I hope you can come to my naming ceremony!
The votes are in and the decision is final: a name has been selected by you, our panda fans, for the cub born on July 29. From over 7,000 name suggestions submitted by panda lovers around the world, the list was narrowed to 6 choices for all to vote on. Nearly 35,000 votes were cast in the online naming poll! The winning name will be revealed in our traditional Panda Naming Ceremony on Tuesday, November 13, at 10 a.m. at the Zoo’s Hunte Amphitheater. It is free for all with Zoo admission.
The start of the ceremony will include a video montage of the cub’s exams, highlighting his extreme cuteness. Dignitaries from our Zoo and China will be on hand, and the co-head of our Giant Panda Team, Ron Swaisgood, will provide an overview of our panda program and the progress made over the years to help pandas, both in the wild and in managed-care settings. Ron is a great speaker and has been to China numerous times. He’s even tracked wild pandas and has the stories to prove it!
The grand finale happens, of course, when the cub’s name is revealed! The “little sausage” himself will not be in attendance, as he is not old enough to be taken out and about, but I’m sure his keepers will dash back after the ceremony to tell him his name. Can’t come? We will be providing a live UStream of the ceremony so you won’t miss a thing. Isn’t technology wonderful? Here’s the UStream link…
I’ve attended every one of the cub naming ceremonies we’ve had, and I’ll be at this one, too. I wouldn’t miss it! If you can come, please look for me and introduce yourself; I’ll be wearing a gold badge that says “Moderator” on it. My deputy moderator, Wendy, will be there with her badge on, too. We love to meet panda fans on such a happy occasion. And just like all of you, we can’t wait to find out what our cub’s name will be! Mark your calendar.
Debbie Andreen is a blog moderator for San Diego Zoo Global. Read her previous post, Elephant Antics.
There was pandamonium at the San Diego Zoo as we prepared to finally reveal our 104-day-old giant panda cub’s name. For days people kept asking, “So what is his name?” Being one of a handful of people who knew the name at the close of the voting period, I simply smiled and said “You’ll have to wait until the naming ceremony.” I admit, it was a bit of a smug smile. You know the one…the one you can’t hold back when you have a secret that everyone wants to know.
