’t believe bamboo used to make these products is the same as the bamboo pandas like to eat, but I’ll forward your concern to the Panda Team for clarification.
I have read in previous posts that since Pandas have evolved into a more vegetarian diet that to be able to digest all that fiber, they have this mucous thing.. (Sorry for the nonscientific wording)… My question is at what point do the Pandas have this mucous? Are they born with it or does it develop as they start sampling?
Do the SDZ pandas get the springtime “sprouts” that I’ve read that the other zoo pandas enjoy?
Thanks for the post, I’ve been wondering when cubs begin eating bamboo.
Anyway, I love the new Panda Cam Page with the colors and everything. I can’t wait for all of the panda birthdays next week, and the live panda chat! I’ve made a birthday poem for Yun Zi, which I’ll post next week, of course.
I enjoyed the videos of Xi Lan on his large hammock. At the rate Yun Zi is growing, he might too want one of that same design. Would be fun to watch.
AND AFTER WE FEED THEM ALL OF THAT “BOO” THEY GIVE US SOME LITTLE prizes too, and you can read about it here—more births at the Chinese breeding centers.
sn113w (dot) snt113 (dot) mail (dot) live.com/default.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0
to make the link work remove spaces and (dot) replace with periof.
#5 BRITNEY WE HAVE LOTS OF SOURCES TO INVESTIGATE ABOUT BAMBOO……even our own blog. If you check the dates on the ones you sent you would see that they are from 2007 to 1994 old. I hope that a lot more research has been done by now to ensure that no Panda ever goes hungry.
China pandas threatened by bamboo die-off
Plant’s natural cycle compounds problems caused by loss of habitat
updated 11/13/2007 1:12:32 PM ET
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bamboo Die-Off Threatens Wild Pandas
The World | IN BRIEF / CHINA
March 28, 2005|From Times Wire Reports
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Peace and Bamboo” by: Kimi Eisele (Research/Penn State, Vol. 15, no. 1 (March, 1994))
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://blogs.sandiegozoo.org/blog/2010/04/14/all-about-bamboo/ April 14 2010
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://blogs.sandiegozoo.org/?s=PANDA+BAMBOO+DIET
July 23, 2010
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Number 4 in the list is one that we had just a short time ago—-the other one has several spots from our blog, and I did not have time to go througth each of them, so I hope I do not send you down a bunch of wrong roads.
I was amazed to find out that corn is a grass, then to find out that bamboo is also…..but when they toldl us that sugar can is also aa grass I didn’t think my head would ever stop spinning. So I guess we need to find a bamboo that combines just enough corn and cane sugar in it to make the Pandas love it and they will always be happy. In the Panda Bread made for the breeding centers and zoos in China they already use corn meal and bamboo—we would not want to have so much sugar that they would loose their teeth…..but maybe a little bit every day or two??? Not all of the few species of Bamboo that the pandas do eat die off all at once, so we never have to worry that they will all starve, either in managed care or in the wild…..someday there may be “Bamboo Drops” over wild Panda areas, just like we do with hay and feed over blizzard areas to feed out cattle that are in widespread areas of most of our upper states. I bet that over the next few days we get lots of link to look up, and we get outselves quite an education in the grass game….Love Grammmie
#2 AUNTIE JACKIE Yes paw-eye coordination is very important—-how else will he be able to handle a joystic whether playing a game or being a pilot for a space schuttle flight. Our Pandas are not here just to be pretty…they have special jobs too.
#3 KJ The babies get to eat the same snackies as momma as soon as they learn to chew and swallow faster than momma can get to them. Yunior has tried to hide them…she was quick to search the inside of his mouth, and if she can smell it she will have it even if she has to hold him upside down and give him a shake.
I AM DOING THINGS RATHER LATE TODAY…and just now looked at the Pandas Live On blog to see the nice little write up got for birthday week. I guess the Keepers will need to make more ice cakes for Visiting Pandas and Staff regular ones for the Hoomans visitors. Now I need to know if we need to book Rita Petita for photography and will there be a red Carpet set-up? If there are any questions about how a Red Carpet Thing is run just scroll back to one of the times it was used in a Lucilla Story–she knows about these things.
feeds (dot) feedburner (dot) com/PandasLiveOn
Repair link by removing all spaces and (dot) and replace with a period.
Suzanne, by your experiences with 4 cubs, what would be the right time to feed extra food like bamboo biscuits to the cub? CMZ panda keeper won’t allow LP to eat the biscuits yet, no matter how much LP loves those yummy biscuits.
At the first few days when CMZ let LH and LP stay in their new exhibit by themselves, the keeper placed bamboos and bamboo biscuits in different spots for LH. But LP’s always ahead of LH to find the biscuits…well..finder is keeper…that’s the rule…..come and see how much she enjoyed her bamboo biscuits; (Later on the keeper decided to hand feed those biscuits to LH instead of placing them in the exhibit.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYVfS3DRMeE
Leslie – They haven’t came up with any theory yet. I doubted that because there’re many new faces humans (who’re attending the volunteer program) in there. LP may want to get their attentions or curious to know what’s going on.
I have watched the pandas growing on your web cams for many years It still amazes me how those big furry bears seem to just walk up a tree. it is surly not climbing. as there does not seem be any effort in their journey.
Dear Moderator,
I used to live on the panda cam and blogs but life and my health has prevented me from enjoying it for a number of months. I so miss baby Yun Zi and his beautiful mommy, Bai Yun. I frequently look at his picture I got in the package when I adopted him. I don’t know when the format changed, but we used to be able to scroll down when watching the live cam so we could tell which panda we were watching. I’m sorry for being a bother, is there anywhere I can go to find the list of which cam is on which of our beautiful pandas? Thanks for your help.
Sincerely,
Phyllis
Moderator’s note: Welcome back, Phyllis! Please note that the “new” Panda Cam” page is just to help promote the Panda Birthday Week. You can still access the “normal” Panda Cam page for the Cam IDs, postcard, and time lapse features at: http://www.sandiegozoo.org/pandacam/index2010.html
‘Thank you’ for the wonderful updates to the SDZ staff…the camera work right now is awesome…King Kool on his throne…momma Bai in the background resting…thank you to all the bloggers for sharing their thoughts, videos, pictures, links…just enjoy everyone, I do!
#14 KAthy Perhaps what we see are magical Pandas. After all, by now the “Beloved Panda King” has had enough time to teach them both magic and tree top reboundding and in Zhen Zhen’s case “how to trim a tree without the regular tools the silly “Hoomans” have to use.
Next Semester Professor Panda King will make ZZ his assistant and have her do all of the Climbing, Summersaulting, Tree Bouncing, in short all of the activities she loves and excells at. They do not know that she would have done it for free—-since she loves an audience.
#15 PHYLLIS It is nice to meet you. I live in the greater San Diego Area and I did not discover the Pands cam until the day Yun Zi was born. I have the web cam on in a small window all of the time I have the computer on and glance at it ever few minutes—-so he has been well covered since his birth. Right now he is on the “Stone Throne” playing with a piece of bamboo and his feetsies. It is nice to see you back.
I’m still trying to figure out how I can tell who is who… Would I be correct that Zhen’s ears are closer together than SuLins? I think Yunnie’s are farther apart than Bai’s and more like Gao’s…
Thanks, Suzanne, for another very imformative post. Happy Birthday to all the SDZ pandas, whether they are still in residence or have moved abroad to BiFengxia.
News from Pandas International! Just checked the PI website, and Ju Zhao became a first time mom with the birth of twins this month (July)! Ju readily accepted the first cub, and the vet staff at Bifengxia are taking care of her second cub. Both are doing well so far, and they don’t know the gender of the 2 cubs yet.
Noticed that you all have written a new article about bamboo feeding basics to the pandas. It’s a very interesting article especially when it deals with when a baby panda starts to eat the boo and gradually gets used to it and eats more of the boo everyday. This is when the cubs start to discover the types of bamboo that the keepers will offer them everyday. I have read a few articles from the Atlanta Zoo panda page about how the keepers feed bamboo to their 3 pandas. Their articles can be a little bit funny when they have to pretty much guess as to which bamboo species the pandas like and will eat every day. All 3 of their pandas can get a little bit picky about the type of boo that they get, so the keepers at AZ are constantly on their toes trying to see what the pandas will eat on a daily basis. Hopefully, Bai, Gao, Su, ZZ, and Yuni won’t get too picky about their bamboo choices! Especially Yuni since he is just getting started on eating bamboo everyday while still drinking milk from mom. I’m sure that he will figure out the types of boo that’s available to him and what they taste like before too much longer.
Can’t wait for the panda birthday week! Gonna be alot of fun watching Su, ZZ, and Yuni get their bday cakes and presents full of snackies!
Well, gonna go for now! Will check back in later!
Chari Mercier
St. Pete, FL
‘HIYAH, buddy! How’s it going?’
‘Hey, Chuang my man!’ The two pandas, Gao Gao and Chuang Chuang, give each other a slap on the back and laughingly compare their boo bellies/
‘Brought the boo beer you wanted!’ and Chuang Chuang hands over a 6 pack of boo beer from a special brewery in Chiang Mai.
‘Owe you one, man. Heavenly! Thanks. My little lady is preparing the barbeque together with the girls over there.’
‘Woah, Bai is a great cook. Can’t wait!’
‘My 2 girls are picking up her skills too. Su Lin is good. ZZ is great with desserts. She loves to make cakes and fruisicles. Hey, I’m not complaining,’ grins Gao Gao.
‘Hello, Uncle Gao Gao’, greets Lin Ping with a huge pink bow round her neck as she stands on her hind legs to reach out to give Uncle Gao a hug.
HEEEEEEY, PING!!!!! yells Yunnie as he trots over to greet his cousin. They two trot off as Yunnie wants to show off his enrichment toys to his cousin.
Lin Hui is carrying a huge bowl. She waves to Bai and greets Gao.
‘Is that what I think it is, Hui Hui?’ asks Gao Gao in glee.
‘Yup, your favourite! Tom Yam Bamboo with extra spices,’ Ling Hui replies, ‘and I also have pomelo salad and green papaya salad!’
‘PARTY!’ smiles Gao Gao.
Soon both familes were gathered round the table groaning with delicacies. Just as Bai returns after touching up. Gao smiles as he notices she has on ‘Bamboo passion’ her fav lipstick colour and he could smell ‘Clouds of Desire,’ her scent! He could not help but think I am one lucky guy. I really hit the jackpot with her.
As Bai starts to speak, ‘Come lets eat….’ Gao raises his paw for silence.
‘We have more guests!’ he declares.
‘More guests???’
‘Yes!’
‘SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SU, ZZ, YUNNIE and BAI BAI!!!!’ there are whoops of laughter and loud cheers as Mei Xiang, Tian Tian, Xi Lan, Lun Lun, Yang Yang, Ye Ye and Le Le appear bearing gifts and more food! All of them wearing bright party hats and carrying bamboo noise makers.
‘What is this?’ asks Bai still stunned. Mei Xiang goes to hug her and says, ‘Gao called us as he wanted to surprise you and the cubbies with a surprise birthday party! Tai Shan managed to get a plane and picked us all up. He is landing the plane and joining us later.’
‘But but…’ Bai was at a loss for words.
‘Honey, I know your birthday is a little later but I thot you’d want to celebrate with the girls and Yunnie.
Gao Gao looks into his wife’s beautiful face and she gives him a kiss.
‘Thank you and I love you!’ his wife says quietly.
Yunnie shouts, ‘PARTY TIME! A one, a two and a three!’ At that signal, the Panda Girls come together and sing a special song for Bai composed by Yunni who accompanies them on his bamboo flute.
After that, the party went into full swing and all the pandas just danced and sang and told stories and drank bamboo syrup and ate….it was the party of a lifetime. The event was covered by Weeta Pawtita of course with Pawxie Mom doing videos.
When it came to cake time, all the 4 birthday bears had their own cake, each flavoured with their favourite fruits. There were sqeals of laughter as it was Yunnie’s first birthday and he was all over his cake and bits stuck to his fur and he was giggling so much as Ping tried to remove all the fruit stuck to him. Su ate hers delicately while ZZ broke hers up and shared them round.
It was reported by some bloggers who looked at the Panda Cam then that they thought there was a Panda Invasion! However out of sight of the cameras, Bai and Gao shared a quiet moment together.
‘Sweetheart, what you did was amazing!’ gushed Bai.
‘Nothing but the best for my Baibee, hee hee,’ replied Gao Gao as he holds her paw and gives her a squeeze, ‘Nothing but the best for a wonderful wife and a great mother!’
‘I second that!’ yells Yunnie who jumps between his parents with a big grin. ‘What are you doing here by yourselves? Come and dance!’
The parents smile knowingly at each other as they hold their cubby’s paws and rejoin the party of year.
The End
Hi y’all,
Fun Facts of Thai Panda Family are back;
Every CMZ panda keepers agree that Lin Hui’s chewing sounds are louder than Chuang Chuang’s. CK, Tae speaks to Lin Ping everyday not to make noisy chewing sounds like her mama ’cause it’s not a good manner for a lady……_/*o*\_
CC’s bed is always cleaner than LH’s. Why’s that? While CC’s sleeping, he likes to jut his butt off the edge of his bed that makes it easy for him to dump his poo on the floor rather than on his bed.
The fun facts are for entertaining only, please don’t ever try to relate them to any scientific panda data base……Hee Hee Hee (can i borrow the laugh just this once, Lucilla?)
Happy August! I am so excited for the birthdays this week! Su Lin’s is tomorrow, I can’t wait! Su is getting her cake in the morning, so around 9 or 10? And then the others are getting them at different times. I wish I could see them at the SDZ, my friend is going to San Diego and she’s going to the Zoo, so I told her to go on either August 2, 3 or 5
Lucilla–sounds like a great party for a deserving bear. I hope Mei Sheng and Hua Mei got to come too.
Happy Birthday to all the pandas this week!!!!!!
It’s a slow, cloudy afternoon in NYC and I just reviewed some of Ling Ping’s videos. She’s absolutely a hoot! Her antics and energy remind me of ZZ. And she sure loves Dr. Goi; so funny when she pushed her down the slide, but wouldn’t go herself. Hope she can make it to the birthday celebrations this week. Thanks Weegee for all the links.
Very interesting graph – what is the unit on the y-axis?
Thanks!
Moderator’s note: Oops! I didn’t realize that info got cut off! The side represents “percent time.”
The world of pandas is such a small world… I was reading the latest news on pandanews(dot)org about the panda cubs baby boom, the latest news is that Fei Fei gave birth to a cub on Friday, July 30 in Bifengxia. Fei Fei had mated naturally with Lu Lu in March. The funny part is that Lu Lu had naturally mated with Ying Ying in 2009; Ying Ying is the female panda that Mei Sheng also mated with in 2009. Ying Ying gave birth to a female panda named Shen Bin in 2009, but I don’t think a DNA analysis has been done to determine the paternity. Fei Fei’s daddy is the famous Pan Pan, so the number of Pan Pan’s descendants keeps growing.
Lu Lu also happened to be the father of Fu Ni, now in Australia with her partner Wang Wang.
The other coincidence to this story is that Fu Ni is the older sister of Shui Ling who recently died at the Beijing Zoo. Shortly after Shui Ling’s passing, Long Xin, Shui Ling and Fu Ni’s mother, gave birth to a cub in Wolong.
I was reading about Nigel Marven working on a 5 part series about giant pandas in the Daily Mail www(dot)dailymail(dot)co(dot)uk/news/article-1299119/The-baby-panda-factory-Inside-extraordinary-breeding-centre-China-mass-producing-infant-pandas.html
after reading about it on the Pandas Live On website. I would like to know from our friends in the UK if this is a project from the UK. If it is, I hope it will be shown in the US as well.
I read about another story about pandas on the same website www(dot)dailymail(dot)co(dot)uk /news/worldnews/article-1298138/Welcome-world-Heart-warming-pictures-giant-panda-tenderly-washing-newborn-cub.html It is about Ju Xiao giving birth to twins in Bifengxia on July 27, 2010, she is a first time mom. She was mated with Wu Gang both naturally and by artificial insemination in March.
For those of you new at watching pandas and who might not have seen the birth of a cub, don’t miss the last picture, the track on the ground that Ju Xiao is cleaning will give you an idea about how far a cub can be “launched” into his or her new world… As it is often the case when pandas give birth to twins, Ju Xiao is taking care of the first born cub and the keepers are taking care of the second born male cub in the nursery.
But Wu Gang is not a first time daddy, besides being the father of other cubs, he is the father of Wu Jun and Wu Jie, cousins and room mates of Fu Long in Bifengxia, Fu Long was born in Vienna, Austria.
It doesn’t matter how many times I watch the birth of a cub or see pictures of new born panda cubs, I still can’t believe that those pink butter sticks will develop in those magnificent black and white pandas with different features and personalities…
Weegee or Danielle: I just watched a Daily HiLight of Lin Ping dated 8-1-10. They weighed her (she gets carried out in a pink bigger basket now!! ). Could one of you convert her weight to pounds? Thank You…
Lin Ping gets the command to lay over on her left side… can’t figure out how to do the opposite side yet…
“Her Daddy” visited her in her exhibit as well… Maybe part of the Thail Lent festivities?
#21 & 22 Lucilla – Oh. my, what a great story! My mouth watered at the mention of pomelo and green papaya salads – I love both, can never get enough! Thank you for sharing your talent so willingly. You are closing in on 70 stories so far since your first one in February. Keep them coming, please!
I cannot find this anywhere, maybe im not looking right.
What time are the panda bday cakes being presented on each day?
Moderator’s note: Around 9 a.m. today for Su Lin; noonish for Zhen Zhen and Yun Zi’s cakes on their special days.
2 August 2010
HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! S*U*L*I*N
************************************
Happy 5th Birthday Su Lin! May you have a long and healthy life.
HAPPY HAPPY BEARDAY SWEET SU!
A very Happy Birthday to Su Lin.
Happy bearday to a beautiful panda girl!
I found this adorable video of LP & Dr. Goi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N2GqFZvsrg
Happy 5th Birthday Su Lin. Have lots of fun, and lots of cake!!
Happy birthday Su Lin you are a beautiful Panda-Lady
Weegee: Thanks for the tidbits about LH and CC. I didn’t know that CC was so mannerly! I bet the keepers prefer his method of keeping his bed tidy.
LH can get away with being messy… she’s so pretty..
CK always sings to LP too, doesn’t he? Hopefully she’ll behave more ladylike than her mom…
#21, #22 Lucilla – BRAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaVOoooooooooooooooooooo
#28 Dianna, Ohio – LP’s latest weight’s 45.4kg (100.09lb) The one you saw must be the weekly highlight which would be on every Sunday. So, your guess was right.
HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY SU LIN, YOU BEAUTIFUL GIRL!!!!! Enjoy your cake sweetie.
#29 Dianna from Ohio – I can not find the video you are referring to. From Krataihangkao, I found only one video from August 1st and it is only 1:45 min long and does not include a weighing
Lin Ping Daily Hi-Light(Sweet Panda)-010810
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7vEM44T4B4
In the following video, you can see that when the keeper is asking Lin Ping to lie on her left side, she falls over her keeper!!! Don’t miss the end of the video showing big goofy daddy having a blast…
Lin Ping Daily Hi-Light#2-310710
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFdEfEpqsDs
I also had a lot of fun watching the following video; it is quite obvious that Lin Ping is running the show, literally…
Lin Ping Daily Hi-Light#1-020810
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ow3PcZiu5M
In this video Lin Ping is shown laying on her right side but doesn’t respond to the command to lie on the other side.
Lin Ping Daily Hi-Light#2-020810
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYExm0ZN3Ko
But none of the videos show a weighing. Dianna, could you give us the URL? The weights are given in kilograms, you should divided the weight in kg by 0.454 to get the weight in pounds.
Happy Birthday Su Lin!
Happy Birthday, Sweet Su. You are so lovely and feminine eating your cake. Hope you have a great year.
Happy Birth-day, Miss Su Lin! You are a very beautiful girl! May all your birthday dreams come true!
Live long and may you always be happy and healthy!
Happy fifth Birthday Su Lin!! We love you!! I’ll be watching the panda cam throughout the day, so I won’t miss her and her special cake
Is there any plan for the time when Yun Zi will receive his birthday cake?
Moderator’ note: Around noontime on August 5.
Here are the 3 most recent pictures of Su Lin from Rita:
http://www.flickr.com/photots/ritapetita/4852889309
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ritapetita/4808242027
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ritapetita/4822901914
They’re all beautiful photos of her, she is such a lovely bear and Rita is a great photograpgher! I hope there’ll be more birthday pictures from her today!
KT:
I always find Su Lin is very lady like. She can be playful, but ladies play sometime too. She likes to re-decorate” her yard, that is because she has good taste. So far we know, only she has thins talent. All her siblings are not that interested in interior decorating. Not every panda can do this, you know! I have never heard other panda doing this. She always eats slowly, careful, and gracefully. She does not put everything in her month all at once. She takes time to enjoy it. This shows in her eating her birthday cake today. After couple hours, the cake is still standing up straight! No dirt on it. I wonder is there anyone agrees with me?
I do not know if I missed the presentation to Su Lin but at 9:10 a.m. pacific time Su Lin was eating bamboo and leaning against her cake and then she walked away. I guess when you have seen one birthday the others do not matter. Same situation exists for me and I have seen a lot.
Su Lin would probably appreciate a male panda at this point in her life.
Have a Happy Birthday Su Lin
Happy Birthday, Sweet Su!!! I remember so well your first birthday and the birthday post card that I sent you, and the sweet reply. And I’ll see you soon – on the 20th of this month!!! XOXOXOXO
Happy Birthday Sweet Su Lin! Happy Birthday Zoomie Zhen Zhen! Happy Mr. Yun Zi!!!
Lucilla # 21 and 22: What a GREAT Birthday Panda Tale!!!! You have created the best Birthday story ever
To Panda Saff: I Love Su’s Cake!!! Thank You all for the Fine events you create for Our Pandas!!!
I’m SO happy to share my birthday with this beautiful lady. Happy Birthday to Su Lin and of course Zhen Zhen and our sweet baby Yunior!!
PS: Could the camera operators PLEASE manage to keep the cameras in close so none of the action is missed this week? Thanks!
#5 Britney
Bamboo is generally a very sustainable resource. It grows very quickly, and you can cut down a few stalks from a plant but the rest will keep on growing.
Much of the bamboo used for flooring and other commercial purposes is grown in areas where pandas no longer live. Deforestation of panda habitat is more under threat from human expansion and farming, not from commercial bamboo uses.
KT: I too am amazed that she waited almost an hour and 45 minutes before she knocked her cake over. That has to be some sort of record for “cake conservation”.
DoxieMom sent me this video link over the weekend after I wondered if there were videos of Hua Mei (and Mei Sheng). I had a good cry watching it. Just be sure to watch it all the way to the end.
livescience (dot) com/common/media/video/player.php?videoRef=panda_baby_quest
It brought back so many wonderful memories.
Suzanne, I would like to know that can panda eat any plants which are in the same family as bamboo(Poaceae) such as corn, sorghum or Nepier grass for their staple food? I think these plants may be soft and delicious than bamboo. Do you have informations about these? please….
#28 Dianna, Ohio and #40 weegee – I think I found the video Dianna was referring to:
PANDA LinPing-Hilight[1]1.8.10 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4-li7O-hjc
It was posted by nulilly. The weighing was from July 26 when Lin Ping was 425 days old; her weight was 45 kgs (99 lbs). Most of the video is from July 27 with the celebration of Lin Ping 14 month birthday, the beginning of Buddhist lent, as mentioned by weegee in the previous blog, but it seems that they were also celebrating the volunteers as they were so many of them in the video and they were also standing in front of a banner with Lin Ping’s “daddy”. Don’t miss the play/fight between Lin Hui and Lin Ping towards the end of the video; it seems that at least mommy is in control of the diva!!! LOL
# 56 Mary: GAH! Little Hua Mei. I lve how protective Bai was! OMG so cute! Thanks Doxie and Mary!
Lucilla’s story might not have been that far away from reality, watching the following video posted by DoxieMom on Flickr, it seems that Xi Lan has been teaching Yun Zi how to drink from the drinker while standing on mommy’s head…
7-31-2010 Yun Zi: On Top of Bai ~ and the Drinker!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pandalover19/4846923979/
If you missed Su Lin finally toppling her birthday cake, here you go:
8-2-2010 Su Lin’s “5″ and Birthday Cake Topple
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pandalover19/4853831415/
After reading today’s pandacub update on the Atlanta Zoo’s website where Joseph described an enrichment item that he created and how the pandas are reacting to it, and now watching the video 7-31-2010 Now this is ENRICHMENT!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pandalover19/4846773601/ I was wondering if the making of enrichment items for pandas was left out of the keepers’ duties list or if at the SDZ those are made by another department.
#56 – Mary – Thank you for sharing the video of Hua Mei. What a little cutie she was!! Bai Yun looks so young. Was that Shi Shi and Bai swiping at each other? No love lost there I think!
#58 Danielle: Yes.. that was the video. Did you like her pink laundry basket they use to get her weight? I haven’t been able to watch LP live so I’m depending on Nulilly’s video posting. LH might chew loudly, but she does know how to handle LP!!
Danielle and Weegee: So the princess is 99-100 lbs!! Wow.. thanks for letting me know..
#42 Danielle, NY – I remember watching the LP cam that night and watching her & the keepers running back and forth in that gated tunnel (Lin Ping Daily Hi-Light#1-020810). The keepers tried using apple slices and showing her the drinking bowl to get her in that cage but she kept running back in the other direction. She was definitely in charge, for a short time at least.
Tonight I finally saw LP going down that slide in her exhibit! I’ve seen her climb up and down the sides of the slide but never actually going down it.
#57 sunnyland
Pandas can and do eat other foods as presented to them. In Hong Kong, the bears often snack on tiger grass. In Mexico City, they can eat corn and chicken. However, the bears are well adapted to bamboo, and these other foods cannot replace their staple plant. Without bamboo, the panda experiences digestive turmoil in the form of excessive mucous buildup in the gut.
Here is a riddle…
How many keepers does it take to get a Panda back into her bedroom? 3 if the Panda is Lin Ping! That video was so funny.. and those poor keepers.. The ceiling must be low because they were hunched over a bit… She is very fiesty!!
I have yet to see LP go down her slide.. I’ll have to look for the HiLight since I’m still having problems getting back on their cam.
#62 Amanda – also check out the video that Danielle posted where LP fell off her bed and onto CK when they were training. I know I heard someone laugh out loud!
Dear all LP’s fans;
Just a little update on her weight. Today (3 Aug 2010) LP’s 46.8kgs (103.17lbs).
#60 Thanks Danielle for the videos. I was watching Miss Su live when she had her cake but couldn’t stay up to see how she finished her cake.
#64 Dianna, Ohio – So you’d watched LP playing chase with the keepers already. That low ceiling tunnel is link between LP’s old bedroom and the new one. Every Sunday to Thursday, all 3 pandas will stay in their new bedrooms and move back to the old place the rest of the week. Every Sunday’s morning, it’s always a hectic trying to walk LP through that tunnel. LP had all the fun, keepers had all the sweat.
Dianna, don’t miss out a today’s daily highlight (3 Aug 2010). At almost the end of the highlight u’ll definitely see LP playing a slide.
#63 Suzanne Hall, Thank you very much for informations.
Oh! poor pandas, there are many kinds of plant in the world, why do you born to eat hard food like bamboo instead of baby corn, carrot or beet root? while Lin Hui was eating bamboo in the encloser, I heard the sound likes pok!pok!pok! from my computer. I worried that she would had a dental trauma or her teeth would be cracked.
#6 Dianna
Most likely pandas are born with mucus-secreting cells in their intestines; however, the cells don’t start secreting mucus until called upon to so once ingestion of solids (aka bamboo) begins.
Suzanne Hall, thank you so much for the information. I have aways been wondering about that. I was thinking they could grow their own bamboo to make stuff out of. Thank you.
Grammie, thank you for the links. I will check them out.
Thank you moderator, for the info.
Moderator’s note: You’re very welcome.