I am not sure I have ever seen something as cute as a baby panda. Of course, baby anything is adorable, but this is even beyond that. I have been caring for each of the San Diego Zoo’s giant pandas for over three years now, and I have seen them breed, give birth, and grow into their own unique individual selves. Most often each day is fairly routine in regard to their care and training. Every so often, however, certain days make an impression on me and my fellow keepers.
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The rotation of our two jaguars has been the cause for adjustment for both human and cat along Big Cat Trail at the San Diego Zoo. During the very first days that some of our regular visitors ambled down the path to find Nindiri on exhibit where they were accustomed to seeing Orson for over the past 10 years, some came to me concerned that something bad had happened to the elderly Orson. Although I was able to reassure them that Orson was fine enjoying the modern digs up at Elephant Odyssey (see post Zoo Legend Finds New Home), I too noticed one thing missing: Orson’s frequent roar, which could be heard up and down the canyon as he declared Big Cat Trail his domain.
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I thought that since we have moved some pandas around here at the San Diego Zoo’s Giant Panda Research Station, I’d give you an update on everyone’s whereabouts. Now in our two off-exhibit classroom enclosures we have Gao Gao and Zhen Zhen. Gao is not going to be moved into the main viewing area right now; he is still undergoing training with our keepers for the hearing study we are doing (see post Panda Care). Gao is still practicing going to a set target when asked and sitting in one spot for an extended period of time.
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In my previous post, I introduced you to Zahari (Zari, for short), our young Grant’s zebra (see Little Zebra Zahari). She is a participating member of our family of critters that is a part of the San Diego Zoo’s Backstage Pass program, and her training is an ongoing process. Many consider zebras stubborn and difficult to train, so our daily interactions are critical. Every day we brush her, clean her hooves, and practice her learned behaviors as well as work on new ones.
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In the wee hours of the morning on Valentine’s Day (February 14), a group of campers at the Wild Animal Park’s Roar & Snore sleepover were roused from their slumber by the sound of elephants trumpeting. It wasn’t until the sun came up in the morning, though, that they discovered an elephant had been born. These lucky campers had experienced an elephant herd announcing the birth of its newest member!
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Here are answers to some questions posed by our readers…

Den closure
Yun Zi has officially left the DEN! Keepers are no longer allowing him access to the den, and this is a decision to help him get ready to go to the main exhibit soon. Yun Zi isn’t looking for the den. In fact, he’s too busy playing, and he sleeps in his climbing structure most of the time. This is completely normal, and we are so pleased with how things have been progressing. Currently he is about 30 pounds (13.6 kilograms) and growing every day. Bai Yun is about 234 pounds (106 kilograms) and looks wonderful wearing it!
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The San Diego Zoo is supporting one of the longest-running ecological studies of koalas, at St. Bees Island in central Queensland, Australia. So, most of my reports concentrate on the behavior of this healthy and undisturbed population: how the young koalas are doing, which males are on “the knoll” and whether Elizabeth has had another baby, etc. However, not all koala populations are doing as well as ours, and I also spend a good deal of time in Central Queensland and in Southeast Queensland, assisting other researchers in their work. In Southeast Queensland, the situation is very different from St. Bees Island (see previous post Island Koalas: Meet Orbit).
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It was the day everyone had been waiting for…Bai Yun and Yun Zi’s big move to the main public viewing area. How did the bears respond to the transition? The post A New World highlights the events of the morning and gives a nice account of how the bears reacted to the change. But I thought I’d take a moment to write a bit about how we manage the bears and the decision-making process involved in facilitating a shift like this.
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Last night, while watching snow boarders, ice skaters, and skiers hurtle themselves down and across frozen surfaces, I was excited to see the spotlight shared with the most amazing of “winter Olympians,” the polar bear. The piece focused on the polar bears of Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, and scientists supported by Polar Bears International (PBI) who study them.
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After a lot of work and preparation, Bai Yun and Yun Zi have been moved into the main public viewing area of the San Diego Zoo’s Giant Panda Research Station. So far, Yun Zi has been exploring his new exhibit and has been loving every second of it. Right after he entered the exhibit, following his mother, he began climbing around and checking everything out. We couldn’t be happier with this response!
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