Currently, our main goal is preparing Jewel for her first dental procedure, scheduled for early December. We are making modifications to the building and getting both girls comfortable being away from each other for increased lengths of time.

Every day is an interesting adventure! Tina and Jewel continue to work well for the keepers. Work on their feet is coming along nicely, and we have successfully taken X rays of all four feet on both of them. They have even gotten a glimpse of the other elephants. Surprisingly, they didn’t have much of a reaction.

While we offer them a variety of enrichment items, the ball still seems to be their favorite toy. We fill it with pellets, and they bounce and roll it around to get the food out.

Stay tuned for the adventures to come.

Victoria Zahn is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo.

When cubs leave the den they begin climbing trees, and they spend a majority of their day up in a tree. Females leave the cubs in the top of the trees while they forage for bamboo. Staying up at the top of a tree on the thinner branches allows a cub some safety from large cats that may take advantage of Mom being away from her cub. Staying up above most of the branches keeps the cub up and hopefully out of the ranges of others.

Those thin branches can really only hold the cub, and if anything else gets on the branch they may go tumbling down. Young cubs can fall without getting hurt. The growing cubs still have a good layer of fat, and about 3 inches (8 centimeters) of fur, allowing the cub to safely land.

As our panda youngsters get older, they turn the trees into their own playground, jungle gym, and demolition zone. Su Lin is very good at tearing down the branches of the elm tree in her exhibit and loves to play as high as she can in the trees. Zhen Zhen is currently at the stage where pretty much all she wants to do in the trees is sleep. Not too exciting right now, but as she gets older she will go through the same stage that her sister is in right now, and I’m sure we will see that fun, exciting behavior.

The other day, I was asked when was the last time Bai Yun climbed a tree, and why doesn’t she climb that much? For our regulars, I’m sure that’s an easy question for you to answer, but it did make me think about the last time I saw her climb. The elm trees in the front exhibits aren’t exactly the big sturdy trees that hold a 220-pound (100-kilogram) bear like Bai Yun, but in the “classroom,” our exhibit behind the scenes, she does have a bigger tree. The last time I saw her climb, she was pregnant with our current cub, Yun Zi; she had climbed halfway up the tree, found a comfortable spot where she hung her head on a branch, and went to sleep. The only times I’ve ever really seen her climb high up into the tree have been when she’s been upset by a loud sound.

The next time you visit the San Diego Zoo, check out the trees in the enclosures and try to see where the bears have been.

Anastasia Horning is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo.

Watch video (below) of Zhen Zhen climbing a tree on November 17, 2009. Provided by panda fan Bobbie Wood.

Many of you have noticed the new wall by the beach. This is the new “Guest Experience Wall” that will be unveiled next year when the new interpretive area opens. However, Tatqiq has ignored all memos saying that this will happen next year. She has installed herself as the overseer of all guest greetings and is chief model for all polar bear close-up photography. In brief, she is THE Arctic Ambassador, and she is holding court every day as though she is the queen of the beach, no longer the princess! What an incredible opportunity now to have only three inches of glass separate you from a polar bear so willing to pose for your photos! More surprises are ahead when we do officially open the wall in March.

Kalluk has also enjoyed having the entire beach area back. Every night he chooses between sleeping on what is left of his kiddie pool or building a soft, cozy sand bed. He does seem to enjoy watching the show Tatqiq puts on with the guests and will join from time to time. He also spends time watching Chinook next door in the yard. I’m not sure what he is thinking. Perhaps he, too, is wondering if cubs are on the way. If not, we expect to begin seeing changes in him by the end of December as his hormones prepare him for the next breeding season.

For me, I am in Canada, working with our conservation partner, Polar Bears International, and spending time with the polar bears of Churchill, Manitoba. This will be my ninth fall with our incredible furry ice bears. Even in such a short time I have seen great changes in the polar bears due to the change in ice. Please take the time to read our student Arctic Ambassador Daniel Straub’s impressions of his time with the bears (see post Northern Lights Perfect Backdrop for Polar Bears) and the great information shared by Dr. Ron Swaisgood of his first adventure to Churchill (see post Hope for Polar Bears). With how fast the Arctic is changing, anyone lucky enough to experience this disappearing land of ice must be an ambassador to inspire others, who can’t come north, to care enough to make the changes to save this beautiful habitat and the animals and people who live here. Tatqiq is a great model as an Arctic Ambassador; she’d love to share the role with you!

JoAnne Simerson is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo.

So what is it? It was a close one. All five names could easily have been the one. We all know the little guy is an “extraordinary bear.” Those of us who live in San Diego would have loved to have him named after our beloved city, since it is quite blissful. As his personality finally begins to emerge, and this cub is finally showing that he, too, will be rambunctious, little dragon would have been fitting. But I think we are the ones that are “eternally blessed” for having been able to witness the birth of this rare bear, so this name wasn’t quite right for him, in my opinion.

In the end, the name that was bestowed upon this bear is one that pays tribute to an extraordinary mother, Bai Yun. Mama bear’s name means “white cloud.” And so, our little guy is from here on out to be called Yun Zi or “son of cloud.”

The Chinese name, Yun Zi, was revealed at a ceremony at the Zoo’s Hunte Amphitheater. Dr. Ron Swaisgood, co-head of the Zoo’s Giant Panda Conservation Unit, shared the history of the giant panda at the Zoo, from Bai Yun’s arrival in 1996, the birth of her five cubs here in San Diego, and an update on our newest panda.

We were pleased by the presence of the deputy consul general from the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles, Mr. Sun Weide, who spoke a few words about the partnership between the San Diego Zoo and our colleagues in China. Berit Durler, president of the Zoological Society of San Diego, thanked our guests for supporting our efforts in panda conservation.

It is because of the support that all of you have provided to us that we asked for you to be involved in naming our little guy. We received 6,331 names. Once we narrowed the names down to 5, we allowed just one vote per person or family at the same computer during the four-day voting period. We received 17,521 votes. That’s quite a commitment!

Here is the breakdown of the vote:
Yun Zi: son of cloud 28%
Xiao Long: little dragon 26%
Xiong Wei: extraordinary bear 20%
Yong Xiang: eternally blessed 14%
Fu Sheng: blissful San Diego 12%

Yadira Galindo is a senior public relations representative for the San Diego Zoo.

Note: A big day for Yun Zi, as he also had his 12th exam this morning. Son of Cloud weighed 13.2 pounds (5.98 kilograms). More images are available in our Panda Photo Gallery.
Here’s video of the exam and the naming ceremony…

We thought it would be fun for readers of our panda blog section to meet each other at the ceremony, so we’ve set aside a special seating area just for you! Look for a sign that says “Panda Fans Forever” about five rows up in the center of the amphitheater. Here’s a chance to don your favorite panda earrings, pins, sweatshirt, T-shirt, or socks—you’ll be in grand company. As a bonus (at least we hope so!), your blog moderators will be there, too! We’d love to meet some of the many panda fans we’ve been hearing from. You really are a special and caring group of people, and it’s always fun to put a face to a name. We hope you can come!

Items for the pandas (as well as other animals on the November Wish List) included food wheels, a variety of toys for the whole panda family, music CDs for the little cub to enjoy, and honeysuckle to be planted in the panda exhibits. Almost $10,000 was raised to purchase 453 gifts! Donors responded from all over the U.S. as well as Canada, Great Britain, Brazil, and Japan: 143 donors in all! Within the next month or two the items will be ordered and shipped. Upon receipt, we’ll try to arrange some photos sessions of the pandas with their new toys to share with all panda fans.

We intended to provide a transcript of the online chat itself, but when we printed it out, the transcript was 23 pages long, single-space type! We received over 600 comments during the one-hour event. Congratulations and well wishes were sent from all parts of the country as well as Canada. We heard about entire offices that tune into panda cam. And classrooms. A teacher in New York commented that she and her students watch Panda Cam every morning before class. Our keepers, Kathy Hawk and Angie Fiore, enjoyed themselves and hosted the baby shower games “How long was the cub’s tail during that morning’s exam?” (7 centimeters or 2.75 inches) and “Just how chubby is cubby?” (His abdominal girth measurement that morning was 47.6 centimeters or 18.7 inches).

Questions came in so quickly that our shower moderator’s fingers were kept busy: Yes, the cub protests when Bai grooms him, and he makes a kind of croaking sound when Bai bathes him. The average life span of a panda in zoos is 30 years. Bai’s personality is devoted and loving. Toys get cleaned and reused; the cub’s first toy will probably be a ball. Keepers will stop handling the cub when he’s about one year old; remember that they can weigh 300 pounds (136 kilograms) as adults. Yes, all the keepers have had a chance to cuddle the cub. Keeper Kathy’s favorite name for the cub is Xiong Wei; Keeper Angie’s favorite name is Xiao Long. The cub’s wet nose enhances smells (check your nearest dog) and is nothing to worry about–our vets aren’t. Pandas are probably capable of swimming, but they’re more waders than swimmers. Bai weighs about 220 pounds (100 kilograms) now.

Keep in mind that not all questions posed were answered during the shower. However, those questions may help give our panda blog post writers some topic ideas for future posts.

All in all we feel the online chat format was a huge success. And on behalf of the pandas and keepers, we thank you all for your passion for pandas!

Debbie Andreen is an associate editor for the San Diego Zoo.

I recently traveled with a few colleagues to north-central Baja California, Mexico, to conduct field research for the San Diego Zoo’s Golden Eagle Project (see previous post, Golden Eagle Helicopter Survey). A wind farm is being designed for future development in the Sierra Juarez, and the San Diego Zoo is involved with pre-construction research of habitat use and demographics of golden eagles. The objective of the project is to examine what parts of the mountain range are used by eagles and how and when they use each part. Our findings may help to minimize future interactions between eagles and turbines.

I am the new field ornithologist for the Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research and just joined the team in August. Because so little is known about the eagles in the area, we’ve had to resort to good, old-fashioned detective work—that means sitting and waiting to see eagles. On our last trip in September, we saw several raptor species including turkey vultures, peregrine falcons, and American kestrels during our surveillance from our high perch at the edge of the desert, but no eagles (darn!). We have previously observed eagles in this area and know that they breed here because of nest surveys that took place last March from a helicopter (brrrrr). However, we don’t know if they stick around all year or if they leave after the breeding season is over. So we decided we needed to increase our surveillance effort for the eagles during the non-breeding season. Our objective in the week-long observation period was to make note of any eagle (and other bird) activity in the area—but Mother Nature had other plans for us.

The first day that we were there, it was really windy–the winds were gusting up to 65 miles per hour (105 kilometers per hour)! We know this because another part of our mission was to set up weather stations that send all the data they gather directly to us at the Institute’s Beckman Center via the Internet (in real time!). Birds (especially big, heavy ones like eagles) don’t like to fly when it’s too windy because it takes a lot of energy to stay in air in those conditions, so we only stayed out for half the day. We’re lucky nobody got blown off the mountain! We went back out the next morning to continue our surveillance, and it snowed! The snow only lasted for about 30 minutes, but the wind had shifted, and it was cold (which is saying a lot, because I’m from Wisconsin!). The rest of the day was sunny, but still a little windy, and we still didn’t see any eagles. Our week continued much the same way—clear and windy and no eagles.

I’m not going to lie; at times we got pretty bored. But we also got to spend a week outside without worrying about e-mails and cell phones and all the other activities that take up too much time in our lives. We got to enjoy just being out in nature, which is the reason most of us became ecologists—to save nature so future generations can enjoy it, too. So the lesson from this trip is that I have to be patient—sooner or later, I’ll see an eagle and, in the meantime, I’ve got a great view!

Colleen Wisinski is a research associate with the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research.

Dr. Amanda White helps examine his royal cuteness!

But now I can tell you stories about a panda, as if he were my own. Sure, I didn’t get to hold him or touch him, or even get close enough for his eyes to focus on me. But sitting in on the 11th exam of our panda cub was a great experience!

When Lead Keeper Lisa Martin carried him out of the den, he had bits of bamboo from the nest. I immediately had the urge to brush him off. He laid on the table, flat like a pancake, with his paws out forward and just looked around with long, endearing blinks.

Vets started by checking his eyes first with a penlight. Then they moved on to his teeth. That was the first milestone for the exam – he cut his first two teeth! His canines were very noticeable and looked good. Dr. Beth Bicknese finished checking his tonsils, his glands, and his belly.

Ah, his belly. Yes, it’s as pudgy as it looks in the pictures and even cuter in person.

About this time, baby started waking up with a big yawn that showed us those first two teeth, shiny and white. Then he started flexing his muscles, held himself up, and was tracking Ken Bohn, our photographer, with his little panda eyes.

I got to hear the panda “squeek” as vets checked his muscles, his bones, his paws. They checked each paw and a thorough inspection of his tail – with the black dot at the end.

Then, I watched as the cub walked across the table until he had to be picked up by a vet before he reached the edge. Gaylene Thomas, animal care supervisor, mentioned that this was the most he’d ever walked during an exam! I also listened as vets and animal care staff commented about how he’s showing more personality these days, showing some independence, and hinting that he will be sure to let everyone know just what he wants and how he feels.

Because he was so wiggly, there are a few non-critical measurements that weren’t taken down because he just didn’t want to sit still. And then, sitting on the exam table, between measurements, he barked!

It was just like the sound I’d expect from a small dog. Not like a Chihuahua, though. Maybe more like a terrier? Again, I’m a cat person, but it surprised all of us in the room, and we were delighted by his vocalization and more proof that the usually slow-moving, roly-poly cub has real personality potential.

Then all too quickly, the measurements were done, the exam was over, and it was time to return the cub to Bai Yun.

I have lived for more than 30 years without a panda in my life until I got my job at the San Diego Zoo. And now, after witnessing my first panda exam, I think my “panda lady” tendencies might be surfacing, too.

Jenny Mehlow is a public relations representative for the San Diego Zoo.

Note: The cub weighed 12.5 pounds (5.7 kilograms) and was 24 inches (61 centimeters) long.
Watch a video of the 11th exam.
More photos of the exam.

Zhen Zhen herself has a certain calmness about her that I think resembles her father more than any other cub. Very rarely does she get surprised by sounds from the crowd, and she is more than content with a piece of bamboo to keep her occupied. I think the only real time that I see her run around or even vocalize is when she is getting ready to be fed, just like her father. Gao Gao has always been a rather quiet bear, and I think that Gao Gao finally has a cub who might take after him.

Male giant pandas have no knowledge of their offspring, nor knowledge if breeding was even successful, and Zhen Zhen wouldn’t have picked up these behaviors from her mother since Bai Yun doesn’t do any of them. Zhen Zhen does show some behaviors similar to her mother as well, but that’s understandable, since she spent the first 18 months of her life with Mom.

When Zhen Zhen comes out for her evening feed, for some reason (and there isn’t a good explanation for it) she will promptly sit with her back toward the crowd and ignore them while she eats. This has been happening since the beginning of summer, and at first I thought it could be a way for her to have some privacy, or de-stress from a long day, but I noticed even on days where it’s been really quite here she will turn her back. I remembered that Bai Yun does the same thing when she goes on exhibit, and I have a feeling that our little Zhen Zhen may have picked up the same behavior.

Another behavior that panda observers, narrators, and guests love to watch for is the girls tapping their paw. Both Zhen Zhen and Su Lin tap one of their back paws as they fall asleep, and they are usually draped over a tree branch when they are doing it. When they first go up the tree, you can see it tap very often, and as they start to drift into sleep the tapping gets less and less frequent. I have always looked for this particular behavior in the kids because I know exactly where they get it from: their mother, Bai Yun. She taps her paws as she goes to sleep no matter where she happens to be. I’ve seen it when she’s on a flat service or when she’s hanging her foot down somewhere. Several of our observers think it’s funny to watch the kids perform this behavior, and when we watch them we all wait for the foot tapping.

Keep watching the Panda Cam for activity of our little boy, and I hope to see you at the panda exhibit real soon!

Anastasia Horning is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo.

As the weather gets cooler, we expect that she may be more inclined to go into denning mode. Isolating herself in the den is one of the strongest behavioral cues we’d expect to see, letting us know that birth is imminent. Unfortunately, this might happen one month or one day before she gives birth. Our advice to the San Diego Zoo’s extended family of polar bear lovers: stay tuned! We will keep you up to date on any changes we see.

Megan Owen is a conservation program specialist at the San Diego Zoo.

Watch video of an ultrasound procedure being done on Chinook.