Over the next few weeks, we will be transitioning little Yun Zi and his mother to another part of the San Diego Zoo’s Giant Panda Research Station. The pair will cross through tunnels, and Yun Zi will encounter new sights and scents along the way. Some of these will be from his siblings, Su Lin and Zhen Zhen. This will all be interesting to him, and we will probably see increased olfactory activity in both mother and cub. However, encountering the scent of other bears, even relatives, wouldn’t be unusual for a panda in the wild.
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It’s hard to believe how fast time is flying. It seems just last week we were still wondering if we’d be hearing the pitter patter of cub paws (see post Polar Bears: Waiting May Be Over). Now the air is filled with roaring earth movers, jack hammers, and concrete mixers as the work is progressing for the new educational experience at the San Diego Zoo’s Conrad Prebys Polar Bear Plunge.

Our cool trio is having a great time watching all the commotion. We think Kalluk wants to know why he can’t have a hard hat to wear, and Tatqiq would like them to all stop working and play with her at the glass. Chinook poses by the rock playing hard to get when she lures the contractors over for a peek.
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Yun Zi continues to grow and thrive. In my previous post (see New Kids on the Block), I mentioned that the pandas receive small amounts of yam and carrot and apple as tasty treats. Yun Zi has not started eating apples; he likes the smell of them and will mouth them, as he does other plant material, but he lets them fall out of his mouth. The fact that he likes the smell has been useful. We try to coax him to move between areas, and smelling a piece of apple sometimes stimulates his interest in moving forward. Interestingly, carrots and yams don’t get the same response!
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The first time I saw Yun Zi, the San Diego Zoo’s newest panda cub, it happened to be the first time he was let onto exhibit. Bai Yun, his mom, was sitting near the entry gate, munching on bamboo. The cub was in the tunnel, just inside the door, and was very unsure about what to do.
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Okay, so this sounds like a joke, but here it goes…Two San Diego Zoo keepers, a porcupine, and two tortoises get on a plane in San Diego. However there is no punch line, at least not yet, but there is a big adventure at hand for all involved.
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Here are some questions posed by our panda blog post readers, along with answers…

Question #1
I have had the wonderful experience of watching the movies of the other zoos where the pandas are. Seen the little cubs, many all together playing, and tussling, and generally having fun and exercise. So I have noticed that Yun Zi (roly poly) has nothing to play with, but the other pandas have many things to occupy them, besides each other…
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I visited with our sun bears this morning (see previous post, Sun Bears: Latest Developments). I am amazed at the size of Palu, our male youngster. He is only 15 months old, but he now weighs in at 88 pounds (40 kilograms), making him slightly heavier than his mother, Marcella. For her part, Marcella is still longer than her cubs, but Palu is a big boy with a broad head belying a solid bone structure. I wonder where he will top out with respect to weight. His father, Dibu, who now resides at the Columbus Zoo, approached 132 pounds (60 kilograms). I think Palu is well on his way to being as large as his daddy.
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I recently had the pleasure of attending the Alaska Marine Science Symposium in Anchorage, Alaska. This meeting included presentations from scientists doing research throughout the north Pacific, as well as the Bering, Beaufort, and Chukchi seas. Climate change and human activities present tremendous challenges to certain species of wildlife in these remote marine and coastal locations. I was really impressed by the research efforts and ingenuity on display by scientists studying the lives of the whales, walruses, sea birds, and other wildlife living in the region.
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The San Diego Zoo’s Panda Team has provided some answers to questions posed by our blog post readers…

What does he weigh now?

Yun Zi weighs about 24 pounds (11 kilograms) now, and is growing every day. We do our best to weigh all of the pandas as often as possible.
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As we come to the end of January, people are coming from near and far to see our Yun Zi. Unfortunately, he’s not always the most active little boy you’ll see. What a lot of people don’t know is that he’s been awake and playing for about three and a half hours already by the time the San Diego Zoo opens at 9 a.m.
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