As you walk into the Giant Panda Research Station at the San Diego Zoo, the first bear you see is Su Lin. She’s been going through some definite hormone changes recently, and our research team is monitoring her. With these changes comes a restlessness that makes it rather difficult for our guests to get a photograph of our girl! Currently, we are seeing her sleep a good part of the day, sitting in water and playing, and walking a good bit! These are all behaviors that we have seen previously with Bai Yun, so she’s really not surprising us, except with how early she started her estrus this year!
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Could it be we are nearing the end of our fantastic remodel of the Conrad Prebys Polar Bear Plunge at the San Diego Zoo? Anyone who has remodeled their home knows the joys and dilemmas that improvement brings. Most of the work that impacted our bears was completed last fall with the building of our management yard and the experience wall.
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For people viewing the giant panda cub here at the San Diego Zoo for the first time, seeing him up so high in the trees can be a little worrisome! So often we think of bears just keeping all four limbs on the ground. Well, we have bears that say, “No way!” to that. From the young age of four to five months, giant panda cubs begin climbing up the trees for a nap, a long snooze, to get out of Mom’s way, and to get away from danger!
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Russ is studying wild Andean (or spectacled) bears in Peru and sharing his adventures with us. Read his previous post, 20 Liters Down, 5 Hours to Go.

I’m sometimes jealous of people who can describe how things smell, or taste. I know the same words that they do, but they truly understand how to use the words. If I could, I would describe for you what a wild Andean bear smells like. Instead, all I can say is that “Chris” smelled like a bear.

I’ve been familiar with the general smell of “bear” since I was a child, growing up in black bear country. Since then, I’ve been fortunate enough to smell black bears and brown bears across the mid-western and western United States, but this is the first time I’ve ever sniffed a wild Andean bear. Yep, Chris definitely smells like a bear!
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The San Diego Zoo’s Indian rhino brothers, Soman and Surat, have been growing slowly with each day that passes (see previous post, Rhino Playtime). Soman just turned five last month, and Surat will be four in October. An important part of managing the health of an animal is keeping track of its weight. Some animal’s weights fluctuate on a weekly basis while others are just on a slow climb as they grow up. Our rhinos are on the second path. They each are still young and have at least another 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms) or so to gain before they are full grown!
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On January 29, 2010, San Diego Zoo staff members were delighted to discover that Chantek, a Malayan tapir, had given birth to a healthy baby boy! The average lifespan of a tapir is roughly 30 years, so at age 26 this is quite a feat for Chantek (who is currently the second oldest female Malayan tapir in the North American collection). The oldest tapir on record to have given birth in a zoological setting was a miraculous 32 years old.
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The plight of the koala in Queensland, Australia, is a major news focus right now. With a declining koala population in the wild, the Australian government is currently engaged in a political discussion regarding the protection of some of this habitat. In the meantime, habitat continues to be lost and koala numbers continue to decline. This makes for difficult times for koala researchers: we are caught in the middle, trying to collect enough information to inform and support moves that will protect koala habitat, but trying not to get caught up in the political friction or lose sight of our research aims along the way. So it is great to get some good news.

I am in the middle of another of my many field trips, on the way to St. Bees Island via Clermont in central Queensland, where I am assisting my colleague, Dr. Sean FitzGibbon, at his research sites. (more…)

The sun bear is a bear species noted by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) to be vulnerable to extinction. This rare bear is thought to have declined more than 30 percent in the last 30 years. Primary factors in the decline of the species are deforestation and, to a lesser degree, commercial exploitation of the bears for body parts.

Deforestation is rampant throughout much of the sun bear’s Southeast Asian homeland. In some places, the bear has been completely eradicated, as no suitable habitat remains. Despite this, no countries that comprise the historical range for the species have any active conservation measures in place to aid the sun bear. This stands in contrast to the giant panda, a bear that is listed as endangered but has numerous reserves set aside and a number of legal protections within China.
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Friday’s workday started off early for us as we headed out to do six interviews at three different TV stations.

Our first two interviews at Phoenix’s CBS station KPHO were early, but went very well. The morning crew there was a lot of fun and very interested in our animal ambassadors. One of the anchors was a little less than thrilled that we had a snake with us, but he warmed up to Tex (our milksnake) eventually. We did our two interviews with them and then it was off to the next studio.

At KNXV, local ABC-TV, we met a wonderful morning news team that was thrilled to have us in their studio. Dassie, our rock hyrax, had a great time exploring the studio between interviews. He is such a character, inspecting the set and the cameras as if he was the floor manager there at the studio!
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One of the most common questions we keepers are asked during presentations and keeper talks is “How would you describe a typical day?” The answer is always the same: “There is no typical day!” I have been a mammal keeper for eight years and have worked at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park for the past three years. My experience working with carnivores at other facilities landed me a position on the Heart of Africa team here at the Park working with big cats. Well, my job description changed last week when I moved to the West Team. To ensure that the Park has the most well-rounded keepers possible, many of us are rotated to different areas of the Park every two to five years. There are eight different teams of keepers at the Park, all working in different areas with different animals. The West Team works with a variety of animals, and I can assure you that not a one is a carnivore!
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