Panda Enrichment
Posted at 3:06 pm November 3, 2006 by Kay Ferguson
I love watching the pandas with their enrichment items. The keepers give them many different types of enrichment for mental stimulus and exercise; this gives the bears enjoyment and is documented by the researchers. One type of enrichment is frozen fruits or veggies; they range in a variety of sizes. Bai Yun loves them all and watching this huge bear get totally into the enrichment item is a lot of fun.
Bai Yun loves apples, especially if they are in frozen form. Have you ever seen a panda with ” brain freeze?” One time, as I watched Bai Yun eating the frozen apples, she paused for a moment: you could see in her eyes that the freeze had hit her brain! She lifted her head and opened her mouth slightly, gathering warm air into her mouth hoping the ice would melt and this funny sensation would go away. Rubbing her head as if that would help it go away faster, she finally continued to consume the treat. As Bai Yun works at the item she makes small sounds of enjoyment; then all of sudden she gets some ice up her nose and starts to sneeze! She raises her head high in the air, hoping the ice chip will melt quickly and as time passes she goes back to the frozen apples. Apparently, it’s all worth it!
Pandas can master almost anything you give them. Take, for instance, the feeder puzzles. The puzzles are nothing but PVC pipe made into different types of puzzles. One is on a spinner and the bear must spin the pipe to get the biscuits and fruits. They really get busy with this puzzle, spinning it round and round, trying to stop it in just the right spot for the items to fall out. Another puzzle has a maze of baffles inside, so the panda must shake it and listen for the items to fall through. I remember watching Gao Gao working the puzzle: he became very upset and threw the puzzle across the enclosure, then went huffing away, only to return to master the stupid thing that upset him. With that task accomplished, he strolled off to take his nap. I think when we become frustrated with something we, too, should walk away and then return to complete what we started. And to think a bear can do that. They are amazing to look at and I have learned much from watching them! Some of us humans lack patience. Believe it or not, so do pandas! But they always go back and make the best of what bugged them. They are very intelligent, working through the problem.
Scent blocks are yet another type of enrichment. The researchers place a variety of scents on small blocks of wood, and then place them into the panda enclosures. This is so much fun to watch as they respond to the smells on the block. Pandas love the smell of cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and even a variety of perfumes. Bai Yun (pictured above) loves very strong smells of perfume, and she will rub the block all over her body, leaving her with a very pleasant smell. Just think: pandas love smells just like you and I do!
When you have time to come and watch them, enrichment is usually early morning or during lunch time. The enrichment time varies during the winter but always feel free to come in and ask questions about these beautiful bears.
Kay Ferguson is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo.
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November 3rd, 2006 at 6:27 pm
Thank you, Kay, for a delightful explanation of some of the enrichment that pandas enjoy. Your descriptions were so vivid–I could imagine Bai Yun playing with the frozen apple and making ” small sounds of enjoyment!” She is such a beautiful, expressive bear. The picture that accompanies your story is adorable–it really makes me want to visit SDZ (as I did last December) so I can watch that gorgeous momma (and, of course, her mate and offspring) once again.
November 3rd, 2006 at 9:59 pm
Thanks for the great update Kay! Bai Yun is such a character – I love this girl to bits. Thanks for highlighting these fascinating panda habits…they are very much like us in some ways indeed! Please keep these tidbits coming!
November 3rd, 2006 at 10:24 pm
Thanks, Kay, for the insights and for the wonderful stories. I think the enrichment is just as enjoyable for me to watch as it is for the animal to do. It’s like watching a child’s joy at opening birthday presents. I was blessed to see Bai Yun with 2 ” treat boxes” when I was there. It was so interesting to see her think and study and solve the puzzle to get the food out of the first box. Then the second box she just tore apart: ” No more Mrs. Nice Panda!” It looked like so much fun!
Who gets to come up with the enrichment ideas? I think that would be a dream job. Has Su Lin been given any enrichment just for her yet? Maybe you could nail the scent blocks all around and she could have different smells to experience around the trees.
November 4th, 2006 at 3:19 pm
Yes, I too love to watch the Pandas trying to get their ‘goodies’ out of a big ball with holes in it. Watched Tai Shan try to take one away from his mom today…no success. She kept pushing him away. Was thrilled to get to see Su Lin wrestle with her mom today…don’t get to see that often enough.
November 5th, 2006 at 1:19 am
What a lovely picture of Bai Yun,she truly is a beautiful panda and her cubs have all been beautiful too.I too got to see her last December with her baby,both were asleep,Su Lin was laying by her side as she hadn’t got the tree climbing bug then! The pandas live in very serene surroundings and I am sure it helps them to be so calm and relaxed,you are all doing such a great job looking after all the animals at the zoo but also looking after all the panda bloggers in keeping us up to date with all panda news! San Diego Zoo is a fantastic zoo in a beautiful part of the State of Ca,I wish I lived closer,I would get a season pass and visit every week,there is a real calmness at your zoo! I think you are all so lucky and fortunate to be able to work in a zoo with such pleasant all year round weather,I am jealous! lol
November 5th, 2006 at 9:37 am
I think Gao Gao is just awesome…he’s the most adorable daddy bear. I love how you described he got mad at his food puzzle…only to conquer the stuipd thing after a nice break! Pandas are so smart and have so much personality. I just love our bears!
November 5th, 2006 at 10:52 am
Having read all the blogs about the beautiful bears and their enrichment items, I am even more convinced that Bai Yun is a beautiful, loving, and wonderful mother. Just look at her choice of enrichment items–she loves the scent of strong perfumes!!! What more could be said about this mother bear and the habits of female human beings??? She knows and understands the importance of looking and smelling good. Even the bears need some primping and pampering sometimes! =)
November 5th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
Kay, You’ve made such a marvelous contribution to panda lore. I like reading about the science, but learning about the personalities of these bears adds to the lovability of these creatures. Thank you, thank you. Your blog made my day.
November 5th, 2006 at 8:05 pm
Reading about the panda enrichment was so interesting especially about specifics of each bear and what they have done. Watching and reading about the bears has made me so much appreciate the fact that each of them has their own personality. How wonderful is God’s creation!
November 5th, 2006 at 9:40 pm
Kay, thank you for your wonderful description of Bai Yun’s reaction to her treats and enrichment items. You created a beautiful portrait of a beautiful panda. So far, I’ve been able to enjoy Bai Yun and Su Lin via the panda cam, and feel fortunate that the SD Zoo has such talented people to give the rest of us that opportunity (Su Lin’s First Year photos are my screensaver!) I haven’t had the opportunity to see either one, although I recently had the opportunity to see Tai Shan at the Wash. D.C. National Zoo! Even though I am from California, I live in Florida and plan on moving to the SD area within a year, so I plan on getting a SD Zoo pass! Most of the time when I get to see Bai Yun on the cam, she is eating bamboo, so your description of her interaction with her enrichment items and her treats were a beautiful tapestry. I’m really looking forward to becoming a frequent visitor of the beautiful pandas, as well as the rest of the zoo! Thank you, again.
November 6th, 2006 at 7:59 am
Thanks, Kay, for giving us a picture of what a bunch of smart bears we have. I can imagine Bai’s reaction to brain freeze. Sometimes it’s not pleasant to experience. And I could just picture Gao Gao having a temper tantrum, he’s just too cute. I am very glad that we have people like yourself and all the keepers who take the time to keep our beautiful pandas mentally and physically challenged. Sometimes I think the bears get a kick out of making a task we think is hard look so easy.
November 6th, 2006 at 9:27 am
Had fun watching the beautiful bears this weekend. I did notice yesterday morning at 6AM or so, PDT, that Bai Yun was ” pacing.” I’ve seen this with her before. Princess Su was up in the tree and at one point, Bai Yun took a look upward at her. Bai Yun goes from one end of the exhibit area to another and then back again with no alteration in her path. Was she just hungry for breakfast bamboo? I’ve seen this a couple of times with Mei Xiang in DC too- always in the morning. Gao Gao was too much fun yesterday!
November 6th, 2006 at 11:32 am
Do all adolescent panda cubs spend as much time up in a tree as Su Lin? Is it her way of getting away from stressful situations on the ground? It would seem that it would be difficult to give her many enrichment items as she is rarely awake and on a platform firm enough to explore them, ie. frozen fruit, or puzzles. The suggestion about her having scented items would work in the trees. She seems to sniff at the branches when she rolls over, or switches positions in her perch. She seems to be most active on the ground just before ” lights out.” When does she nurse now (inside or outside)? Will it be easier to wean/separate her from Bai Yun since she spends most of her time separated physically by being in the tree?
November 6th, 2006 at 12:04 pm
Thank you so much for the info. I truly love these updates and info tips. I hope to come out soon to visit SDZ and hope it is during an enrichment time. Thanks again
November 6th, 2006 at 1:01 pm
Bai Yun is so photogenic! Not only because of her beautiful black-and-white coat. She is a striking animal, and appears to ” pose” for her photo public. I love the last few photos you have shared of her. She looks so intent on her scent block. You can almost see the wheels turning at the end of her nose.
November 6th, 2006 at 10:08 pm
What a beautiful picture of Bai Yun! Thanks Kay for sharing the interesting little facets of ” our” pandas’ lives at the SDZ. A while back Suzanne commented in the blog about scent anointing and stated that Bai Yun seemed to recognize the scent of her mom. Have Suzanne and the keepers recently given her another block with her mom’s scent (if it’s possible)? Has Hua Mei recognized Bai Yun the same way? Since the ” ladies” don’t rotate exhibit yards and dens would Mei Sheng recognize Bai Yun with the same fondness (assuming he doesn’t already smell her because of the close proximity in the zoo)?
Lun Lun in Atlanta recently rubbed wood ” wool” on her head (on Halloween) as part of her enrichment. I find it really amusing that pandas like to ” perfume” themselves with scents that attract them. One wonders what the purpose is…maybe a disguise to avoid predation (?) or just to simply retain the pleasantness of a unique ” perfume” as long as they can….this kind of reminds me of how cats will rub around in catnip to bathe in the scent. Do other bears do this at SDZ?
November 6th, 2006 at 10:26 pm
I forgot to mention I saw a video of a wild panda scent bathing with soil during a mating season. I think these very smart bears are like us when we take to scenting ourselves for an important ” date” . What amazing, smart bears our giant panda friends are!!!
November 7th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
I was wondering: Have your Pandas ever indicated a preference or a dislike for a particular member of the Panda Team based on scent? Each of us has a specific smell based on our soaps, shampoos, deoderants, perfumes and aftershaves, and lifestyles. Have the keepers ever ‘traded’ scents to see if the bears respond to them differently? Or do they avoid using perfumes or scents that the bears don’t like? Do they think that a large part of the bears’ recognition of them is scent-based?
I started thinking about this when I had to leave my sick dog with a veterinarian, and the vet suggested that I leave one of my shirts in the dog’s cage as a ‘comfort item’. He said animals seem to be comforted if they can smell their owners’ scent in a strange place. I wondered if anyone thought about making a scent block with keeper smells on it for Mei Sheng to take to China.
November 7th, 2006 at 6:58 pm
I totally agree with Pamela #18 about Mei Sheng. I could see how much he loves his keepers and really loves to be around people. I heard Gao Gao was supposed to go back to the wild, but he kept coming back to the people so they decided to keep him and then he came to San Diego. Lucky for us. Mei Sheng just seems so people oriented and I really believe he will really feel the change in a way that he might get very lonely. I’ve been to Wolong and it’s so beautiful there and the keepers are really great, but it’s not San Diego. I heard Hua Mei had a tough time and wouldn’t eat. Someone mentioned that was because of the different bamboo but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was because she missed all the keepers and the atmosphere she was used to living in. I really do hope someone will get to stay with Mei Sheng until he settles in to make sure he’s ok with his new living quarters. I love all the pandas and only hope for the best for them. I see we still have a lot more to learn. Thanks to all the staff for all the pictures and information we receive. Everyone working there is really SPECIAL.
November 8th, 2006 at 1:49 pm
What a great description of the ” brain freeze.” Too funny and I know that we could all appreciate, having gone thru it ourselves. i have watched Mei Sheng since birth and am sad to see him go, but would hope the SDZ staff will make his transition as easy as possible. Will he be sedated for the long trip? Is he flown in a special airplane? Are you starting to acclimate him to the noise of the plane so that it isn’t scary before he is boarded?
Just a few thoughts to ponder..
Thanks for all of the hard work of not only the Keepers but the MeerKats too for managing the camera. I too wish that Su Lin would stop hiding in the tops of the trees so we could see her more.
November 8th, 2006 at 4:48 pm
Cindy #20, I hope you were watching this afternoon. Su & Bai were sitting like couch potatoes, munching bamboo & watching the people watching them. Then Su chased Bai aroung the exhibit, climbing Mom as if she were a furry black & white mountain. Thanks, Meerkats!
November 9th, 2006 at 12:56 pm
I was just reading about the Mom/cub studies being done on the panda cubs in the US. I was especially interested in the study of nursing and weaning behaviors of US born cubs. I am curious that Tai Shan is still nursing enough at 16 months to be documented by volunteers on weekends. Is Su Lin still nursing at least once a day? If so, does she favor day or night? It appears that the pandas on cameras overnight mostly sleep for several hours after eating their bamboo ” supper.” Do Bai and Su sleep after they disappear from the Panda Cam around 7:30 – 8 PM each day? Are they in an indoor bedroom overnight, or do they sleep somewhere in the exhibit? Are you participating in the Mother/cub studies on US born pandas? What studies are you currently conducting on Bai Yun, Su Lin, Mei Sheng, or Gao Gao. We know one of your studies is on scent reactions as you recorded above. Are you part of any studies on more mature pandas breeding and producing cubs?
November 9th, 2006 at 9:51 pm
I was reminded of Bai’s ” brain freeze” when a friend sent me a video of a baby Panda sneezing. It’s hilarious! Such a big noise from a little Panda.
November 11th, 2006 at 1:47 am
To Marco, I have seen that video too with the baby panda scaring it’s mum, it is one of the funniest videos I have seen, mum panda was so engrossed in her biscuit she forgot about baby and jumped out of her skin, I laughed till tears rolled down my face, just so cute and very noisy for such a small bear!
November 12th, 2006 at 9:40 am
I’ve seen the video of the baby panda scaring it’s mum; I’ve also seen the same reaction of Mei Xiang being scared by Tai Shan when he was about two months old, and you guys may watch Mei Sheng’s health exam taken on Sept 13, 2003 that the vet was scared by Mei Sheng’s sudden bark.