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About Author: Anastasia Horning

Posts by Anastasia Horning

3

Hello, Handsome Yun Zi!

By
Anastasia Horning
– May 16, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Bears, Pandas, Uncategorized

Welcome back to the spotlight, Yun Zi!

It has been a couple of months, but I’m happy to report that giant panda Yun Zi is now on exhibit for guests to view. Sunday, May 13, was his first day back, and he was putting on quite a show for our lucky guests in the morning. A perfect Mother’s Day treat for our visiting mothers!

Since father Gao Gao was in that exhibit previously, Yun Zi spent the morning scent marking the entire exhibit. He also was running around and rolling around to show off and have fun. When the front viewing area was redone a couple of years ago, our keepers tried to keep panda youngsters in mind when they requested more climbing structures. Yun Zi is the perfect example of why that is so important for a young, growing panda. He was climbing, scent marking the tree and going all the way to the top to smell the air. It was really an amazing morning for our youngster!

Those who had not seen him in a while were shocked at how big Mr. Yun Zi has gotten. Currently, his weight is about 180 pounds, and he is looking like he is going to be rather tall as well. Since he is 2½ years old, he could potentially continue growing for a couple more years. But just like his parents, his weight can fluctuate with weather changes and different life changes (hormones). Many of our guests told me about being at the San Diego Zoo two years ago and seeing a little baby; they wondered what had happened to him. Just about all of them were astounded when I’d point to Yun Zi and say, “Here he is!”

If you get the chance, please come and visit him, and take a peak on the Panda Cam. As for mother Bai Yun, she has been moved into the north exhibit, which is currently closed to our guests, so that when we begin doing our thermal imaging on a regular basis she is easily accessible. Our first thermal imaging procedure has already taken place; Bai Yun cooperated beautifully, and we have nothing to report. Please remember that it can take a while for our researchers and vet staff to see anything that would indicate a pregnancy. Paws crossed!

Anastasia Horning is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous post, Panda Narrator at Safari Park.

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58

Panda Narrator at Safari Park

By
Anastasia Horning
– May 3, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Cats, Pandas

Guests on a Rolling Safari get a unique view of the Park's lions!

One of the great benefits of working for San Diego Zoo Global is that it gives employees the opportunity to explore other positions in the organization. For some of us, we can go on loan to other departments to help out during busy times. Although I am a panda narrator at the Zoo, for about three years now during Spring Break weeks I have had the great opportunity to work at the Safari Park and help give Africa Tram Safari and Rolling Safari tours. The best part of this process is learning about the different conservation programs that we are doing on grounds at the Park and letting our guests know that by coming to the Park they have helped us in all of our endeavors.

On the Africa Tram Safari, some of the first animals our guests see are the South African cheetahs. The Park has 1,800 acres, so we have space for a cheetah breeding facility where we have welcomed over 130 cheetah births. Many of our cheetahs born here become ambassadors for their species and go to other zoos to help bring awareness to their plight in the wild.

Southern white rhinos can roam far and wide at the Safari Park.

One of the most famous animals at the Park is the southern white rhino. In the early 1900s, the rhinos were hunted for their horns to the point where there were less than 500. For years, the practice in zoos was to put a male and a female rhino together and wait for them to breed. We now know that southern white rhinos are social animals, and the females like to be in a herd to help protect their babies. They won’t even come into heat unless they have that social group! Right now we have a male at the Park chasing the girls around, trying to court. The funniest thing about these animals is that if a male wants to court a female, he has to get the approval of the rest of the herd!

On the Rolling Safari Tours, our guests get to ride on a Segway X2 while getting to see the Asian animals that are not out for general viewing, such as the greater one-horned rhino, Przewalski’s horse (an extremely rare wild horse), Indian gaur (one of the few wild cattle left), and the Arabian oryx (an animal that was extinct in the wild but was brought back due, in part, to the Safari Park’s breeding efforts).

Taking a Safari Park tour is a great way to really see how involved San Diego Zoo Global is with conservation. Every tour lets you get extra information about what we do, our mission, and how you have helped and can continue to help as you leave the Park. I think the most exciting thing for some is seeing the new babies born. Since the Park opened in 1972, over 20,000 animals have been born here, and we help the scientific community by sharing our knowledge of animal behavior, successful techniques to secure breeding, and successful animal management.

If you have the time, please come check out the Zoo’s sister facility, the Safari Park. Watch these animals interact with each other in the large, open exhibits, and see animal behavior like you’ve never seen before.

Anastasia Horning is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous post, Our Growing Takin Calves.

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15

Our Growing Takin Calves

By
Anastasia Horning
– April 30, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Pandas, Uncategorized

For many of our guests who come through the San Diego Zoo’s Panda Trek, this is the first time they’ve encountered a Sichuan takin. For some, the first reaction is that takins are a type of ox or elk, and guests become so surprised when they find out that this animal is from the same area of China as the giant panda. Sometimes when I walk down there in the morning and talk to some of our guests, I try to emphasize the great work we have done with breeding these animals and that they also play an important role in the ecosystem of the Sichuan mountains.

I honestly cannot think of a better representation of how beautiful these animals are than with our two youngest takins, Mei Long (Beautiful Dragon) and Bing Long (Ice Dragon) (see post Our Growing Takin Herd). For most of the morning, these almost-three-month-old takins are running around each other and jumping up and down the rock wall they have for enrichment. You really get to see them in action and see their abilities to climb in this enclosure. The babies are only about a week apart in age and are very close in weight; the only way I can really tell the difference is to look at their forehead: Bing Long has a blonde tuft of his forehead while Mei Long has, for now, a solid coat. The babies will nurse from their mothers for an average of seven to eight months but can start to mouth hay and pellets after being a couple of weeks old.

Every morning, our keepers clean the exhibits and are working on training the individual takins to go onto a scale for weights. Our keepers also look the takins over to make sure everybody is healthy and there are no injuries; having horns comes with some liabilities! The keepers then move them access to the corral, barn, or upper hillside so that they can clean the exhibit safely and in peace. The takins have a nice pool up front to rest in or cool off on hot days, and the babies love to walk into the pool and check it out.

These babies won’t stay small for long, so we hope to see you all come to see them soon!

Anastasia Horning is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous post, Yun Zi Surpasses Dad.

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14

Yun Zi Surpasses Dad

By
Anastasia Horning
– April 25, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Bears, Pandas

Yun Zi explores December's snow.

I know many of our San Diego Zoo guests have missed seeing our youngest panda, Yun Zi. Rest assured that he is doing just fine and is still here at the Zoo! Yun Zi has access to our north exhibit during the day, and in the evenings he goes into a set of bedrooms that have sunrooms in case he feels the need to get some fresh air.

Believe it or not, the bears really don’t mind being off exhibit and in the back with keepers. Yun Zi enjoys watching the keepers work, make enrichment, and prep diets for the pandas. He definitely takes after his father, Gao Gao, in the respect: Gao Gao also enjoys the quiet environment, so being in the back with keepers is a nice change for him.

Yun Zi is growing very fast and has officially surpassed his father’s weight. On average, he is anywhere from 4 to 6 pounds (2 to 3 kilograms) larger than his dad, putting him around 174 to 176 pounds (78.9 to 79.8 kilograms). Our little Yun Zi is growing so fast and is becoming a very impressive-looking bear. Through different phases of his development he has taken after his siblings, and for right now he has long legs like his sister Zhen Zhen.

Keepers are training him to perform different behaviors, and for the most part he is eager to learn. Currently he has been working on extending his arm out for blood draws, which will help keepers and vets maintain his good health. There is no official word on moving him into the front viewing area or opening the north exhibit at this time, but check the blogs periodically for updates!

Anastasia Horning is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous post, Panda Pregnancy?

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45

Panda Pregnancy?

By
Anastasia Horning
– April 3, 2012Posted in: Animals and Plants, Bears, Pandas

What's in store for Bai Yun this year?

Since our beloved adult giant pandas were able to breed three times recently, and it was on the news, we are already meeting lots of San Diego Zoo guests who are curious to know if Bai Yun is pregnant. Of course we all hope that she is pregnant, but we really won’t know for sure for some time. The only way we can accurately confirm a pregnancy in a female giant panda is through an ultrasound procedure.

Her sleeping patterns may change down the road. Bai Yun may be napping much longer during the day and may be even a little more lethargic in general. As usual, we will be comparing this breeding season with previous ones. For example, last year Bai Yun and Gao Gao bred in mid-April, but this year we had breeding in mid-March. Since this is earlier, we may be looking earlier for signs of pregnancy; on the other hand, she may have a longer gestation. We’ll just have to wait and see!

The San Diego Zoo is only one of a number of facilities studying giant pandas. We know some behaviors that are standard for pandas, and we know that some behaviors are typical for OUR pandas. We are continuing to learn about courtship behavior, breeding, gestation, and rearing of cubs.

We are all eager to see what happens this year and look forward to what may lie ahead!

Anastasia Horning is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous post, Pandas: Shaved Bellies.

Update April 3: The Panda Team received word from Wolong that Hua Mei’s youngest cub passed away. It seems the cub was fine one day and gone the next, and veterinarians there are still looking into the cause of death. Su Lin’s cub is doing great but has not been named yet. We are working on getting an update on Zhen Zhen.

Update April 4: The Panda Team received confirmation that Zhen Zhen has been moved to Le Shan. We are attempting to get more details to share with her many friends.

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35

Pandas: Shaved Bellies

By
Anastasia Horning
– March 5, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Bears, Pandas

Bai Yun enjoys a meal during snow day in December.

If you’ve been to the San Diego Zoo’s Panda Trek recently, you may have noticed our giant pandas sporting a new look. Our female, Bai Yun, and our male, Gao Gao, have shaved bellies, and their arms have shaved patches of fur. Don’t be alarmed! There is nothing wrong with them.

Recently, both of our adult pandas went to the San Diego Zoo’s Jennings Center for Zoological Medicine for pre-breeding and general physical exams. With breeding season right around the corner, we want to make sure that Bai Yun is healthy and ready for what the future will bring. During breeding season, Gao Gao will smell Bai Yun in heat and become much more active. He also will get excited and begin to scent mark in a handstand position. Bai Yun, in the meantime, will begin scent marking her exhibit with great enthusiasm to promote the message that her hormones are beginning to shift and that breeding season is here.

When (and if!) we put the adults together, it is a carefully orchestrated process. As in the past, we would let them have access to a mutual fence so they can check each other out. If Bai Yun is ready, and Gao Gao is at the fence, the gate dividing them would be opened by the Panda Team. Breeding may span two or more days, but the actual time that they are together is much less than that. Gao Gao is typically the one who lets us know that he is finished with breeding season by not soliciting attention from our female and not showing interest in breeding again.

As many of you know, Bai Yun is 21 years old, which is older for a female in breeding years. Bai Yun is not technically in estrus yet, and she is still being observed closely. The Panda Team will start collecting urine samples so that our reproductive physiologist will be able to monitor her hormone levels. The oldest female that we know of who gave birth in a managed-care facility was 21 years old. There is a very good chance that Bai Yun may not breed or get pregnant this year. We will do our best to keep our guests and fans updated, but we want everyone to keep that information in mind.

Anastasia Horning is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous post, Our Growing Takin Herd.

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27

Our Growing Takin Herd

By
Anastasia Horning
– February 14, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Pandas

What's cuter than one baby takin? Two!

We recently welcomed takin Summer’s most recent baby at the San Diego Zoo’s Panda Trek (see post post, Baby Takin. Guests were in awe at the beautiful little female she gave birth to. The little one has been doing well and is getting bigger every day and more energetic. Shortly after, our other female takin, Eve, gave birth to a little male. We are thrilled, to say the least, about our luck with all of our babies so far this year! Eve is doing well, and she and her baby will be on exhibit with the rest of the herd.

As a panda narrator, I get to talk to our guests about conservation, but I can’t tell you how much fun it has been to direct people over to see our baby takins. As takins are social animals, these babies are half siblings, sharing the same father, and will grow up playing together and will be wonderful fun for our guests to watch. The father of these two babies is no longer with the herd, as he is well represented, but the male that we have with the herd right now is a very nice looking and well-behaved animal. He has been very accepting of the babies, and when these females are viable again, will be able to breed them as well.

So right now at Panda Trek we have Leon, Kai (a new female who is about 2 to 3 years old), Blondie and her youngster, Duli, Summer and her new female baby, and Eve with her new male baby. We encourage you to come visit the pandas and check out their next-door neighbors, the takins! We hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine’s Day and a safe Presidents’ Day weekend.

Listen to Leon’s low rumble and snort!

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Anastasia Horning is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo.

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6

Baby Takin

By
Anastasia Horning
– February 6, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Uncategorized

Baby takins like this one are adorable little creatures!

Monday afternoon, January 30, 2012, I was standing in front of the giant panda enclosures in the San Diego Zoo’s Panda Trek, talking to guests, when a gentleman walked up to me very casually and said, “One of your buffalos is giving birth.” I looked at the guest ambassador next to me, and we ran down to our “buffalo,” which are actually Sichuan takins. As I couldn’t really see anything right away, I had to ask other guests in the area if they could see a baby and made my way toward the front of the exhibit. As I looked into the corner of the cave, I was delighted to see a little, dark heap in the corner being licked clean by her mother, Summer. I quickly called keepers, who then called supervisors and vet staff to inform them of our newest addition.

Summer is an experienced mother here at the Zoo and was not nervous and never hesitated with this baby. The other adult female in the enclosure, Blondie, was keeping the younger takins from getting too close to the newborn. As the baby was getting cleaned, she began to try to stand up and, of course, at first she was very wobbly. But after a few tries she began standing and even moving around. After a few minutes, the adult females allowed the other young takins to come check out the new baby and see what the buzz was about. They were a little nervous at first yet very curious about the new little bundle. Soon after this, the new male, Leon, came to check out the baby. All of the staff and visitors were entertained by the male, who was rather apprehensive of the wobbly 20-pound (9 kilograms) baby. As the baby walked toward Leon, he was quick to walk backward!

After the herd had checked the baby out and gotten the clear from Summer, they were satisfied with their newest member and went about their business. Everyone began browsing and finishing their food. But for our visitors and staff, we were still excited and enchanted with the little charcoal fluff ball warming her way into our hearts!

Anastasia Horning is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous post, Pandas: Another Switch.

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17

Pandas: Another Switch

By
Anastasia Horning
– January 30, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Bears, Pandas, Uncategorized

Bai Yun explored her snow-covered exhibit last month.

As we still have construction going on in Panda Canyon, we will playing “musical bears” for a bit. Currently on exhibit at Panda Trek are Bai Yun and Gao Gao. Bai Yun has been very busy since she moved back into public view. The last bear to be in her enclosure was Gao Gao, and she has spent the majority of her time re-scenting it. Gao Gao had done some handstand markings to make it look like a large bear was in the area, and Bai Yun decided that she was going to cover them up with her own scent. It was quite impressive to watch.

Throughout the day we also saw her smelling the air quite a bit. It’s been extremely windy in the canyons lately, and you can see the dust getting picked up in the air and swirling around the bears. Both Bai Yun and Gao Gao were lifting their heads to get a good whiff of what was around them.

Gao Gao also was busy for a part of the day. As Yun Zi had been the previous occupant of Gao’s enclosure, it needed to be re-scented. For a good part of the day, handstands were performed, and scent marking on logs and rocks was seen. By the early afternoon, Gao Gao needed a good nap but was up by 2:30 p.m., getting ready for more bamboo. One thing I can say about our bears is that they are very good about letting us know when it’s time for their next food delivery!

We encourage you to come see Bai Yun and Gao Gao while they are on exhibit, as we will not be having a set schedule of how long they will be out before we do another switch. We are doing our best to ensure that the pandas are comfortable during this construction period. That may mean that one bear may have access to a bedroom area for a short time or we may again play “musical bears.” Either way, we want to thank you all for your understanding and hope that you come see us soon!

Anastasia Horning is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous post, Scents for Pandas.

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19

Scents for Pandas

By
Anastasia Horning
– January 24, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Bears, Pandas, Uncategorized

Yun Zi has a nose for scents.

Here at the San Diego Zoo, we have done several giant panda studies on communication, diet, natural behavior, courtship, breeding, pregnancy, and mother and cub. Currently we are doing a hearing study. All of these studies are documented, and we have open communication with China and other zoos that are also studying these bears.

Some behaviors need no study or documentation to know how advanced an animal’s sense of smell is. If you watch the pandas on Panda Cam or had the privilege to view them in person, you may have noticed that Gao Gao and Yun Zi have been sniffing the air more often these days. You also may have heard the construction going on right now, and with that construction there are a few more scents in the air.

New scents often make the bears curious about what is going on around them; they get very excited if it happens to be a scent that they like. Recently, one of our keepers put peppermint extract on some enrichment; our pandas got very excited, and Bai Yun rubbed the scent all over her body.

If you get the chance, come see what our bears are smelling these days.

Anastasia Horning is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous post, Musical Chairs, I Mean Bears!

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