As you may know from previous Weblogs, Koza is our ten-week-old lion cub being raised at the Animal Care Center at the Wild Animal Park. His mother was unable to give birth to him normally, so he was delivered by caesarean section. Early on we became concerned that he had no littermates. Lions are very social animals, and quickly out grow human playmates.
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Thanks to all the support with the Adopt-An-Animal program, the keepers are going to receive a much needed camera system for the cheetah and dhole enclosures at the CRES Research Station located off exhibit at the Wild Animal Park.
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Research on the giant panda has helped us to better understand the species. We have learned a lot that has helped us to formulate better management plans for the breeding season, postpartum period, and daily husbandry routines. Some of what we have learned will help to devise a better plan for reintroducing a panda into the wild, or can help conservationists to manage wild populations better. The panda species as a whole will benefit from the research questions answered by scientists in the last few years.
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One of the favorite all-time spots to hit when visiting the Children’s Zoo at the San Diego Zoo is the Petting Paddock. Children of all ages (including adults) always have the best memories during their visit.
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It’s been a busy few weeks here at the San Diego Zoo, with lots of visitors to the Giant Panda Research Station. Bai Yun and Su Lin have taken this all in stride, even their 9 a.m. to noon viewing schedule. After the area is cleaned around noon, the pandas have access both to their viewing area and their exhibit bedrooms, and Su Lin often chooses to nap inside so visitors to both the Research Station and Panda Cam are seeing her on camera as she snoozes.
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Many of you have been excited to note that a pair of pandas has been selected for a gift from Beijing to the government of Taiwan. I, too have seen these numerous news reports. Although I have no more information than you do on the move, I can offer you some background information to enrich your understanding of the two animals.
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Cinta the ” baby” Sumatran orangutan is growing up! He will be two years old on March 5, 2006. Cinta and his mother, Indah, now have a lot more space inside since Violet’s move to the Honolulu Zoo. Cinta is now eating his favorite food items, such as grapes, bananas, and soaked leaf-eater biscuits, in the second bedroom away from his mother. He has no problem leaving Indah to run into the training chute for weighing and a short training session with his new keeper, Yvette. Today he weighed in at a healthy 19 pounds (8.6 kilograms)!
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This herd of campers spent the day ” hoofing”-it around the Zoo. We saw all things hoofed and horned (some antlered too). Today’s focus was hoofed stock – antelope, gazelle, deer, sheep, goats, pigs, and even zebras. This morning we covered most of the Zoo on our search for the usual ungulates (hoofed mammals). |inline
