Su Lin’s fifth birthday is our chance to kick off a whole week of panda birthday celebrations. Along with Su Lin’s birthday (watch video), we are celebrating Zhen Zhen’s third and the first birthday of little Yun Zi. This joyous celebration has prompted me to think back to the beginning of the panda program, which began in earnest when Bai Yun and Shi Shi arrived in San Diego in the fall of 1996. It is incredible to me that the giant panda conservation program at the San Diego Zoo has been ongoing for about 14 years!
I arrived at the San Diego Zoo and joined the panda programs research team. This has always been a cutting-edge conservation research program and has capitalized on all the resources that the San Diego Zoo has to offer. In the 14 years since the program began, we have made tremendous strides in understanding the behavioral ecology, reproductive physiology, genetics, sensory ecology, and husbandry needs of the giant panda. Our efforts have been intensely collaborative, and our success is due to the fact that researchers, animal care staff, and veterinarians have worked as a team unified for panda conservation. We have also capitalized on the relationships that have been developed over the years with panda researchers, veterinarians, and keepers in China, specifically at the Wolong Breeding Center. Although the Wolong facility was devastated by the 2008 earthquake, efforts there for the giant panda have continued.
Giant pandas are still critically endangered. With about 1,600 animals left in the wild, there is still much work to be done toward their conservation. However, we are proud of our efforts over the past 14 years and hope visitors to the San Diego Zoo will take the time to celebrate our pandas with us. Happy birthday Su Lin, Zhen Zhen and Yun Zi!
Megan Owen is a conservation program specialist for the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. Read her previous post, Zhen Zhen: Great Listener.
Join us on Tuesday, August 3, at 11 a.m. for an online chat with Megan!
Happy Birthday Su Lin
Happy birthday to all of you: Su Lin, Zhen Zhen and Yun Zi. Lot’s of people are thinking of you on your birthday; I just wanted to let you know I’m one of them. Have a wonderful day! May your birthday be filled with excitement, joy, and laughter.
Thank you Megan! The San Diego Zoo sure has a lot to be proud of when it comes to their role in the conservation and research efforts on behalf of the pandas. I look forward to the rest of the week’s festivities
For those of you who missed Su Lin savoring her beautiful cake, here’s a video of the highlights
2010-08-02 Happy 5th Birthday, Su Lin!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hHAwcwEYJ0
Happy birthday, Sweet Su Lin! Wish I could be there in person.
Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to Su Lin, Happy Birthday to you. How old are you now, we know you are 5 years today so have a great birthday today Su Lin and have fun.
Thank you Megan for the post. I can’t wait for the panda chat tomorrow! I hope Su Lin has the best birthday ever and enjoys her cake and other treats. I wish I could see her in person, but I’m glad we have the panda cam!
Happy Birthday Su Lin!
There are some cute pictures of Su and her cake from this morning on Pandas Live On along with a video that I am going to watch right after I post this comment. Also, on Flickr there was 1 picture of Su Lin taken this morning but there might be more now…
Happy Birthday, Su Lin …
A special day to celebrate a special girl! Happy B’day, Su Lin! Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!
Happy 5th Brithday Su Lin!!!!
Happy birthday Su Lin and Zhen Zhen. If I have a bad day, I look at my photos from Nov 2009 of you both. Hopefully I will see Yun Zi next time I visit. Happy 1st birthday.
Happy Birthday Su Lin. What a beautiful Ice Cake.
Happy Birthday to the 3 lovely pandas! Thanks for all the great works from the SDZ!
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY” PRECIOUS, SWEET SU LIN!! It is also sad to me, because this is probably her last birthday at the SDZ. Soooo, I have cried a few tears for you today.
Sis for silly
U is for unbelievable
L is for lovely
I is for intelligent
N is for nice
Thank you, Megan. You all have a right to be very proud of all you have accomplished at SDZ!
I have adopted Su Lin for her 5th birthday! It seemed the right thing to do – I’ve watched her since she was a baby on panda cam, I remember vividly her 1st birthday and have a souvenir postcard, and I get to see her one more time at the B&W Overnight!! I am so happy that her return to China was delayed.
Moderator’s note: Thank you for your gift of adoption, Diana! For those interested, here’s the Adopt an Animal link.
Thank you, Megan, for loving and caring for our pandas for the last 14 years. I know they love you for all you do, especially.
It is very sad to know Su Lin will be leaving us. One of my co-workers just got back from visiting SDZ last week and said someone told them or they read a sign that she would be going. It just won’t be the same, tho it must be this way.
Beautiful girl, hope you are having a beautiful day and feel all the love that is being sent your way!
I am sure it has been typed or said a few thousand times today, but since I am at the last photo on the “Pandas Live On” write up for our lovely Happy 5th Birthday to Si Lin comeplete, not only with photos but a video with her cake I must say it agin HAPPY BIRTHDAY SU LIN.
And just to thrill us there are two more stories right below it, (one on birhday week) and the other about Nigel Marvin and the five programs he made as a Panda Ambasador…from what I have seen so far it will be a great program—no matter how long it takes us to get to our side arround the world.
Give yourself some time to enjoy the Videos and the write up.
feeds (dot) feedburner (dot) com/PandasLiveOn To repair the link remove all spaces and (dot) replace with a period.
Do not miss the current Flikr page with Rita Patit’s fabulious Su Lin Happy Birthday. Be sure to click on the photo so you can enjoy the comments, and count up the awards she is getting from other photos too.
Happy Birthday Sweetie Pie SuLin! I haven’t been writing for a while; I have never left this blog, but just too busy to write. I have to wish my beloved pandas a Happy Birthday no matter what. I am going to the wishlist of this month to get them something.
Weegee, welcome aboard, I love LP too.
Grammmie, I have saved so many links of panda pictures you provided into my Favorites, also the panda news; thanks a million for all of that.
DoxieMom, your videos always put smiles on me; the pandas are too cute and sweet, couldn’t thank you enough.
P Wong and Lucilla, you two are such talented writers and clever too with different style. Thanks for all the fun readings. I will be the first one to buy the book if you ever put together one. I believe someone here is keeping track of them.
Jenny, I love the videos you introduced, especially the one a panda chasing a bird, too cute !
Dennis & Lynn Carney, I hope all is well with you and Lynn. I haven’t seen you making any entries in the past couple of months and got a bit worry.
And, of course, Rita Petita’s Flikr page has a great photo of Su Lin so get your little feetsies moving in her direction—It is okay we will take the time to wait for you and play with Yun Zi while we wait. In case you do not have a link for it here ir is.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ritapetita/
ENJOY SU LINS BIRTHDAY
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEET SU! I hope you had a wonderful birthday. You are a ray of sunshine on a rainy day because you are so special to all panda lovers. WE LOVE YOU! I dread the day when you have to leave SDZ and move to China. I’ll never forget when you looked at me the last time I saw you. You’re so beautiful!
Happy Birthday to all of the SDZ pandas and hope you get all your favorite treats
Narrator, please confirm the time cake will be served Thursday for Yun Zi.
Moderator’s note: Around noontime.
Happy 5th Bearday Sweet Su Lin!
Hi! Ok, so I’m a little late getting on the pandacam today and tonite! Missed Su Lin’s bday party, but just read Doxiemom’s comment, and I will watch the video in a little bit! Thanks, Doxiemom!! I will try very hard to remember to watch ZZ’s bday party tomorrow!
HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY, SU LIN!!!!!!! Hope you enjoyed your special day!
Chari Mercier
St. Pete, FL
Me again! I have gotten my Pandas International email newsletter earlier today, and there is more news of baby panda cubs being born, and a special birthday milestone for a special panda!
This one I think I told you about earlier, but there’s an update to this one. Earlier in July, 8 year old Ju Xiao (corrected spelling!) gave birth to twin panda cubs at Bifengxia. She accepted the first cub, and the vets and staff took her second cub to the nursery to be hand raised with the usual plan of doing the twin swap soon. Ju was doing a very good job as a first time mom cleaning her cub, keeping him warm, but there was a hitch to the most important thing that the cub needed—mom’s milk. The staff kept watch on Ju and her cub, and then determined that the cub was not getting enough milk from his mom or not any milk at all, so they decided to take this cub to the nursery to be hand raised as well. Both cubs are males and are doing very well so far.
Another momma panda named Zhu Yun also gave birth to a healthy male cub on July 8, 2010 at Bifengxia. This is her second birth; she’s the mom of twin panda girls named Min Min and Hu Bao who were born in Sept., 2008.
At Chengdu Panda Base, they had their first birth of a panda cub this year. Jiao Zi, 15 years old, gave birth to a healthy male cub on July 15, 2010. This is her sixth cub and has been the mom of 5 other cubs since 2001. Her newest cub weighed in at 108 grams.
Now the story of the special panda birthday. At a panda base in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China, a female panda named Basi turned 30 years old on July 11, 2010! That’s about 100 years old in human years! The staff at the Fuzhou zoo gave her a very special bday party, and everyone loved being there to celebrate a great milestone birthday for Basi. If I remember right, Shi Shi was also about 30 years old when he passed away a couple of years ago. Basi is very much loved by everyone in Fuzhou!
That’s all on the panda news for now. Will be back later on.
Chari Mercier
St. Pete, FL
Happy Birthday to Su Lin!!
Su Lin is such a gentle lady. May be Zhen Zhen will do rampage on her cake.
Thank DoxieMom for the video. I just saw her licking her cake but I have to go to sleep. It was too late for me.
By the way, do Bai Yun get her own birthday cake on her birthday?
Moderator’s note: Sometimes, if she doesn’t have a newborn to care for at the time.
I was fortunate enough to be there when the Zoo opened and went right down to visit the pandas. Su Lin was munching on part of her cake, standing up every once in a while to check out the top. Yunnie was waaay up in his tree and Zhennie was eating her bamboo breakfast. Very, very cute. There was lots of press around, but no line, so I was able to get some still photos and video. I suspect that won’t be true tomorrow afternoon when Zhennie get her cake.
Happy Birthday beautiful Su Lin! I love the colorful cake. Happy Birthday to Zhen Zhen. I adopted her on her special day. It’s also my mom’s birthday! Happy Birthday Yun Zi! Looking forward to seeing the little one in person this coming Thursday.
Yun Zi told his mother his birthday wish yesterday ,
” Mom, I wish the aunties out there will take a colour picture for us, we don’t have one. “
The day is almost over, Su Lin is probably sleeping now. I really, truly hope she had a fantastic birthday and her day was full of delightful surprises and yummy treats! Su Lin is such a lovely, sweet and intelligent panda who is loved by so many people. I always enjoy seeing photos of her from Rita, watching her on the panda cam and I especially enjoyed the time when I visited the San Diego Zoo and got to see her in person. Su Lin is amazing and unique as well as her mother, father and younger sister and brother. This is obviously her last birthday here in the U.S. so I hope this was a great birthday. Next year, when she celebrates her sixth birthday, I hope there’ll be at least a few pictures of her on Pandas Live On perhaps along with a video. She’ll probably get an ice cake in China too and possibly some other panda treats. Su Lin is so special, she is 1 of 14 pandas in all of North America, I believe! There’s something about pandas that make me feel happy and joyful, I don’t know what it is but it’s not just because they’re adorable. Su Lin makes me feel very happy when I see her! I must wrap this up now, so-
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SU LIN! WE LOVE YOU!
Peace, Love and Pandas CIAO!
Happy Birthday, Miss ZZ Zoomie Zhennie Zhen Zhen!!!!!!!!!!! Big hug and kiss from Auntie Frances–wish I could deliver them in person.
Happy Birthday Beautiful Su Lin!!
Your birthday cake looks wonderful and I am so happy to see you enjoying it very much!
Love,
Seiko
great information. happy birthday su lin.
Su Lin has grown up to be a lovely lady. I know she will be going to China. She will make a great mama
just like her mama is. Thanks for the pictures and the blog. Looking forward to the next to kids.
lu
Happy Birthday, Mz ZZ, you are a top girrrrrrl!
Happy birthday Zhen Zhen you are a funny Panda-girl
3 August 2010
H A P P Y * B I R T H D A Y
****little miss ZHEN ZHEN****
*************************
and HappY B-daY to All panda fans who share the same birthday too !!!!!!!!!
Zhen Zhen, have a great 3rd Birthday. I came to see you when you were 11 months old. My how time flies. It seems just like yesterday when you came trotting up beside Bai to see what was on offer! Never mind the group of people oohing and ahhing over you! Have a wonderful day.
Happy Birthday to Ms. Su Lin, a beautiful panda young lady. God bless you always!
Happy 3rd Birthday Zhen Zhen.. May your world always be a big playground…
what a beautiful cake for a beautiful girl. happy birthday dear su lin
Happy birthday Su lin, Zhen Zhen and particularly to Yun Zi ( my first panda that I have watched from birth )
Congratulations to Mummy Bai and Daddy Gao for producing such a wonderful family and ensuring the conservation of our wonderful Giant Panda.
Wang Wang and Funi also send you birthday wishes and huge Aussie Panda Hugs. They will be celebrating their birthdays late August
Cheers from Adelaide, South Australia
Pandas International has quite a spread on Tai Shan’s 5th Birthday. My! He is one big panda now..so beautiful to see. Lots of pics but the language is not in English. Also, they have a big spread on Mei Lan. She has such a beautiful face. I am waiting anxiously for 11:00 a.m. today for the Live Chat at S.D. How busy S.D. must be with 3 birthdays so close together. I just came back from 3 weeks in Europe where I was fortunate to see Long Hui and Yang Yang at the Vienna Zoo. They were inside…one eating bamboo and the other sleeping. Was unable to determine who was who. It turned out that the zoo is right next to the Schonbrunn Palace and very easy to walk about 10 minutes to get to. The zoo was built in 1760. Happy Birthday to all of our wonderful Pandas…I love them all. Bought a beautiful panda charm in Zurich that is so beautiful.
Happy Birthday Zhen Zhen
Happy Birthday to Miss Zhen Zhen . You go girl.
SDZ has to be the #1 zoo in conservation efforts. All the babies that are born at your zoo and WAP is outstanding. So much to be proud of…. Thank you!
Happy birthday, Zhen Zhen my first ever panda, have a great day
What happened to being able to take our own postcard pics of the pandas? I was hoping to get some shots of Yun Zi on his birthday.
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 features at: http://www.sandiegozoo.org/pandacam/index2010.html
This is for you Zhen Zhen. Happy Birthday Zhen Zhen. Have a great day and enjoy all your treats and you cake.
It’s my favorite panda girl’s birthday! *throws confetti, bamboo, and fruities* Happy 3rd bearday to the most precious of panda girls. *mwah*
Happy Birthday’s my little furry friends. I enjoyed watching Su Lin all day yesterday and look forward to watching Zhen Zhen today and then Thursday the BIG 1st birthday for the little guy.
Happy 3rd Birthday, Zhen Zhen, aka, Zoom Zoom, ZZ, Zoomy, Zippy. You are a simply delightful, confident and happy panda. Hope you have an absolutely fantastic year.
And also Happy Bearthday to Ya Ya, panda extraordinaire, in Memphis. Unfortunately, the Memphis cam is down right now. Hope it get fixed soon.
Happy Birthday Zhen Zhen!
#16, Diana-Oh, that is great news about Su Lin! How long do we have til she has to leave? Hopefully, 2020!!
p.s. Congrats on becoming a new mommie… to Su Lin! I adopted Zhennie way back…. welcome to the club.
This is extra special for her birthday!
Moderator’s note: I believe #16 Diana meant Su Lin’s departure was delayed due to the 2008 earthquake in China. She will be moving to China this year.
I don’t recall if anyone mentioned this… sorry if it’s a duplicate reminder!!
SDZ have a Su Lin video posted on this post with really nice closeups of SuLin licking her cake. Wonder what recipe the Panda Chefs used? It looks like tiny colorful marshmellows on top. Must weigh alot too… 2 keepers had to carry it out and position it just right…
THERE IS ANOTHER NEW PHOTO OF SU LIN with her birthday cake on Rita Petita’s FLIKR page. I am sure she will be joined later by her sister Zhen Zhenk who celebrates her birthday today. I will put the link here to make things go faster. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ritapetita/ enjoy.
Be sure to not miss the extra photos and videos on Pandas Live ON, there shsould be more added today for Ya Ya’s bithday in Memphist, and Zhen Zehn’s in San Diego. See you later.
Panda birthday celebrations never get old — I haven’t missed any of them — whether in person or via the web. I am always amazed at the beautiful creations the staff makes for the pandas to enjoy (and topple over, climb on top of, and rip apart…). My guess is that the SDZoo is the like panda heaven for our beautiful furry friends — and if they could — that would tell you how much they love you and the wonderful care you give them. You’re the best!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZHENNIE! WE LOVE YOU!
Will post a longer comment later, busy now with other panda things…
Happy Birthday to all the pandas!! What a beautiful cake for Su Lin – what is it made of, esp. the marble looking things? I wanta bite!!
Happy Birthday dear little Zhen Zhen,
I know that you will do your birthday cake justice. You are such a little fire cracker – a real perpetual motion panda. I am watching you at the moment on the web cam and the camera is having great difficulty keeping up to you.
A very many happy years to you and stay the way you are a very entertaining panda.
Regards,
Shirley
HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY, ZHEN ZHEN!!!!! Hope you enjoy your special day with your bday cake and presents full of snackies! Just be the precious, corny, zoom zoomer that you always are, ZZ! We all love you, and we all love Su Lin and Yuni, too!
Watched Doxiemom’s video of Su Lin’s birthday party. True to Su Lin’s birthday demeanor, she knocked down her ice cake to get at those bamboo stalks that are stuck in the cake! She did the first action on the cake like she usually does—knock down the 5 off the top of the cake! She’s done that every year! Hopefully, the cake finally melted and Su was able to get at the goodies that were frozen inside! Smart girl!!!
Well, gonna go for now and get ready to watch ZZ have her birthday party on the pandacam! Be back later on!
Chari Mercier
St. Pete, FL
Oh yeah! Checked my panda bday list, and saw that Ya Ya at Memphis Zoo also has a birthday today! Don’t remember how old he is right now, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YA YA! Hope that he has a very nice day with a bday ice cake and presents with snackies! I bet that both Ya Ya and Le Le are indoors today because Memphis is in a severe heat wave with extreme heat warnings. Knowing those 2 pandas, they do not like the heat very well at all! Le Le had her birthday on July 18; HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LE LE (belated!)!!
More bdays coming later on in August for Mei Sheng, Hua Mei, Lun Lun, Tian Tian, Xi Lan; then the September bdays coming for Mei Lan, Bai Yun, and Yang Yang. Gao Gao gets to choose his own day for his special birthday!
Now, I gotta go and get back on the pandacam! Will be back later on! Hey, Doxiemom, great job on Su Lin’s bday video! Hope you can get a great vid of ZZ’s bday party!
Chari Mercier
St. Pete, FL
U.S.A GIANT PANDA FAMILIES:
ZOO ATLANTA:
Lun Lun- (Loon Loon) Female. Will be turning 13 this year on August 25. Was born at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, in China. Her mate is Yang Yang and she has given birth to Mei Lan and Xi Lan.
Yang Yang- (Yahng Yahng) Male. Means “Little Sea”. Will be turning 13 on September 9. Was born at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding and came to Zoo Atlanta in 1999. His mate is Lun Lun who has had 2 cubs.
Mei Lan- (May Lahn) Female. Means “Atlanta Beauty”. Will be turning 4 on September 6. Lives in Chengdu, China, but was born at Zoo Atlanta and moved to China on February 4, 2010. Her mother is Lun Lun and her father is Yang Yang and she has one brother.
Xi Lan- (Shee Lahn) Male. Means “Atlanta’s Joy”. Will be turning 2 on August 30. Was born at Zoo Atlanta. His parents are Lun Lun and Yang Yang. He has one sister, Mei Lan.
MEMPHIS ZOO:
Ya Ya- (Ya Ya) Female. Means “Beautiful Little Girl”. Will be turning 10 on August 3. Was born at the Beijing Zoo in Beijing, China. Arrived at Memphis Zoo in 2003 at age 3. Her mother is Le Le and her father is Ying Ying who are both currently living in Beijing.
Le Le- (Lee Lee) Male. Means “Happy Happy”. Turned 12 on July 18, this year. Was born at the Chongquing Zoo in Chongquing, China. Moved to Shanghai, China in 1999 and then moved to the U.S. in 2003. His mother is Xin Xing who lives at the Chongquing Zoo and his father is Chuan Chua who lives at the Shanghai Zoo.
SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK:
Tian Tian- (Tyen Tyen) Male. Means “More and More”. Will be turning 13 on August 27. Was born at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda. His mate is Mei Xiang. Tian Tian’s mother is Yong Ba and his father is Pan Pan who is also the father to Bai Yun from the San Diego Zoo which makes her Tian Tian’s half sister.
Mei Xiang- (May Shong) Female. Means “Beautiful Fragrance”. Turned 12 on July 22, this year. Was born at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda. Her mate is Tian Tian. She has given birth to Tai Shan, her only cub. Her mother is Xue Xue and her father is Lin Nan.
Tai Shan- (Tie Shon) Male. Means “Peaceful mountain”. Turned 5 on July 9, this year. Was born in Washington D.C. . Moved to China on February 4, 2010 with Mei Lan from Zoo Atlanta. His parents are Tian Tian and Mei Xiang, who are currently living in D.C. .
SAN DIEGO ZOO:
Gao Gao- (Gow Gow) Male. Means “Big Big”. Was wild born in China in 1992. Will be turning or has turned 18, this year. Was taken to the Fengtongzhai Nature Reserve after being found in the wild with 2 thirds of his ear lost. Was brought to the Wolong Panda Conservation Center in 2002. Arrived in the U.S. in 2003.
Bai Yun- (Bay Yoon) Female. Means “White Cloud”. Will be turning 19 on September 7. Was born at the Wolong Giant Panda Research Center, in China. Her mother is Dong Dong, who lives in Guangzhou and her father is Pan Pan, who lives in Zunyi. Her mate is Gao Gao and she has had 5 cubs.
Shi Shi- (Shi Shi) Male. Means “Rock”. Was “rescued” from the wild in 1992, in Sichuan, China. He arrived at the San Diego Zoo in 1996 to be the mate of Bai Yun. It was soon discovered that he was older than the people thought, so he moved back to China and was replaced by Gao Gao as Bai Yun’s mate. He then lived at the Guangzhou Zoo in China and died on July 5, 2008.
Hua Mei- (Hwah May) Female. Means “China/USA”. Will be turning 11 on August 21. Was born at the San Diego Zoo and moved to the Wolong Reserve in Sichuan Province, China in February 2004. She has given birth to 3 sets of twins: Tuan Tuan and Mei Ling, Wei Wei and Ting Ting and Hua Long and Hua Ao and also a single female cub: Hao Hao. Her father is Shi Shi and her mother is Bai Yun.
Mei Sheng- (May Sheng) Male. Means “Beautiful Life” or “Born in the USA”. Will be turning 7 on August 19. Was born at the San Diego Zoo and moved to the Wolong National Nature Reserve in November, 2007. After the Sichuan Earthquake in 2008, he was sent to the Bifengxia Panda Base.
Su Lin- (Sue Lin) Female. Means “A little bit of something very cute”. Turned 5 on August 2, this year. Was born at the San Diego Zoo and will be moving to China later in the year. Her mother is Bai Yun and her father is Gao Gao.
Zhen Zhen- (Jun Jun) Female. Means “Precious”. Turned 3 on August 3, this year. Was born at the San Diego Zoo. Her mother is Bai Yun and her father is Gao Gao. She has 3 full siblings and one half brother.
Yun Zi- (Yoon Zuh) Male. Means “Son of a Cloud”. Will be turning 1 on August 5. Was born at the San Diego Zoo. His mother is Bai Yun and his father is Gao Gao. He has 2 full sisters and one half brother.
Happy birthday to you, Zhen Zhen! Will you celebrate by rolling your cake into the moat?
And happy birthday to Ya Ya in Memphis!
AC in NYC – Thank you for your warm welcome. I kind of enjoy learning new things about the giant pandas from you guys here.
Annie Panda – Thanks for brief info of all pandas in the states especially how to call their names.
Dianna, Ohio – Just wanna make sure that you get my message at the previous blog.
Is the chat working for anyone? All I get is a white screen.
Annie Panda, Mei Sheng is Yun Zi’s full brother as Gao is his dad. Only Hua Mei is a half-sibling.
Bai Yun is such a great mother – very docile and a really tender soul. Little Yun Zi is crawling all over her making a real little pest of himself. Very active for this time of the day. Usually he is flat out on a branch. I hope he is very energic when he has his birthday cake.
Looking forward to Thursday.
Shirley
Happy Birthday Zhen Zhen!!! I can’t wait to see how you enjoy your cake
To All: DoxiMom and Royko 123 have new postings on You Tube!!!
The Great Yun is going all out to draw attention to himself as cake time draws near for Zhen Zhen. The total wrestle mania mangling session with mommy is in full swing at high noon.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZHEN ZHEN!! Twinkle on your toes and have a sparkling day!!
Marie: It’s not working for me… I scurried out of my training class so I could pick up a little bit of it…
I did see Bai pulling Yunnie out of a tree.. not sure what brought that on…
Weegee: I did get see your response on the previous post… I’ll be sure to watch it tonight. Thanks! She puts on weight every day it seems… I can’t believe that CK can still carry her around all my himself…
Happy Birthday ZZ! Hope to see you in October!
(I hope your picture gets on the main panda page like Su Lin did yesterday. )
What a treat that I got to see Zhen Zhen find her birthday cake. She went right at it –the girl knows how to party. It was short lived though, as ZZ found her stash of bamboo more interesting.
I tuned in just in time to see Zhennie do a little somersault around her cake and now she’s on her back being silly…. What a party girl!!
Hope DoxieMom gets alot of this and SDZ posts a new video!!
oh, Zhen Zhen is just so in love with her cakes, how sweet is that
Go to it Zhen Zhen – you are a real party animal. True to form – I knew that Zhennie would make fast work to her birthday celebration. She is quite the panda.
Luv you Zhen Zhen.
#62
Su Lin’s cake had small colored ice balls that looked like marble or marshmallows.
Question for all you panda experts, especially Cheri Mercier: howdo you take a panda cub away from his/her mother? (I know, very carefully.) Don’t the mothers fight to keep them?
The Online Panda Chat just ended 20 minutes ago. It was great, and I learned a ton of stuff! I hope they can do another chat again! Some people suggested to do it monthly! We all really enjoyed it! A big thank you too Megan!
Happy Birthday Zhennie! Zhen Zhen is such a playful and fun spirited panda and she is totally unique! We all love her!!!! And also today is another special day for a panda- Ya Ya from the Memphis Zoo! I wrote a comment (#66) about the Panda Families in the U.S., so make sure to check it our cause it took me about 3 hours to get all of the information and organize the whole thing. I also did make a little mistake which Marie pointed out- Mei Sheng is Yun Zi’s full brother. Hua Mei is the only half sibling because her father is Shi Shi not Gao. Sorry, I probably just got a little mixed up because they both have “Mei” in their names…
Peace, Love and Pandas, CIAO!
Annie Panda
Happy B’day Zhen Zhen. You are having so much fun with your cake. I loved it when she took a short break and just lay there with her chin on one of the layers. Too cute!
Thanks to all the staff as you have outdone youselves this year with the cakes (so far).
Wow, Zhennie is just going wild now with her cake! She knocked it down pretty quickly! I was on Flickr, looking at pictures of her by Rita, and these are my favorite, recent ones:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ritapetita/4839862338/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ritapetita/4833371166/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ritapetita/4823979606/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ritapetita/4798829835/
Zhennie is still rolling around and having fun with her cake and now she’s getting all muddy too. What a great birthday!
Does she ever eat any of that cake? I’ve just seen her tossing it around!!! I bet she is one sticky mess
I wish the quality of the cam on Zhennie was better, it is her birthday, for gosh sake, I can’t get a clear view of her enjoying her cake….er pieces of her cake. But I can tell she sure is in pig heaven, tumbling around with them.
It is so colorful and full of goodies. Thank you so much for making her such a beautiful one. She keeps grabbing the big blocks and rolling around with them, tumbling all around, then taking a rest. Well, even birthday girls have to take a small break from all the excitement once in a while! She is still a baby to me. What a love, what a sweetie!!
Is Zhennie almost a big as her momma? Just curious!
Moderator’s note: No, she still has some more growing to do.
Some little girl is going to sleep really well tonight- ZZ! Aerobic birthday celebrating could be trending its way across the USA this year thanks to you! Roll on!
Did Zhennie eat any of her cake? Seems like she’s more interested in playing with it. It’s all dirty. Silly panda.
I didn’t mean to be rude complaining about the cam view earlier, it’s just not quite as clear as the other cams on the pandas. I do appreciate the views..
Moderator’s note: Those are older cameras in Zhen Zhen’s exhibit.
What a smart girl, putting the icy cube in the pond!
And no–yes–into the moat!
Happy Birthday Zhen Zhen
And into the moat they go….
ZZ is just like a preschooler on a sugar high!
Just watching Zhen Zhen is enough to make you tired – what a little spit fire. What kind of ingredients were added to Zhen Zhen’s birthday cake. WOW.
She is running from one side of the class room to the next – up a tree – down a tree. No calories are going on her hips.
Happy Birthday, Su Lin! Enjoy your birthday.
Annie Panda: What kind of questions did everyone have for Megan? I couldn’t get on the chat line. Maybe the questions/conversations be formatted into a new posting?
Since the camera has now gone over to Bai Yun, it must be safe to say that ZZ has crashed. Hope she has a nice long nap after having so much fun and delighting us all.
#62 Amanda, #64 Dianna – Ohio and #65 weegee – previous blog.
I did find the video showing Lin Ping going down the slide, but I must admit that I prefer Lin Ping way of going against the rules!!! I found the segment when she goes up the slide and summersault herself down the structure way funnier!!! I have seen her come down the structure many times that way, she makes it look so easy and she looks so elegant doing it. I also like the beginning of the video with her training, give me your left paw, give me your right paw, over and over and then she took her trainer by surprise giving him both paws at the same time…. She is such a character!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQjAqoQ_wyE
I couldn’t watch all of Zhen Zhen birthday party but I don’t think I have ever seen so much playing around a birthday cake without actually eating any of it!!!
Moderator: Were the birthday presents also made of ice? One end up in the pond, you could see it coming the way Zhen Zhen was playing…. Then another one down in the moat!! What a perfect birthday party…
Moderator’s note: Yes, her gifts were made of ice, too.
Happy Birthday Su Lin, you were my first cub to watch grow up, and to visit. Happy Birthday to ZZ, and our little Yun Zi, they grow so fast. Enjoy them everyone. They are special bears.
Wishing the Pandas – Su Lin, Zhen Zhen and Yun Zi wery Happy Birthdays!! August is a great month for Birthday!!
#26 Chari Mercier – Thanks for the update on Ju Xiao, I had posted some info on the previous blog, entry #28, with the link to the article with some beautiful pictures of Ju Xiao and her older cub.
Moderator: could you ask the panda team if it is frequent that panda mothers don’t produce milk to nurse their cubs, I don’t recall reading about that problem before.
#44 Mary Lou – Lucky you!! I went to visit Vienna on my way to Budapest when I was still living in Europe but I never been to the Zoo. It was before the pandas arrived there. But I visited the Schoenbrunn Palace and the Belvedere Palace, since Gustav Klimt is one of my favorite painters. I hope you also went to the cafes and pastry shops which are so characteristic and delicious in Vienna. Now I am going to be on a sugar high like Zhen Zhen without having eaten the cake!!!
#82 Anne in NYC – Pandas are smart animals, if they realize that there is a problem with their cub they probably will have no problem with the keepers taking their cub away. I don’t know if you remember the way Lun Lun let the keepers know that there was a problem with Xi Lan shortly after his birth. It is hard to realize now that he is all grown up and healthy that we were very close to losing him. Pandas and keepers are building a close relationship over time, and the pandas would let their keepers do things that they would not let other humans do.
Moderator’s note: It is unusual for a panda mother to have trouble producing milk for her cub.
Thank you for allowing us to share in Su and Zhen’s birthday celebrations! They have both grown up to be beautiful young panda girls. Each has a unique personality and the best traits of both their parents. That they are so well adjusted and happy is a testament not only to the great hero mother Bai Yun but to all of you at SDZ. It is quite obvious to us that these pandas are not only well cared for but they are also loved!
Can’t wait for little Yuniors first look at an ice cake!
#56 kat w – I am so sorry to get your hopes up about Su Lin’s departure
. The moderator was correct in her answer, I am only overjoyed that Su Lin didn’t leave when she was orginally supposed to and with the heat of the summer she will be here at least until fall – making it possible for me to see her one more time during the B&W Overnight in a couple weeks. Thanks for the congrats on the mommie to Su Lin! I’m also mommie to Yun Zi. Now to save up for Zhennie too….
Happy 3rd Birthday Zhennie!!! Have a beautiful day you silly girl. I’ll see you later this month too!
Drat, I missed her cake; and the online chat too. This work stuff keeps getting in the way.
Happy 3rd Bearday to Darling Zee!
Who created the gorgeous cakes for the Yun-Gao girls? They are truly works of art!
Moderator’s note: Our talented Forage Warehouse staff. Look for a post soon about panda cake making!
Happy Birthday Zhen Zhen! You were a joy to watch today as you first knocked your cakes over, then proceeded to play, roll around, wash and then toss them…into the moat
If you missed any of today’s action filled birthday for Zhen Zhen, here are the videos!
2010-08-03 Happy 3rd Birthday, Zhen Zhen! Part 1; aka Playing with Cakes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA56OY2PHX0
2010-08-03 Happy 3rd Birthday, Zhen Zhen! Part 2; aka Washing and Tossing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SAjf5Bbmsg
What a wonderful day with Zhen Zhen,she really went to town as most of us thought she would.. she is a very happy panda girl and we love her so.!!
Did she do this romp every birthday ?
Thanks to all the San Diego Zoo carers and the camera person too.!
Happy Birthday ZZ.
Zhen Zhen Takes The Cake!!!! What an absolute TREAT to watch her play with her Birthday Cake and Ice presents! You all could not have created a better moment for Zhen! I was so tickled when she first went out onto the exhibit and stopped at the bamboo pile….Such a Star!!
I loved how the icy chunks ended up ALL over the exhibit after over an hour of constant play! Thank You all at the SDZ!!!
And…how about the wild fun that Bai and Yun Zi created during the 11:00 hour!! They were right up at the front of the exhibit for a large portion of the time!! PandaMania was ‘defined’ today
# 104 Danielle – I didn’t know there was a problem with Xi Lan after his birth. How did Lun let the keepers know? What was wrong with him?
Moderator’s note: You can read all about Xi Lan’s rocky start on Zoo Atlanta’s Web site.
Happy Bday Sweet Zennie: You were having so much fun at your own birthday party. I loved seeing you tumble around and sometimes have bottom up! You are so adorable.
Happy Birthday Zhen Zhen! Thanks DoxieMom, I missed the festivities earlier so I am glad you captured them on video.
I was a little sad to see that Zee drowned one of her bootiful cakes in her pool, but I’ll bet if warehouse staff was watching her, they were probably laughing too hard to mind that their work was being mauled by a VERY excited panda girl on her special day!
Ms. Moderator–after such a great day of panda watching, do you think you could get someone to move the cam view so we can see Bai and Yunnie? Thanks–
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ZHENNIE!! You are sooooooo ADORABLE! You brought a smile to my face today watching you play with your birthday cakes. OMG you are so cute! I wish I could be their in person to see you having fun but I’m so happy you had a blast. I LOVE YOU!
What a delight to watch! Zhen surely did enjoy her birthday. Thank you, Doxie, for capturing these unforgettable moments.
#111 Marie – When you are on the Atlanta Zoo website with the pandacam, go at the bottom of the page and click on “Past Panda Updates” and go at the bottom of that page and open the previous one, and so on until you reach the October-August 2008 page and at the bottom of that page you will see “Saturday, August 30 10:10 p.m. A Cub is born!!!” You can then work your way up. On the way to that page, you can relive Xi Lan’s last two years backward, or you can cheat and got to:
zooatlanta (dot) org/home/panda_cam/past_panda_cub_updates_10-08_08
It is less stressful to read about it now but for a few days, at the time, it was really nerve-racking.
This has been a delightful week for the pandas. Thank you DoxieMom for your videos. This was the only way to see the parties! Looking forward to Yun Zi’s party.
Annie Panda: Wow.. you put alot of work in your research. Sounds like you could incorporate that in a book report or something for school! That was also a nice poem you wrote for Su Lin.
I love all of the enrichment toys and gifts! I love watching all of the pandas on the panda cam, it’s just a joy. What a wonderful job…I love the San diego zoo
DoxieMom: Thank you so much for getting those great videos of Zhennie and her antics with the cakes!! She sure is one smart cookie and knows how to have a good time.
I was hard at work today and missed all the fun, so what a treat to be able to see our excitable little girl having sooooooo much fun!
Happy birthday Zhennie girl! I loved watching Gorgeous su Linn with her cake and absolutely loved watching little precious Zhennie today. I knew she would be wild. She is a hoot to watch. Smart girl throwing the ice into the pond, it would melt quicker and she could get the goodies out. (I assume something was in there.) She is so funny, quite the entertainer. Thanks for the videos Doxiemom, I was able to watch some of the live action today at the office, did not get much work done!
I so enoyed watching Yunior torture mom while she napped. It was so cute, she has the patience of a saint! But she did get up and then he was probably sorry, she would not let him go. Perhaps the birthday anticipation has him excited!
As usual, you have outdone yourself SDZ, thank you so much. These wonderful bears are so lucky to be with you there. They are all unique and wonderful in their own ways. It seems they enjoy life there as much as I am sure you all enjoy having them.
Kudos to the Forage Warehouse folks!! Perfect, beautiful ice cake for Princess Su and exactly right, funky ice cakes for zany Zhennie. As soon as I saw Zhennie’s cake (Yea DoxieMom!!) I knew someone had gone above and beyond. Perhaps the FW folks are panda fans and know the Gao family well? I wish someone would make an enlargement of a photo of Zhennie hugging her big cake (In “Happy 3rd Birthday, Zhen Zhen! Part 2″) and hang that picture where the artistic FW geniuses do their thing. Talk about having your work appreciated!!! She could not have enjoyed her BD ice cakes more!
I loved it that one of the ice presents was used to make the pool party portion of the festivities truly “COOL!” In addition to making the panda girls happy, you guys pleased a bunch of pandaholics, too. I hope someone is as good to you on your birthdays!
The day is ending, so I just wanted to say again- Happy Third Birthday Zhen Zhen!
Zhen Zhen is such a lovable and playful panda girl who can be quite silly at times! She is obviously a beautiful bear just like her mother, Bai Yun and her sisters, Su Lin and Hua Mei. I always enjoy seeing photos of her on Flickr, watching her on the panda cam and getting updates on her on the panda blogs. I remember when I visited the SDZ during spring break, and she was the only one awake. She was eating away with her bamboo, walking around and when she got tired, she climbed her tree and decided to take a nap. I wish I could have watched her grow up when she was a little cub, but I just started getting interested in pandas only a year ago. Zhen Zhen might just be my favorite panda girl, but I love Bai Yun too for how gentle and patient she is, not to mention her beauty! Su Lin is like her mother too, beautiful, mild, pleasant and wise. I love all of the female pandas too and of course all of the male ones! I can’t wait for Yun Zi’s birthday!
Well, time to wrap this comment it up. Once again, Happy Birthday Zhennie!!!
Peace, Love and Pandas CIAO!
Annie Panda
happy birthday zhen zhen. you are fantastic.
Fantastic panda overload most welcome, with more to come on Thursday!! Wow, it has been a great two days of witnessing the Gao-Yun girls enjoying their birthday treats! The demure Su Lin did her best to oh-so-daintily get at the boo pieces but they were stuck too well to the ice cakes. I hope she did eventually get to them. That was a beautiful cake!
Now, the live-wire ZZ, had a totally different approach, as in “wham!!” Did she have fun? Oh yes! She was in panda-heaven! Up, down, sideways, rolling, sommersaulting, you name it, she did it! I loved how ZZ’s “ice goodies” were arranged for her discovery. What a delight to watch!
I won’t be able to watch YZ discover his first ice cake, so I’m depending on all my fellow panda fans for their eye-witness accounts; I’ll be signing on Thursday evening! Have fun everyone!!
This is my first Panda Birthday experience. I am loving it. I cannot wait till Thursday when my little special guy turns 1!!!! His sisters are all so beautiful. Bai Yun & Gao Gao are wonderful parents. I wish I would get to see more of Gao Gao. But knowing that these 3 have his heart & soul inside of them gives me insight. I love the kind of mother Bai Yun is. I adopted Yun Zi soon after he was born. I get home from work at midnight E.S.T. and was captivated on the webcam by this Mom & her cub. I was addicted. I also like the black & white color combo….lol. Thanks to DoxieMom for keeping me entertained with these wonderful furry babes in the early hours of the morning. Thank you SDZ for taking such good care of these Pandas. I recently went over the videos of Yun Zi’s first few checkups. They were so cute. He is still precious to me. Happy Birthday to all the Panda’s. When is Bai Yun’s & Gao Gao ‘s ( estimated) birthdays?
Moderator’s note: Panda bios are on our Meet the Pandas page.
Happy Birthday Zhen Zhen!!
Your birthday cake is beautiful! I hope you had a wonderful birthday today!
Love,
Seiko
I’ve been looking at old archives the last couple of hours, guess with birthday week and all, just wanted to look at the early days of Su Lin, Zhennie and of course, Little Cloud, even the day momma Bai and daddy Gao got together to “discuss” =o) Zhennie. All I can say after 2 hours of viewing these beautiful creatures is-wow, amazing, fabulous, magical.
So entertaining, so much fun watching the exams, snow days, the bonding. Bai, you are one beautiful momma.
We hear it all the time, the Zoo keepers, vets, bloggers, everyone, but we can’t praise her enough, look at what she’s given us to celebrate this week. Without her, what would we be doing right now?
Thank you, Bai, for your superior mothering skills, for all the love and affection you lavish on your children. For creating such wonderful children that will carry your bloodline and memory into the future.
I love that I have this opportunity to experience all of you. Thank you, SDZ, thank you all!
Peace and love to all animals…
‘And for my next song, I want to dedicate it to that special lady, the one who will be my one and only love.’ and with that, Yunnie let his fingers do the talking as he strummed his guitar and sang a love song he had composed that very day.
As he sang about the sweet lady of the bamboo, hundreds of young panda ladies sighed in the audience as they held up bamboo banners saying ‘YUNNIE IS THE BEST!’ and ‘YUNNIE IS A MUFFIN!’
Then the drummer took charge and the whole stage became electrified as Yunnie launched into his first No 1 hit single, Rock a Bai, Babee! He jumped and he rocked the stage as he strutted his stuff. The crowd went wild as he shook his fluffy butt.
He turned and grinned at the audience who kept screaming his name! Then he called out,’PUT YOUR PAWS TOGETHER FOR MY SISTERS AND COUSIN – THE PANDA GIRLS!’ Then he played their new hit song, Bamboo Hero, whom some claim was written about Gao Gao, the hero Panda father aka as Studmuffin aka Gaoster.
The girls did their hip hop moves and ZZ really stood out as she did some breakdance moves as well. Then she did a stage dive and body surfed the crowd. Mz Ping then took centre stage and played the drums. She really let fly and amped up the beat. The whole arena was awash with moving and dancing animals as the entire SDZ animal population was there letting their mane, fur or hide down.
The Yunnie strutted to the centre stage and the whole arena came to a hushed silence. He took out his bamboo flute and played a beautiful melody entitled ‘Beauty of the Bamboo’ dedicated to his Mama. She was there all decked out in her chic Bearmani jeans and T shirt bearing the proud legend ‘Mama of Yun Zi, and proud of it!’ Next to her, was the Gaoster in his muscle T and bermudas. In one paw was a can of good Thai boo beer. He was heard to declare, ‘That boy, chip off the old block, hee hee, that’s my boy! Just like Mei Sheng, both great sons of Gao, yay!’
After the last note wafted through the cool evening, the audience then suddenly stood up and started clapping as a huge and I mean huge cake was wheeled on stage with a large 5 perched on it. It was Yunnie’s birthday cake. It had all the colours of the rainbow and had many apple slices. Yunnie grinned as his family came on stage to share his birthday joy.
Just as he was about to bite into the cake, he was tickled. Surprised he turned around and it was Bai Yun.
‘Mama, you can’t do that to a rock star!’
‘What rock star! I need to do a diaper check.’
‘Maaaaa, I am five…’
‘My dear son, you are almost, almost, just a day shy of one. You may be fifty kilos! My dear fluffy butt!’ smiled Bai as she lifted her cubby out of his hammock.
‘Weeeell, a cubby can dream, can’t he? Hee Hee, I love rock and roll! And I can shake my groove thing, baby. Yay Yay Yay!’ giggled Yunnie.
Bai Yun lets out a sigh and smiles, ‘Que Sera Sera, my dear!’
‘Mama, can I have a milkitini now?’
The End
oooh they all have wonderful bootiful cakes… happy birthday, precious! can’t wait to see yunior’s bearday celebration next…..
Many, many thanks to all of the SDZ staff for their wonderful care of our furry friends. And for putting up with us curious bloggers.
And, thanks to Danielle for expalining why a panda mom would give up her precious cubbie to keeper care. Yes, I rmember the heart stoping moment with Xi Lan, and look at the strong and beautiful guy he is today.
Thanks, as always to Dixie Mom for recording the ZZ birthday bash. And thanks to Grammie for always including the links to Rita Petitia’s pix for us less agile bloggers.
Can’t wait for Yunnie’s celebration tomorrow.
Congratulations to DoxiMom are in order! Doxi Mom, both of your videos featuring Zhen Zhen celebrating her Birthday are on the front page of the Pandasliveon website!!! Hurray!!! We all appreciate your work!
This morning the beautiful Su Lin was standing in a tree and viewing San Diego, and doing some stretching. I noticed what appears to be a square size patch of hair missing from her left forearm. Is this true? Did she have some recent medical tests? Maybe a physical for her birthday…….
Moderator’s note: She did indeed have her annual physical.
Enjoyable early morning footage of adorable Yunni playing with boo and his feetsies and pretty Su Lin in a tree. Thanks cam operator.
Zhen had soooo much fun yesterday. Can’t wait to see Yun Zi’s reaction to his first birthday cake!
I had so much fun watching Zhen Zhen yesterday, she made my day!! Thank you Panda keepers for allowing us to share in the fun…..AND it was fun
Just a heads up…. Zhennie’s SDZ birthday video is posted in the video link…
Cute story, Lucilla!
As we celebrate three birthdays at the SDZ this week, it is a reminder that most of the panda cubs are born within a short time window each summer. The first cubs born this year came to this world on July 2nd at the Beijing Zoo. The surviving cub is cared for at the Bifengxia center, and is already over one month old. Don’t miss the new pictures of the little female panda on pandanews(dot)org. Another story posted on that website is very interesting since Shui Xiu who gave birth on August 1st to twin cubs at Bifengxia was injured in the wild and lost a front paw. I couldn’t find any information as to how she is doing while caring for her cubs, hoping she will be given the opportunity to do so. The second part of that story is that Cao Cao, one of the pregnant pandas released in semi wilderness, also gave birth to a cub on August 1st. Since the 4 pandas have been released in semi wilderness recently, I hope they were able to bild a den before giving birth. If you come across additional info about those new moms, please let us know.
Hi! Well, so I got Le Le and Ya Ya’s genders mixed up—sorry, my bad! So, thanks to Annie Panda for helping me get that straightened out in my head! Also, thanks Annie Panda for writing up that nice list of all of the pandas that are still here in the USA or have been here with their birthdays and how old they all are or will be when their bdays come up. At least I got my question answered as to how old Ya Ya, Le Le, Mei Xiang, and Tian Tian are. Great job on your research, Annie Panda!!
Watched the SDZ video of ZZ’s bday party from yesterday (Aug. 3rd). ZZ did her thing—took the number 3 off the top of the cake! Meant to get on the pandacam to watch that live, but got held up doing some things and missed it—AGAIN!! I also missed the chat room that I planned on being a part of as well! Just got alot of stuff going on around my place this week! I will definitely try to catch Yuni’s first birthday party tomorrow (Aug. 5th). That will definitely be fun to watch Yuni tackle his very first bday cake! HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY, YUN ZI!!!! Hope that you will have a wonderful, joyful day with your bday cake and presents with some good snackies inside! Luv yas!!
Chari Mercier
St. Pete, FL
Happy Birthday to Yun Zi from all your friends in London, England. Hope you have a great day with Mum and enjoy your cake.
Shona XXX
Happy Birthday Yun Zi, Zhen Zhen and Su Lin from Lin Ping Thailand.
Happy 1st Birthday Yun Zi…hope you enjoy your cake
I hope the cameras are snapping away- a perfect mommy/baby moment with Yunnie holding onto Bai. Reduces one to tears…
happy 1st. birthday, yun zi!
Well, missed it again! Too much going on this week including today! This time, I missed Yuni’s first birthday party! Hope there is a great video of Yuni getting after his first bday ice cake and his presents that were full of snackies! Hopefully, momma Bai didn’t get into those presents! Doxiemom, did you get a good vid of Yuni’s bday? Hope so!
Ok, got some more birth news to tell you in case some of you do not get Pandas International email newsletters. One of them was very historic! Got my PI newsletter today, and it was full of baby panda news. The biggest and most historic panda birth came on Aug. 3, 2010 when Cao Cao gave birth to one panda cub unassisted in the semi wild area of Wolong Nature Reserve, the area that was shattered by the 2008 earthquake. Cao Cao was one of 4 pregnant female pandas that were released into that region just recently around late June/early-mid July. The other 3 pregnant female pandas that were released with Cao were Zi Zhu, Ying Ping, Zhang Ka. Cao will be able to take care of and raise her cub in the Wolong Nature Reserve until the cub is around 2-4 years old. Also, that area has surveillance cams set up there, is fenced in on a very large tract of wild land, and that’s how the Wolong Reserve staff was able to find out about Cao’s birth of her cub. Cao is a very experienced mom, too.
At Bifengxia, there were other panda births. On July 29, 2010, Long Xin had one cub; Ling Ling is the daddy! On July 30, 2010, Fei Fei had one cub, also. This is Fei’s sixth cub. On August 1, 2010, Shui Xiu had twins nearly 30 minutes apart! Shui accepted the first cub that was born, then the vets took the second cub to the nursery after it was born. The 2nd cub is a possible female, and weighs in at 55.3 grams. They won’t know the gender of the other new cubs until later on when they can get the chance to do vet checks on them. The Bifengxia staff and vets are expecting up to 20 cubs to be born this year!
Still waiting on the Atlanta zoo panda keepers to let us know about how Lun Lun is doing on her hormone levels, and if they still feel that Lun could still be expecting her 3rd baby panda cub. Gonna be checking the AZ website’s panda page to see if there are any new updates about Lun. If you see me writing something back on here later tonite, that means I may have found out something about Lun Lun! Keep hope alive for Lun, pandafans!
Well, gonna go and search for the Yuni bday vid! Will be back later on!
Chari Mercier
St. Pete, FL
Happy, Happy Birthday, sweet Yun Zi! We love you! XOXO!