Here at the San Diego Zoo, our animals’ welfare is number one! If an animal appears to be having a difficult time, we will do out best to make sure that we can make them comfortable and figure out what may be the cause of any uneasiness. So with that being said, the storms that came through San Diego last week gave a few of our animals something new to say the least. On Tuesday, when the thunder began to move in, little Mr. Xiao Liwu decided that not only did he not like it, but that he wanted to seek shelter…inside!
Of course, animals in the wild are going to deal with this without the luxury of having a nice, climate controlled bedroom to run into. Since giant pandas are naturally found anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 feet in elevation, they deal with a whole multitude of weather conditions including snow and extreme humidity. But our Mr. Wu has had a different life experience.
The day of the storm, I was also giving a tour around the Zoo and animals everywhere had their own responses to smelling the rain and hearing the thunder. A particularly special treat was watching our baby giraffe running around and kicking her legs out playing in the falling drops. I’ve always told guests that the best time to go to the Zoo or even the Safari Park is right before or after a storm. All the animals can smell the change in the air and it’s always fun to watch them.
Over the 10 years I’ve been working around the pandas, I’ve had the opportunity to witness interesting behavior and great moments with the bears. One of those is panda cubs in the rain, and the aftermath. All of our animals have shelter in their enclosure so that if it begins to rain hard, they can get out of the rain and still be visible to the public. Panda cubs have really never disappointed in their playtime in the mud. Just as human kids like to jump in puddles and make a mess, panda cubs love to slide, roll, and jump in puddles and mud. One of my favorite memories of Yun Zi (born 2009) was a morning I had put him in the “garden room” of Bai Yun’s indoor area so that I could clean the bedroom. It had rained a little and as I was finishing up, here came Yun Zi, dripping with mud. Total “boy” move; he had rolled in the mud and had clearly had a blast.
So, keep your eye peeled for those awesome moments, and again try a visit just before or after a storm. You’ll be amazed at what you see the animals doing!
Anastasia Jonilionis is a panda narrator and keeper at the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous blog, Panda Cubs: Interesting Individuals.
