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About Author: Alyssa Medeiros

Posts by Alyssa Medeiros

151

Panda Cub: Adventurer

By
Alyssa Medeiros
– January 29, 2013Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Bears, Pandas, Uncategorized
Let's play some more!

Ready to play some more, son?

Xiao Liwu was very active today, January 29, in Panda Trek’s north exhibit. At first he was on top of his tree stump, sleeping away in the hay as cozy as can be. He slept for at least an hour and a half. The six-month-old finally woke up and began his adventure of climbing on tree limbs and exploring in the exhibit. He tried chewing on some bamboo leaves, just as mama Bai Yun does. I always notice he tries to copy Mom as much as he can. Wu then was interested in the plants, biting at the little branches and leaves. He’s very interested in the world around him. I always notice he will try biting on different leaves and branches.

Then he wanted to play with Bai Yun, which our guests love to see! They were wrestling and playing in the bin full of hay. He practices his bear skills while playing, just like humans learn while they play! One of my favorite moments of the morning was when he would run after Bai Yun and try to bite her on her bottom. He just makes me laugh!

Sometimes he can be so stubborn with his one-track mind, but it always makes for good stories and a great experience for our guests. As the morning came to an end, Xiao Liwu enjoyed playing in the bushes exploring the flowers and leaves. This “little gift” is quite a little adventurer!

Alyssa Medeiros is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous post, Panda Cub: Little Gift.

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252

Panda Cub: Little Gift

By
Alyssa Medeiros
– November 13, 2012Posted in: Animals and Plants, Pandas, Uncategorized

Rick Gulley, left, and Ron Swaisgood reveal our cub’s name.

I have worked as a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo’s Giant Panda Research Center for only a couple of years, and I’ve never been to a naming ceremony before. As this was my first one, I was VERY excited! While we waited, two Chinese musicians played traditional music, and a video montage of the cub’s exams thus far played above the stage. I, for one, could watch it over and over—the little guy is just that cute!

Lion dancers help us celebrate the cub’s name!

Once all of the anxious audience members were seated, a beautiful parade began. Chinese lion dancers in amazing costumes danced around the Zoo’s Hunte Amphitheater and interacted with the crowd. After a small performance, the president of our board of trustees, Rick Gulley, spoke about how thrilling the moment was. He then introduced the consulate-general of the People’s Republic of China, Qiu Shaofang, who discussed how happy China is with the accomplishments the Zoo has had with giant panda conservation. He included the cub’s name: Xiao Liwu, which means “little gift.” The audience gasped in amazement. Finally, the co-head of our giant panda program, Ron Swaisgood, spoke of the conservation accomplishments in China and at the Zoo. It really opened everyone’s eyes as to how much we are doing to help these amazing bears.

Once the speeches were over, the three men unveiled a black cloth that was draped over the large sign. There was the photo of Xiao Liwu and his name and pronunciation (sshyaoww-lee-woo) printed on the bottom. This sixth cub really is a “little gift” to our Zoo. Attending this ceremony made me very proud to not only be a San Diegan, but to be a panda narrator. This was truly an amazing and unforgettable experience!

Alyssa Medeiros is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous post, Yun Zi: A Wild Child.

Note: Watch the entire ceremony here…

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235

Yun Zi: A Wild Child

By
Alyssa Medeiros
– October 26, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Bears, Pandas, Uncategorized

Yun Zi had fun with cinnamon sprinkled in a box, October 25.

Yun Zi was definitely a busy panda boy today! He was extremely playful this morning, rolling around in his bin and flipping it upside down. At one point, after he flipped the bin upside down, he crawled underneath it and started to walk with it on his back. He looked like he was pretending to be a turtle! Then he ran after a pile of bamboo, jumped on top of it, and began to wrestle the bamboo to the ground. After biting off some leaves and tossing it aside, he sprinted around the exhibit, playing soccer with his Boomer Ball.

Yun Zi played like this for about an hour or so. Our guests really enjoyed watching Yun Zi at play. It was definitely a great morning at the San Diego Zoo.

Alyssa Medeiros is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous post, Yun Zi and the Box.

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50

Yun Zi and the Box

By
Alyssa Medeiros
– July 6, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Animals site sub feature, Bears, Pandas, Uncategorized

Yun Zi eyes his next activity.

There was much to see at the San Diego Zoo’s Giant Panda Research Station on Independence Day. Yun Zi was being his busy self, playing with enrichment and lounging in his hammock while snacking on some bamboo. The keepers gave him a box filled with herbivore biscuits. At one point, he picked up the box with his front paws and began to spin it around with his back feet, on a mission to pour the biscuits onto the ground. He succeeded after several attempts.

After an afternoon nap, he climbed down from his tree and into his hammock. Surrounded by a large amount of bamboo, he began to feast on some large bamboo stalks and leaves, delighting all of our guests. What a way to spend the Fourth of July!

Alyssa Medeiros is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous post, Yun Zi: Busy Panda Boy.

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49

Yun Zi: Busy Panda Boy

By
Alyssa Medeiros
– May 22, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Bears, Pandas, Uncategorized

Yun Zi ponders his next move.

Yun Zi was definitely a busy boy on Saturday, May 19! The keepers gave him plenty of enrichment to keep him occupied. He received a tub full of ice, two hard-plastic Boomer balls filled with carrots, yams, apples, and herbivore biscuits, and a burlap sack filled with hay.

As soon as the bedroom door opened, our young panda ran to the tub and began to go through the ice, rubbing the cubes all over his head. He then tipped the tub over, spreading the ice everywhere, and tumbled down the hill, bringing the tub with him. Our guests were enthralled and were laughing and snapping as many photos as they could! Yun Zi even chased his Boomer ball around the exhibit, almost like a kid chasing a soccer ball.

After a lot of playing and running around for almost two hours, he FINALLY took a nap. What a day in the San Diego Zoo’s Panda Trek!

Alyssa Medeiros is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous post, Gao Gao and the Tub.

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34

Gao Gao and the Tub

By
Alyssa Medeiros
– March 2, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Bears, Pandas

Gao Gao

Bai Yun and Gao Gao were enjoying themselves Thursday afternoon at the San Diego Zoo’s Giant Panda Research Station. Gao Gao had received a bin full of fresh pine shavings as his enrichment. He REALLY enjoyed himself! He was rolling around in the bin, rubbing the shavings all over his head. He even took a nap in there for a bit but then crawled out and moved to his favorite napping spot behind the tree. In the evening, he returned to the tub and sat in there, eating some bamboo. Gao Gao was also vocalizing quite a bit that day. Our guests were very excited to see him.

Bai Yun slept about half of the afternoon. Once the keeper replenished her food, she was up and about. On the hunt for her favorite snack, red apples, she vigorously climbed the tree stumps, which impressed all of our guests. After snacking on the apples and carrots for a bit, she placed herself atop her rock cave with very large pieces of bamboo to dine on.

By the end of the day, our giant pandas were still happily eating their bamboo, a perfect ending to a perfect day at the San Diego Zoo.

Alyssa Medeiros is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous post, Bai Yun Scent Marks.

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33

Bai Yun Scent Marks

By
Alyssa Medeiros
– February 20, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Bears, Pandas, Uncategorized

Bai Yun explores her exhibit during December's snow day.

Panda Trek at the San Diego Zoo was full of excitement on Friday, February 17! Bai Yun was scent marking quite a bit that afternoon. She left markings along the ground at least a few times and also walked through the water in her pool. For the rest of the day she mostly ate and, of course, slept. At one point she dragged a very large piece of bamboo to the top of her rock cave. She then sat down and began to break the thick stalk of bamboo, impressing all of the observing guests.

Gao Gao was also on exhibit that day. After the keeper had replenished his food and cleaned his exhibit, he went on a “hunt” for his herbivore biscuits as well as the yams, carrots, and apples.  He seemed to climb under and even on top of his hammock to find his tasty treats. I also observed him climbing to the very top of the mock panda den to sit and have lunch, just as I’ve seen little Yun Zi do. Like father, like son!

Finally, once the sun started to go down and the Zoo was closing, both Bai Yun and Gao Gao went inside their bedrooms for a nice nap, which is always a great ending to a great day at Panda Trek.

Alyssa Medeiros is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous post, Panda Enrichment. 

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13

Panda Enrichment

By
Alyssa Medeiros
– November 2, 2011Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Bears, Pandas, Uncategorized

Yun Zi

The Giant Panda Research Center was full of activity yesterday, November 1. Yun Zi was being very entertaining for our guests, especially with his enrichment. Our keepers gave him a pile of soil and shavings sprinkled with scent. He gave our guests a show by rolling all around in the soil, rubbing it on top of his head. It was like a kid rolling around in the sand on the beach. Once he was finished, he looked more like a small black bear than a giant panda. He was a day late for Halloween!

Bai Yun seemed very content. At one point she sat on top of some branches while resting her head on the tiny hammock that is attached to her tree. She just looked so silly! And at the end of the day, while Bai Yun was in her pond and Yun Zi in his hammock, both sat happily eating their dinner.

Alyssa Medeiros is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous post, Pandas: A Beautiful Day.

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185

Pandas: A Beautiful Day

By
Alyssa Medeiros
– July 5, 2011Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Bears, Pandas, Uncategorized

Yun Zi: a busy young man!

It was a beautiful and sunny day at the Giant Panda Research Center at the San Diego Zoo on Saturday, July 2. Yun Zi was quite active. The keepers placed ice in his pond and hid some biscuits and bamboo among the dozens of cubes. He had a blast sprawling all over it, searching for his treats. At one point Yun Zi picked up a large piece of melted cubes and placed it on top of his chest. He tried to break it by biting it. Realizing it wasn’t working out so well, he placed the ice on top of his head. It finally broke in two pieces behind him. He then decided to try a somersault in the ice, but that didn’t go well, either! For the rest of the afternoon he sat in his hammock and ate bamboo.

Gao Gao took a well-deserved nap on top of his water dish. Some guests thought he was drinking from it, and they didn’t believe me when I told them he was sleeping. He couldn’t wait for the keeper’s arrival so he could eat more bamboo. Once they replenished his supply, he was as happy as can be, sitting in his pond and eating his meal.

Alyssa Medeiros is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous post, Panda Excitement.

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49

Panda Excitement

By
Alyssa Medeiros
– April 14, 2011Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Bears, Pandas, Uncategorized

Yun Zi continues to thrive and finds new excitement every day!

Breeding season is here, and the pandas have been as active as ever. The keepers continue to switch Bai Yun and Gao Gao’s exhibits, so the pandas are investigating their “new” areas vigorously. Bai Yun has been scent marking and bleeting like crazy. When she’s not walking around the exhibit she is either eating or napping. On Saturday, she napped for a few hours on top of the rock structure in her exhibit, and on Sunday she was staying in her bedroom for a while. I was surprised she was in there because the keepers had just replenished her food supply.

Gao Gao has also been active in his exhibit.  He spent a lot of his time in the tunnel, where he napped and called for Bai Yun. At one point she did come over to the gate, where they sniffed each other.  On Sunday, Gao Gao was entertaining Zoo guests when he found a gopher and decided to play with it and tossed it in the air.  Fortunately, the gopher scurried back into its hole unharmed.

It has definitely been an exciting few days at pandas, and I’m sure more excitement is to come!

Alyssa Medeiros is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo.

Update: The first breeding of this season for our panda pair occurred at 2:45 p.m. on April 15 (exactly two years after their first breeding of 2009)! Staff will continue to monitor Bai Yun, and give Gao Gao access to her if she seems willing, through the rest of the weekend. The main viewing exhibit will be closed to Zoo guests through Sunday, April 17.

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