There are four polar bears living at Polar Bear Plunge at the San Diego Zoo. In my last blog, I introduced you to our pair of sisters (see Polar Bears: Meet Chinook and Shikari). Now I’d like to introduce you to the kids. By kids, I mean Kalluk and Tatqiq. I should mention that they just passed their sixth birthday and are therefore coming into adulthood. But I’ve had the privilege of caring for them since they were six months old, and they will always be the kids to me.
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No, it’s not Christmas time again in San Diego”¦ it’s breeding season for the California condors! The birds are intermittently engaged in courtship displays and mating bouts, and the first two eggs of the season have been laid. This breeding behavior will continue to be the first order of business for most of our condors in the next month or two.
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If you have been down to Ituri Forest at the San Dieog Zoo recently, you’ve probably seen our resident hippos playing with a large ball at the bottom of their pool. The keepers are almost as happy to see the hippos interacting with this ball as the hippos seem to be splashing about with it. A few months ago, these large, floating toys were removed from the hippo exhibit pool because they had been damaging the glass from the inside. Since this was one of their favorite toys to play with, a number of employees were trying to come up with an alternative toy strong enough to give the hippos, yet safe enough for the exhibit glass.
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The Zoo’s Girls In Science program started out our spring semester with a Behind-the-Scenes visit to meet Gram, the Indian rhino (see previous blog, It’s That Time Again). We typically start each semester with an animal visit of some kind, so this term was no exception.
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As you may have read from our blogs, weaning time is among us here at the Giant Panda Research Station. From a keeper standpoint, this couldn’t have come at a better time. I mentioned in my last blog that Su Lin’s appetite for bamboo has grown considerably. Her consumption has increased greatly and has actually resulted in frequent bouts of food aggression between mother and cub. This aggression causes some stress and is a concern for managing the pandas.
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It’s a bit more exciting to get down to the Giant Panda Research Station in the morning, now that Bai Yun and Su Lin have the ability to freely travel the entire viewing area. After lots of free-wheeling activity on Monday, Su Lin was a bit more tentative on Tuesday, following her mother and seeking out her company, soliciting Bai’s attention more than we’ve seen recently – but that’s just fine! As we saw with Bai Yun’s first two offspring, Hua Mei and Mei Sheng, weaning and separation are gradual processes, and each cub is different. It has and continues to be the plan to allow this to happen naturally with each cub; Bai Yun ultimately has decided when their together time is over and we’re looking for those behavioral indicators again.
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While the rest of us have been bundling up, cranking on the heater, and making fires every night, our polar bears are probably feeling right at home. As you well know, polar bears come from the Arctic where at this time of year they would be living out on the sea ice feasting on seals for as long as they could until forced to retreat to land and rely on the blubber they’ve built up. That’s actually why our bears do quite well at the San Diego Zoo: they don’t have a fat layer that’s several inches thick; therefore, they don’t worry about over heating when it’s warm out. But now that I’ve told you about what ” typical” polar bears would be doing, let me tell you about our bears”¦
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I remember when the first pandas were here in 1987-88 on a 200-day loan. I was a regular visitor, and every day I would do my walking in the San Diego Zoo. It was safe and so enjoyable to watch all the animals, but to stand in line to see a bear? No, I don’t think so. (Pictured is the opening ceremony on July 27, 1987.) Then, in 1996, the pandas came once again, this time on a research loan, and they would be here for 12 years. After they were here for about six months I thought, ” I should see these rare animals from China.” But the lines were long, to say the least. Did I want to stand in line to see a bear? Yes, this time I really wanted to see what they were all about.
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January 22 was the day that Bai Yun and little Su Lin were given the ability to move freely through both exhibits at the San Diego Zoo’s Giant Panda Research Station viewing area through a door at the rear of the center wall. I rushed anxiously down to find Su Lin sleeping in one of her favorite arboreal perches and Bai munching bamboo in the right-hand enclosure. Research observers reported that she had eaten earlier, looked at the door, and gone up her tree to sleep.

But in true Su Lin fashion, after a short nap and consideration of the situation, this smart, thoughtful bear wandered though the doorway inspecting, sniffing, investigating and reinspecting with great deliberation. Once on the other side, though, while the sniffing and inspecting continued, there was much to explore and it quickly became a great adventure. Smelling here, climbing there, sometimes with Bai Yun present, other times alone, she’s already shown us a branch that needs to be cut as this small, flexible bear examined every inch of the new area, both horizontal and vertical. At one point, she tried to go back to the left side but Bai Yun grabbed her gently and pulled her into the ” new” area.

Bai returned to ” her” side to sleep, but the excited little bear was energized and ready to play, nudging, rolling on, and even scent-marking on her napping mother. Eventually, Bai relented and there was more interaction and feeding on bamboo in the right-hand enclosure.

These will be exciting times at the Station as Su Lin learns her way around and continues to mature and separate from her mother. Since it is ultimately Bai Yun who will indicate that it’s time for this to happen, we encourage you to log in or stop by in person, since we don’t know how long this last ” together” phase will last. Just remember – quiet voices and share the experience with your fellow visitors, no matter how numerous they are. It is truly a wondrous thing to see!

Ellie Rosenbaum is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo.

Many of you might not have ever heard of a Pallas’ cat, much less seen one. This is a common remark I hear during my workday at the Polar Bear Plunge habitat here at the San Diego Zoo. Well I’m glad to report, I think those times are over.

When I first started working with the species over 6 years ago, I quickly fell in love. I’ve always considered myself a cat person at heart and Alexandra (as Zoo ” regulars” call her) has definitely dug her claws in. Alexandra used to be paired with a male, Nicholas, as a breeding duo. They got along for the most part. But due to their secretive nature, I never witnessed their interactions, just those big eyes staring back at me from where they were hiding. But three years and 19 kittens later, the decision was made to separate the males and the females. ” Mom,” as I have come to call her, was then housed with three of her daughters. But the kids grew up, Mom’s patience ran thin, and it became a stressful environment. After all, they are solitary by nature.
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