Visiting the ” Relatives”
Posted at 9:36 am May 25, 2006 by Ellie RosenbaumWhat do zoo people do when they travel? Why, visit other zoos, of course! It was my great joy to find myself in Washington, D.C., last weekend. First stop: the National Zoo! I arrived early on Friday morning and raced to the panda exhibit. It was before the narrators’ hours, but I had no trouble locating Tai Shan (sleeping in a tree), Mei Xian (eating breakfast before turning her back to the viewing area and going to sleep), and Tian Tian (food searching), all very familiar and predictable by long-time panda-watchers. I sent silent greetings to them from their San Diego relations:Tian Tian and the San Diego Zoo’s Bai Yun have the same father, Pan Pan, which means that our Zoo’s Mei Sheng and Su Lin and National Zoo’s Tai Shan are cousins of a sort.
There is construction near the exhibit, adding, among other things, a third outdoor exhibit yard, but it was cool and surprisingly quiet in the panda area. This is one of the advantages of a larger viewing area, with more shade, cover, and space to move around. After having heard about this area for so many years, I was pleased to see it for myself. A different situation than San Diego’s, yes, but one of the great things about having pandas in many facilities, in many reasearch programs, is that there are so many talented people observing and studying these animals under a variety of conditions. All the better to learn about them!
I had arrived before Narrators’ hours but was approached by no less than four people – regulars, employees, and FONZ (Friends of the National Zoo) volunteers – all anxious to point out and identify the pandas for me as they passed by. Having seen this happening at our own Zoo, it gave the whole thing a comfortable, familiar feeling, and I had a thoroughly enjoyable morning at this wonderful biopark.
Ellie Rosenbaum is a panda narrator/educator at the San Diego Zoo.
Watch the San Diego Zoo’s pandas on Panda Cam!
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May 25th, 2006 at 9:51 am
I swear… I just can’t figure out how Su Lin can get so comfy in those trees! Especially when she is napping in what looks like some pretty flimsy branches – but she sure looks comfortable. Just now, she is laying on her stomach – with all four limbs dangling and her chin resting on the branch – very, very cute! Sweet dreams little one!
May 25th, 2006 at 9:53 am
Glad you got to experience the great Mei, Tian and Tai in person, Ellie! I did, too, just two weeks ago. I’m hoping to make it to SDZ before Su Lin gets too much bigger and before Mei Sheng has to leave. Say hi to ” your” bears for me!
May 25th, 2006 at 9:53 am
… oh, and might I add – it’s a bit windy in SD today, so the cluster of branches are swaying a bit. Come to think of it, that does sound kind of relaxing. Oh well, back to work. Hang on little Miss Fancy Pants!
May 25th, 2006 at 10:42 am
Ellie, I am going there (NZ) this weekend – I will send your greetings to the gang! Hugs to all the pandas in SDZ.
May 25th, 2006 at 10:46 am
I thoroughly enjoy watching all of the pandas on their cameras! I am from the midwest and probably won’t make it out to either zoo, thank goodness for the internet.
The interaction that I have seen between Su Lin and Bai Yun seems to be on a totally different level then Tai Shan and Mei Xiang. She seems so gentle and he is so very rough. Is this a typical difference between male and female cubs or is it due to the differences in their personalities?
May 25th, 2006 at 11:00 am
Come visit us in New Orleans. Our aquarium is reopening this weekend after we lost all of our fish due to that ” Bi#&@” Katrina that blew through here last August. We might not have pandas, but we still have a pretty nice zoo. It reopened last Thanksgiving. Oh, did I mention we have the best food on earth and the music is always flowing somewhere. Please come, we need your support!
May 25th, 2006 at 1:03 pm
Su Lin sure is delicate in her personality in comparison to Tough Boy, Tai! I adore watching them both. I missed ” snow day” on the 14th and hope to see some of those photos posted soon.
Keep up the great work, Panda Researchers!
May 25th, 2006 at 5:47 pm
Ellie, thank you for sharing with us your pleasant experience at NZ. Did Tai wake up and leave his tree while you were there? Isn’t he getting to be a big boy?! There is such a difference in personalities between Su Lin and Tai Shan. It has to be the female-male thing.
May 25th, 2006 at 7:51 pm
Hi Ellie! I talked to you in SD just before your trip to DC. One thing I noticed when I was in SD. The East coast pandas seem to like the leaves of the bamboo. While the West coast pandas seem to favor the stalks and stems (at least the days I was there). — It’s just like those sprouts you Californians eat! :>)
It is nice to see the habitats in person, it helps you to make sense out of the PandaCAM footage. I enjoyed my time with your panda family. I hope you liked meeting ours.
May 25th, 2006 at 8:43 pm
Bubba Tai has always been a rough-and-tumble little bear, probably both because he’s a male and because he has a rather assertive personality. I notice, though, that Mei has very slowly begun to wean him, not letting him nurse until she’s good and ready, and she occasionally swats him when he pesters her unmercifully. The NZ blogs say their relationship is within normal parameters.
I just can’t help thinking, however, that Tai is like a little boy in dirty sneakers with a slingshot and a frog in his pocket, while Su Lin is a ‘girlie’ girl, playing with her Barbies!
May 26th, 2006 at 3:07 am
Ellie, So glad to hear you made it out to the East Coast to visit our very special pandas. My husband goes up to the zoo every weekend to photograph Tai, Mei and Tian. He has over a thousand digitial photos of the pandas at this point. We are traveling to San Diego on August 26th and plan on spending Monday, August 28th at the San Diego Zoo. I am so excited to see Su Lin and Mei Sheng….and of course, Bai and Gao!! We were fortunate enough to visit CA and see Hua Mei twice before her journey to China. See ya in August!!
May 26th, 2006 at 4:43 am
Thanks Ellie for sharing your experience at the Washington Zoo with us. I’m from Ohio and you’d think I could get there (it’s not that far), but the time just doesn’t seem to be there. Thank heavens for Panda Cams. That’s neat that zoo people visit other zoos. We have a new baby orangutan at the Cleveland Zoo and we’re driving up tomorrow to see it.
Everyone have a nice Holiday weekend.
May 26th, 2006 at 5:43 am
I’m a FONZ member and a panda yard ” regular” and I’m glad you had such an enjoyable experience at our zoo. I was at the zoo this morning before work and, for the first time in several visits, saw Tai Shan sitting on some deadfall eating bamboo. Come back when the Asia Trail is finished so you can see him in action.
May 26th, 2006 at 7:20 am
I, too, will probably NOT get to see either of these wonderful babies. And I am VERY thankful for these interactive websites. I thoroughly enjoy both in their uniqueness. Boy and girl, likewise. A day does not go by without either of them soothing my state of mind. ” Dr. Phil” has no idea how wonderful these two are and how much they help people all over the world, just by ‘being’. And on another note, the authors of the news and daily updates to we pandaholics, are just as wonderful. They’re sense of humour is priceless. ‘following the moving fruitcicle nicely’ to get Tai in at night. You all should write books!
May 26th, 2006 at 7:22 am
Mei Sheng is a male panda cub, but I had never seen him playing in the rough way of Tai Shan when he lived with his mother. I think it’s due to their different personalities.
May 26th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
Each zoo has its own philosophy and ways of doing things, and when you visit another one, sometimes you go, wow, no way! But one thing that’s in common is their love and care for their animals. Everything just works differently, just like each human family is different.
Both pandas in Oji Zoo in Kobe, Japan are Bai Yun’s half siblings. Father of Kou Kou (male) is Pan Pan; mother of Tan Tan (female) is Dong Dong. That makes Kou Kou a half brother to Tian Tian as well. I’ve never ” met” the pandas in Kobe, but from the photos I’ve seen, Tan Tan kind of looks like Bai Yun, but maybe it’s just me. LOL
It’s an OT, but I’d appreciate it if you could tell us the last day Danum will be on exhibit. I understand he’s leaving for Texas in June.
May 26th, 2006 at 5:16 pm
There was great ” bear” viewing at the zoo today. This morning, the polar bears had a ball in the snow and this afternoon, Bai Yun and Su Lin really put on a show. Bai seems to finally be winning Su over and getting her to play more.
When you see how much certain animals, such as the polar bears and panda Mei Sheng, enjoy the snow, I wish it could be brought in more often, maybe once a month. I have no idea of the cost involved.
May 27th, 2006 at 6:07 am
It’s interesting to note the numbers of panda lovers who are following the bears at both San Diego and the National Zoo. These folks may not be aware that two other American zoos have pandas…and PANDA CAMS. Check out Zoo Atlanta and Memphis Zoo I check in on all the pandas daily. So far, only SD and NZ have had breeding success. Atlanta is hopeful for this year. Memphis…I’m not sure. If you’re as much of a pandafile as I, you can follow all the American pandas on-line!
May 27th, 2006 at 7:50 am
Su Lin’s Frooties Song
I drink milk every day,
And I have trees to climb and play,
And bamboo that I can chew,
And my Mother’s biscuits too!
But frooties, so cold and sweet
Are the very best to eat.
Please give me a BIG fruitsicle.
“Cos it makes my tummy tickle.
I can drip frootie on my fur,
And lick it later…leftovers!
Put a frootie in my claws
A kiss from Su Lin Smarty-Paws!
May 27th, 2006 at 3:47 pm
Ellie, I’m thrilled that you got to visit our neck of the woods and exchange greetings with our pandas. We used to visit them at 8:00 am, but recently Tai has been in his tree at that hour. He seems to have changed his schedule and is much more active in the afternoon. I wish you could have seen him on the ground. He tends to be pretty mobile, pretending to eat bamboo, climbing the grotto and the deadfall and when he catches up with her, climbing Mei. He is one very entertaining panda and I never cease to smile when I see him–even when he’s doing nothing, he’s extraordinarily cute. We visited the San Diego Zoo in January and asked for you, but you were not interpreting that day. Hope to see you next year.
May 28th, 2006 at 8:39 am
Pamela, I LOVE your interviews with Su Lin, and her Frooties song is a delight!
May 29th, 2006 at 4:34 pm
Pamela G that is just adorable!!!
You know, you really should gather those lovely interviews/poems/songs and start a ‘Su Lin Collection’…a little treasure chest of the essence of panda-ness!
May 30th, 2006 at 9:24 am
Lisa (21) and Bernice (22), Thank you. You know, I don’t know what it is about these bears that so draws my heart. Perhaps it’s watching the petite, polite, smart little princess and that bumptious rascal in DC as they grow up. Their personalities seem so different, yet so very Panda.
Perhaps it’s watching their mothers taking such care with tiny cubs, so loving, so stern and protective, then occasionally seeing them abandon all of that black-and-white dignity to roll and somersault and flip and play.
I know it’s partly those Panda faces. If there is anyone in this world who can look at a panda face, cub or adult, and not smile, well……,
Some of it is, I think, the fact that both zoos reach out to those of us who can only watch the Panda cams. These great people teach us, answer our questions, explain their decisions, and share with us the wonderful – and the sometimes not-so-wonderful – aspects of their work and world.
Whatever it is, it inspires me, because I’m not a poet, or even a good writer, but the Pandas and their beauty and the danger they are in make me want to give them a little voice……
Or maybe it’s just what my husband says; He read the Frooties Song over my shoulder, smiled, kissed my cheek, and said, ” Dear, you have the mind of an 8-month-old Panda cub!”
As Su Lin might say, ” Oh my!”
May 30th, 2006 at 12:33 pm
Oh dear!
I’m so glad for you to have this incredible experience! I so wish I could visit both Washington and San Diego to see those precious pandas while they are still kids. I watch them on the Internet almost every day! At the time I’ll make it to USA, they’ll become adults which is great for them and everyone like me who really love pandas!
Anyway, please send them big kisses from Latvia!
We don’t grow bamboo here but we could if needed!
Love,
Panda
May 30th, 2006 at 3:22 pm
Oh Pamela – your husband sounds as sweet as you do – thanks for the smiles!
May 31st, 2006 at 7:14 am
Ellie,
Thanks for writing about your DC panda experience. I have been watchng both cubs on the cams since their arrival and have joined the ranks of the pandaholics. I visited the National Zoo last week. My first trip to DC was specifically planned to see Tai Shan and his parents and I was not disappointed. Tai Shan and Mei Xiang played, slept and enjoyed their fruitcicles. Tian Tian munched loudly on bamboo and wandered his enclosure.
It’s wonderful how the ” regulars” share their panda enthusiasm with those who visit the pandas. It was a joy to watch the pandas in person, even if they were sleeping. Every movement draws ooh’s and ahh’s and everyone seems to leave smiling. The pandas are truly beautiful.
Paulette-NJ
May 31st, 2006 at 8:50 am
Ellie,
How wonderful that you enjoyed Tai, Tien, and Mei so much at the National Zoo. I was there in April and also found wonderful zoo personnel and volunteers. When I was at the Panda Cafe above their outdoor enclosures I found that you can’t help but talk about those wonderful creatures to everyone who wants to get a glimpse of them. The blogs that you and the other panda lovers write have really made my day many times! Thanks for the smiles.
Pamela – you are quite gifted with your interviews and now songs from Su Lin. Thanks for sharing with all of us!
May 31st, 2006 at 9:44 am
Pamela G: I love your most recent creative contribution, stream-of-consciousness Su Lin! I agree that your husband sounds like a wonderful soul–too bad he’ll have to be relegated to the barn when our panda nursery comes to fruition! It sounds as if he took the news well!
June 1st, 2006 at 11:05 am
Pamela G. What a great heart you have. I think maybe you should write a little story book about a little panda. You are a true animal lover, you are the kind of person that makes the world a little better. Please keep it up…
June 2nd, 2006 at 5:42 am
Ellie, what are the current stats on Su Lin? (weight, length, etc)
Editor’s note: You can click on Su Lin’s pop-up bio from the Panda Cam to get the most recent ” stats.” Her weight on May 15, 2006: 35.7 pounds (16.2 kilograms).
June 2nd, 2006 at 7:56 pm
Is there any news yet on what will happen to Mei Sheng this August? I asked in April while I was visiting the pandas and at the time his future was up in the air. If you know, could you please post the information in the ” news” section. I shall miss this wonderful boy that brought so much interest to pandas worldwide. I’m enjoying watching his little sister grow up now.
June 3rd, 2006 at 2:14 pm
Pamela G. Your words so wonderful, your heart so full of love and you, providing the fun, sweet voice of our little girl Su Lin. There are those people that look at animals and see them as just that. Then there are the people who see and hear from the animals just like a small child or human. And yes, I have put Elliott my 9 yr. old min-poodle in time-out for talking back to his mama! Some days I wish his barks where words, just like the Panda’s and what would be the first thing they ask us for or tell us! I’m afraid Elliott would ask where I hide the dog cookies…..Pamela G, I agree that a book could be in your future!!! What would Su Lin and the other Panda’s have to say…..
September 18th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
I love pandas there so cute.
me and my friends all love them!!!! [expecaily BABYS]