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Panda Updates

Xi Lan, by the way, is well-rooted in the mid 90 kg. (low 200 lbs.) range.
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Wednesday, May 1
Recently the keepers removed one of the resting places in Shandy the red panda's exhibit.  This particular item was a milk crate that was covered in burlap.  It's one of Shandy's favorite places to hang out, but it was really in  need of replacing. The keepers removed the burlap and on the way through the giant panda building, showed it to each of the pandas. Some of their reactions were pretty intense!  For example, when Yang Yang took a big whiff of the burlap, he rapidly backed up, almost like he was trying to get away from it. He also snorted. Po reacted somewhat similarly, like he didn't really want anything to do with the burlap. Xi Lan and Lun Lun were a bit more relaxed about it, but were certainly interested in the smells. I don't think we've ever given the giant pandas anything that had been with Shandy for an extended period of time. Given Yang's reaction, his encounter with the burlap may not have been entirely positive, but it gives us something to think about in terms of enrichment in the future.
Megan Wilson, PhD
Assistant Curator of Mammals

Monday, April 29
Po is just like his dad in so many ways. All of the cubs have taken on physical traits found in their dad. For example, Xi Lan is developing his dad's large ears, and Po is developing that chiseled face that Yang has.  Po also likes to "multi-task" as does his father. When nature calls (of the fecal variety), most of our pandas will usually get up and walk away from their bamboo to relieve themselves. Not Yang! He doesn't believe in wasting precious time and simply lowers his tail and poops while eating bamboo. It's comical to watch because he clearly doesn't see anything wrong with this behavior we humans deem inappropriate by our personal standards. Much to our surprise, little Po has followed in these same footsteps. I have noticed that when spending time in the off-exhibit dens, Po is far more likely to "multi-task" than when in the dayroomsor outside. Speaking of poop, the quantity and size of Po's feces are a hot topic amongst us primary panda keepers. We are astonished with how well he eats bamboo (compared to both of his brothers at the same age) and how much he poops! He eats better than Xi Lan is currently eating! Wow!
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, April 26
Today I collected behavioral data on Yang Yang. He was eating arrow bamboo in one of the dayrooms and seemed be enjoying it very much. Then he stopped eating and appeared to be listening for a few minutes. He must have heard a sound that was alarming to him, because he snorted several times. This is a common reaction when a giant panda is startled or alarmed. Then he climbed onto the climbing structure, snorted a few more times while looking around, and then started honking. A honk is a normal giant panda vocalization which sounds a bit like a goose honk. Giant pandas sometimes make this sound after being alarmed, like Yang was. They also sometimes make it for no apparent reason while resting. It’s usually repeated for several minutes. After a few minutes, Yang put his head down and rested while honking. After about 10 minutes he stopped honking and fell asleep. Although I was in the same building as Yang during all of this, I did not hear or smell anything unusual that preceded his reaction. There are some sounds and smells that we know will cause this reaction in the giant pandas and some of these are specific to individual pandas. For example, Yang will react like this to the sound of a chainsaw. So, if a tree needs to be trimmed near the panda building, the keepers will put Yang in an area where the noise will be muffled.  But occasionally, like today, I witness this behavior when there is no obvious cause. It always makes me wonder what the animal sensed that I didn’t. Yang was fine of course. After a short nap, he climbed down and resumed eating. And I am left to wonder what all the fuss was about.
Rebecca Snyder, PhD
Curator of Mammals

Monday, April 22
It's arrow (Pseudosasa japonica) season again! Arrow is a bamboo that the pandas tend to love in late spring and summer. It is really long and mostly culm with just a few leaves. Generally the pandas destroy it top to bottom and it takes less to fill them up, therefore we use less. It makes a huge mess but we have happy pandas. But of course being pandas they are quite picky. Some of the recent harvests have not been too great by panda standards. They'll eat about half a bundle we provide and decide that the other half is inedible. Sometimes the pandas are so tough to please!
Shauna 
Keeper I, Carnivores

Monday, April 15
You might notice that the leafeater biscuits the pandas have been receiving lately don’t look like they normally do. Usually, the leafeater biscuits (supplemental nutritional cookies if you will) are small, red rectangular biscuits we offer the pandas to ensure they are getting a healthy diet. The company that makes these is in the process of relocating so for a short time we won't have access to this variety.  Instead, we have gotten ground-up biscuit crumbles that, with a little diluted apple juice, we've formed into biscuit balls. It's still the exact same product; they just look a little different now.

Friday, April 12
Things were a little soggy this morning in the giant panda exhibits. I’m sure you’ve read in previous posts that our pandas aren’t real keen on rain. In general, they also aren’t fond of muddy conditions, either.  On my way to take care of Marvin the muntjac and Shandy the red panda this morning, I checked to see what lucky panda had been chosen to spend some time outside. We know better than to put Yang or Lun outside when it’s wet; sometimes they just don’t settle down and eat as well. But the other two tolerate a muddy morning, like it was this morning, a lot better. Sure enough, Po was perfectly happy outside, mowing through his bamboo. Given that summer temperatures are almost here, he was smart to take advantage of the cool morning, even though he got a little muddy.
Megan Wilson, PhD
Assistant Curator of Mammals

Wednesday, April 10
This is a busy week at the Zoo, because many local schools have Spring Break. The giant pandas are unfazed by the additional guests. They simply carry on with their normal pattern of eating and sleeping. We are looking forward to bamboo shoot season starting soon. Bamboo shoots are an absolute favorite of the pandas. We like watching the pandas sit back and enjoy munching on juicy shoots, which appear far more palatable than the tough, fibrous bamboo parts they normally ingest.
Rebecca Snyder, PhD
Curator of Mammals

Monday, April 8
There hasn't been much new that is going on in pandas right now. With the weather warming up our bears are starting to let us know when it is getting too hot for them to stay outside. So what we do is bring them inside so that they can cool off. Lun Lun and Yang Yang are the two pandas that appreciate this the most. 

Monday, April 1
I hope everyone had a good Easter! We celebrated the day with lots of novel enrichment provided to all the animals here at Zoo Atlanta. Our pandas enjoyed their enrichment just as much as everyone else. There were a variety of items we offered the giant pandas, red panda, and Reeves' muntjac. These included: colorful cardboard paper links, papier-mâché eggs filled with leafeater biscuits, painted cardboard Easter baskets, and Jell-o eggs! The links and boxes and papier-mâché eggs were fun for the animals to destroy. Everyone ignored their Jell-o eggs, but that was to be expected. Maybe one of these days they'll play with the eggs!
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, March 29
Yesterday was picture-perfect panda weather here in Atlanta. The morning started out sunny with temperatures in the 30's. Due to this, we like to get the pandas outside on exhibit as soon as possible so they can enjoy the cool weather. I put Xi Lan and Po in the outdoor habitats and let the parents relax in the dayrooms. When I put the boys out, they went straight to eating their bamboo. After about an hour and a half they were both winding down from eating breakfast and decided to explore the rest of the yard. The "howdy" door was open between the habitats, and it didn't take long for both of them to end up there. There they sat, nose to nose, for upwards of another 45 minutes. The only thing that broke up their panda party was us showing up with some more bamboo and some biscuits, and what panda wants to sit with his brother when more food is available. We continued to monitor them throughout the day, but I never saw them go back to the howdy. The rest of the day was filled with more eating and of course sleeping.
Kenn
Lead Keeper of Carnivores

Monday, March 25
As the days go on, Xi Lan is acting more and more like an adult panda. When shifted him into an area where another panda has been, he spends a good amount of time smelling everything. That has been especially the case in this past week. As I'm sure many of you know, Lun Lun was in estrus last week. We had an endocrinologist spend hours doing hormone assays on her urine samples to determine this, but Yang Yang and Xi Lan both knew just by smelling her urine and scent mark areas. Every time Xi Lan was moved to a room that Lun Lun had previously been in, his nose covered every inch of ground. He might still be too young to be reproductively mature, but he definitely has those adult hormones beginning to course through his system. His cub side still shows up from time to time however. This morning for example, when he came inside so we could clean his dayroom, he noticed that there was a horse ball hanging in the den he was in. Xi Lan, being in a playful mood, grabbed the ball and would not let go. He was hanging from it and spinning around in circles. He grabbed it with his mouth and his paws. The fun lasted almost the whole time we cleaned the dayroom! He's growing up fast but he still knows how to have fun.
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, March 22
We wrapped up a very brief giant panda breeding cycle early this morning. Lun Lun started showing signs of estrus (i.e., the period of hormonal and behavioral change leading up to and surrounding ovulation) on March 14. Hormone assays revealed that she ovulated sometime overnight March 20 or very early morning March 21. That means her estrous cycle was 7-8 days in length which is unusually short. The normal cycle length for giant pandas is 10-14 days. Timing giant panda reproduction is tight for a normal cycle, and so this one was especially challenging. As in previous years, Lun Lun and Yang Yang showed very little interest in mating. Thus, we did one artificial insemination procedure last night and another artificial insemination procedure early this morning. We were assisted again this year by Dr. David Kersey from Western University of Health Sciences. Dr. Kersey is an expert in giant panda endocrinology and assisted us with the timing of artificial insemination procedures in 2006, 2008, and 2010. All of these resulted in the birth of healthy cubs. We were also assisted again by Dr. Copper Aitken-Palmer from Smithsonian’s Conservation Biology Institute. Dr. Aitken-Palmer is an expert in giant panda reproductive physiology and has assisted us with semen collection and artificial insemination procedures since 2006. We also usually have the assistance of a reproductive physiologist from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. However, because this cycle was so short, our colleague Mr. Liu Yuliang was not able to arrive in time.

Monday, March 18
Today while we were setting up Po's dayroom, I decided to give him two types of scents for his enrichment. The first was cinnamon and the second was vanilla extract. I placed the scents on two toys for him, and after shifting him out into the dayroom, he immediately started to play with the two scented toys. He played so much that he ended up exhausting himself within about 20 to 30 minutes and then proceeded to take a nap, as pandas do.
Katie
Mammal Keeper I 

Friday, March 15
Xi Lan and Po had an exciting day on Wednesday. We put them together for some social time. Giant panda subadults are more social than adults. They have been found to associate with each other occasionally in the wild, and breeding centers in China often house subadults together. So, we decided to try putting the brothers together to see if they would enjoy each other’s company. I think it was a good experience for Xi Lan, but not for Po. Xi Lan spent much of the time draped over his brother and biting him. Xi Lan was gentle (for a bear) and playful. But I think Po felt overwhelmed and he became defensive. Xi Lan wasn’t good about taking cues from Po to back off. So, after about 40 minutes, we distracted the boys with food and separated them. Given Po’s less than positive reaction, we are not planning to put them together again. We did get some cute pictures of the two of them together.

Rebecca Snyder, PhD
Curator of Mammals

Wednesday, March 13
Welcome to a special edition of Zoo Atlanta's panda update! I have news on Mei Lan! I have recently heard from someone who works closely with Mei Lan in Chengdu, so I thought I'd let all of his fans know how he is doing. Apparently, Mei Lan has really blossomed into a superstar trainee! It sounds like he takes after his daddy, Yang Yang. Mei Lan is calm and enjoys working with his trainer. He is so good at training that he is often used for training demonstrations and as a test subject for potential new behaviors. I am so proud to hear about Mei Lan's success in training. I'd like to think that he got a good foundation here at Zoo Atlanta!  
Heather
Carnivore Keeper III

Monday, March 11
I haven't been in the giant panda building for a while, but it doesn't appear that much of anything has changed. I am happy to say that the pandas are all eating their bamboo very well, and then they are all napping very well.  That not may sound very exciting, but these are the exact behaviors that the panda keepers strive to achieve on a daily basis. A panda that is eating and resting well is one that is not stressed or upset about anything. In addition to the feedings, we are still offering them all of the enrichment items we can think of, as well as having them run through several training sessions per day. This helps keep them mentally sharp and also keeps them guessing about what is coming next. In the coming weeks as Lun Lun comes closer to entering estrus, we expect the pandas to slow down on their eating and concentrate more on breeding. This is the one time of year that we don't really worry about them not eating a bunch. At this stage, they will all, probably with the exception of Po, spend more time walking through their yards, smelling, and scent marking everything.  These are normal behaviors that we see every breeding season. In the wild, the females will be scent marking everything in their home range, and all the males from the surrounding areas will be on the move to try and find that female. The males will also be scent marking everything to signify that they are there and that other males shouldn't enter that area. To help solicit these behaviors, all the pandas are routinely rotated throughout all of the exhibits, dayrooms, and night dens.  This allows them to get a different scent practically every day, which they will normally just cover up with their own mark, which in turn will be covered up again by another panda the following day. Once breeding season is over, the pandas will revert back to their old ways of simply eating a bunch and sleeping a bunch. At least that is what the keepers hope they will do.

Monday, March 4
So for the past week we have had some crazy weather here at Zoo Atlanta. One day it’s 65 degrees and in a matter of hours we have snow flurries falling to the ground. Well we decided to put the pandas outside because they don't get to experience snow hardly at all. We thought that they would enjoy seeing the snow fall ever so gently to the ground. But no, instead as always they were just interested in what they have to eat. Oh well, maybe next time they will enjoy being out in the snow.

Monday, February 25
Time to mention one of the other animals on the panda routine, Shandy the red panda. It is red panda breeding season and Shandy is going through all the motions, even if she doesn't have a mate. Now is the time of year when she surveys her territory to ensure that there aren't any other females with which she has to compete and to alert males in the area that she is nearing her cycle. Each morning, and probably through most of the night, she meticulously scours every inch of her exhibit for any signs of another red panda. She has also been quite the eater lately. Before we have a chance to put her biscuit bowl in it's place, she is there trying to grab her grapes. She has also been very interested in training and now is the time of year where we try to do as much training as possible.
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, February 22
We are preparing for giant panda breeding season. So far, Lun Lun is not showing any behavioral changes indicative of estrus. We are monitoring her behavior and will soon be sending out the first batch of urine samples for hormonal assay. Po has adjusted well to life on his own. This morning I watched him methodically eat a very large diameter piece of yellow groove bamboo. It’s impressive to see how strong he is and how proficient he is. It takes great strength and skill to handle, break, and strip a large bamboo culm. He seemed to be enjoying it very much. I expect he took a long nap after all that eating.
Rebecca Snyder, PhD 
Curator of Mammals

Wednesday, February 13
The pandas are eating a tremendous amount of bamboo right now! For all four bears in a 24-hour period we are offering around 150 kg of bamboo. Of that 150 kg, we are cleaning up around 90-100 kg of remnants (discarded pieces, shards, etc.) each day. Overnight, each panda is eating 6-10 kg of bamboo – including Po! As you can imagine, with all of that eating comes lots and lots of feces.  We are picking up about 150 piles of feces weighing over 60 kg per day! Who knew just four pandas could create such a huge amount of waste! Fortunately, we are able to compost both the leftover bamboo and the feces. All of the leftover bamboo goes into a large dumpster that gets emptied once per week by a local tree company that turns it into mulch. The feces are collected in a separate dumpster with the elephant feces which gets composted.  
Heather 
Carnivore Keeper III

Monday, February 11
Last night when I was setting up the pandas for the night, I had Yang Yang in Dayroom 1 with his dinner and Xi Lan in the hallway that runs next to the dayroom. In the door to the dayroom there is a keeper access panel. When Xi Lan was given access to the hallway, he went right to the panel to see who was in the dayroom. After a couple of bleats from Xi Lan, Yang came to the door. After a bit of smelling and some bleating (mostly on Xi Lan's part), there was a small bit of playing. They were playfully nipping at each other's paws and bleating and smelling each other. I walked away for a moment and when I turned back I saw Xi Lan rolling and biting his tail, which is how he plays. Yang was self-anointing at the window with Xi's scent. After about 5-10 minutes of this, Yang walked away to eat his dinner. For the rest of the time I was there, Xi Lan would go over to the window, bleat a bit then walk away and eat a little. 
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, February 8
Lun Lun had a routine ultrasound procedure today. At this time of year, these are done mainly to maintain her training. She did great as usual, holding the position for over 10 minutes. Dr. Sam Rivera, who normally performs the ultrasound procedures, joked that his arm usually gets tired before Lun Lun tires of holding still. Today was good practice for the busy year to come. Assuming that Lun Lun cycles this spring, we will be doing regular sonography after her cycle to monitor changes in her uterus and to try to detect pregnancy. The procedures are done weekly in the earlier part of a potential pregnancy, and then increase to nearly daily in the later period.
Rebecca Snyder, PhD
Curator of Mammals

Wednesday, February 6
The conversations Po and Xi Lan have been having through the tiny window in the training panel between the outdoor habitats are adorable. Xi Lan usually bleats and Po barks at first until he realizes it's a friend and then proceeds to chirp.  If they continue to show friendly behaviors towards each other, we will give them some time adjacent to each other with the howdy window exposed between the outdoor habitats. This is a mesh panel that we normally keep covered with a solid door. We can raise the solid door to expose the mesh and allow the animals to see and hear each other as well as have limited tactile access through the mesh. 
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Wednesday, January 16
So instead of the basic update on how the pandas, especially Po, are doing these days, I have decided to tell ya'll about Yang Yang and Xi Lan. Today, when it was time for the pandas 11 a.m. feeding, we had Yang Yang in Dayroom 1 and Xi Lan in the hallway. There was a keeper access panel (which is basically a window with mesh) between them. Both boys spent time at the window socializing for a few minutes. They bleated at one another, self anointed at the window, and ran around playfully and then returned to the window to see what the other one was doing. It was a lot fun to see them interacting with each other. 
Katie 
Mammal Keeper I

Monday, January 14
Today marked the beginning of step 3 of the weaning process. Po did seem to miss his mom this morning, but he spent time eating and playing as well. We gave him some extra attention and did an extra training session before lunch just to try to work on strengthening our bond with him. When it was time to reunite Lun Lun and Po, he knew it. She was sound asleep so we decided to bring him to her. When we opened the door they went right to each other and greeted each other. After a couple minutes they noticed their fresh bamboo and biscuits and started eating. Soon enough, he'll get the hang of independent living.
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, January 11

Wednesday, December 12
Today we were able to finally let a panda spend the afternoon in our off-exhibit habitat after a few minor last-minute habitat fixes. Yang Yang was the lucky guy who got first pick of the bamboo! We gave him access to Habitat 3 all day from Habitat 2. We were expecting him to head straight there first thing in the morning as it's one of his favorite places.  To our surprise he hung out in Habitat 2 and picked through the fresh bamboo we had placed there before he moseyed his way over to Habitat 3...where he proceeded to spend the rest of the day! It was really cute watching him walk all around the off-exhibit area and smell everything before he settled down and sampled the bamboo that grows in the exhibit like a real wild panda! Of course, in true Yang fashion, he picked bamboo to eat that was smack in the middle of dense patches of bamboo which proved a little difficult for him. But he prevailed every time (after a few annoyed vocalizations, haha!).
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Monday, December 10
I'd like to take a moment and give some props to the two non-giant panda critters we take care of: Marvin the Reeves's muntjac and Shandy the red panda...collectively known as Marvdy. 

Friday, December 7
We are almost ready to use our third, off-exhibit, outdoor habitat. We haven't been able to use it since early last spring mainly because of warm temperatures. As the weather has begun to turn cooler, we have begun preparing that habitat. We cleared out the weeds and the overgrowth from the summer and gave it a thorough raking. We made the necessary alterations and repairs and now all we need is a panda. The pandas seem to really enjoy being out there. It is overgrown with bamboo which the pandas love to demolish and devour. Xi Lan seems to think he receives more attention from us, even though he receives about the same as when he is in any other habitat. The only one who hasn't gone out there yet is little Po. Over the past week or so, Yang Yang has been not-so-subtly hinting that he wants to go over to that habitat. The only way for the pandas to access Habitat 3 is through Habitat 2, the one that is further from the building. Yang has taken to sitting next to the door that leads to Habitat 3. Or he'll pout on the rocks next to the door. If he sees any of us behind Habitat 2, especially if we are walking to Habitat 3, he makes his way to the door and waits. Unfortunately for him, we just recently finished our preparations and haven't yet put him out there. But he will soon get his chance.
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Wednesday, December 5
If you have been watching PandaCam lately, you may have noticed that we have been using a different hammock. This hammock is like one that the orangutans use here at Zoo Atlanta and is much lighter and easier to clean than the fire hose hammock. Although it hangs a little lower than the fire hose hammock, the pandas seem to enjoy using it just as much. Especially Po, who believes it is a new toy for him!  Well, guess who broke the new hammock yesterday? Yep, Xi Lan!  To his credit, he didn’t mean to and was quite surprised when it happened. Also, I think Po had loosened it up quite a bit while he was rough-housing with it earlier in the week. Yesterday afternoon, Xi Lan was playing in the dayroom and launched himself into the hammock from the climbing structure as he has done hundreds of times before. The strap gave way and Xi Lan landed not in the bouncy hammock as he expected, but on the floor! He looked around for a few seconds, and then ran on his way, unfazed. 
Heather
Carnivore Keeper III

Monday, December 3
Po is trying to steal the "Demolition Panda" nickname from his brother, Xi Lan. The other day while he was playing with one of his toys (a small ball inside a larger ball with holes in it) he somehow managed to get the smaller ball out. This toy has stood up to all the others, even the reigning " Demolition Panda," but little Po put the toy to the test. During a data collection session I noticed that Po was chewing on something. It wasn't bamboo or biscuits. It was small, green and round. We soon realized what it was when we saw the larger ball sitting nearby. Luckily when we shifted him and Lun Lun over to the other dayroom he didn't decide to take his prize with him. When we saw the smaller ball we noticed quite a few teeth marks in it and a few holes, and we figured if Po could do that, then the others could do worse, so we had to throw it out. But when we saw the larger ball, we noticed that it looked much like it did when we gave it to him. There were no extra bite marks, no cracks, no explanation as to how he got the smaller ball out. The smaller ball is just large enough to not fit through any of the holes in the larger ball, so who knows how he did it. It seems as though we have a little magician on our hands.
Shauna 
Keeper I, Carnivores

Wednesday, November 28
Good grief, Po is an eating machine! So far, he has a better appetite for bamboo than both his older brothers, so much so that we recently had to increase the amount of bamboo we offer Po and Lun Lun overnight. We had noticed that Lun Lun's weight was consistently on the low end of ideal in the mornings (although it never got low enough that it merited real concern). She was always eating and eating the bamboo well, so we deduced that Po was probably eating more overnight than we originally figured. After increasing their overnight bamboo amounts from 25 to 28 kilograms, her weight has started to increase. This tells us that the most likely reason for her drop in weight was that her little one was pigging out! We looked back in our records and saw that at around 2 years of age, both Mei Lan and Xi Lan were already weaned and consuming around 3 kilograms of bamboo overnight. This is why we bumped the overnight bamboo number up by 3 kilograms. And it seems to be working! But I wouldn't be a bit surprised if we have to bump it up again because Po's eating so well!
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Monday, November 26
The past couple of days, we have been having perfect panda weather here in Atlanta. The mornings have been in the 30's warming up to the high 50's in the afternoon. Because of this, the pandas get to spend all day soaking up the outdoors. Because of the limited number of outdoor display habitats, we have to keep one of the pandas in the dayrooms for the day, but they don't seem to mind it as long as the bamboo is fresh and plentiful. We end up rotating all three panda groups in the exhibits, so each panda gets to spend two days outdoors out of every three days.  We even try as best we can to rotate which outdoor yards they spend their day in. By doing this, the pandas all get to spend their days in different places every day.  We also rotate where they are housed at night. Speaking of rotating, the keepers even rotate the positions where we place the bamboo for them in both the indoor and outdoor yards. While our days are run on a pretty strict routine, all of this is done to keep the pandas as well as the keepers from falling into a rut. This all helps keep the pandas guessing where they will be going next and where the bamboo will be. A little mystery in your day is a good thing.
Kenn
Lead Keeper of Carnivores

Friday, November 23
Who knew it would be 70 degrees on Thanksgiving?  For the pandas, this brief heat wave means a little less time in the outdoor habitats and a little more time in their climate-controlled dayrooms in the afternoons.  Still, it’s cool enough for the first part of the day that we’re able to get them outside.  The other day I collected data on Lun Lun while she was with Po in Habitat 2.  It’s been a long time since I’ve watched them in that habitat.  Both of them were happily munching on bamboo for the first part of the session.  Then one of them got up, climbed onto the structure and went to sleep.  Initially, I didn’t even think about it, and assumed that Lun was continuing to eat while Po took a nap.  But I was wrong.  It was Lun who was draped over the structure.  That’s usually Po’s move, so I was surprised to see Lun on the structure.  Her nap didn’t last long, though.  Po decided he was full and that it was time to play with mom.  After some coaxing, Lun agreed.      
Megan Wilson, PhD
Assistant Curator of Mammals

Friday, November 16
Someone recently asked me if Po has become more brave as he has gotten older. Well, yes and no. During his recent birthday celebration he boldly attacked his presents and ice cake -- approaching them on his own while Lun Lun ate bamboo on the other side of the dayroom. This was certainly an improvement over his 1st birthday, when he did not even want to go into the dayroom once he saw all of his birthday items. Po only felt comfortable after Lun Lun inspected the boxes and ice cake.  Now, he also plays with any toys -- new or old -- without fear. However, he still gets spooked easily. One day last week, we were training Lun Lun in the training cage with Po in an adjacent den and when we were moving the cage around (it's kind of noisy), Po barked and climbed up into the tree limb, where he hid until Lun Lun came back into the den with him.  This type of behavior is fairly common in giant pandas, especially young ones. Even Yang Yang spooks easily if he hears an unfamiliar or loud noise.
Heather
Carnivore Keeper III

Wednesday, November 14
Things have been going very smoothly in PandaLand lately. The pandas have been loving their yellow groove (Phyllostachys aureosulcata) and eating it so well that they've been taking many naps, which is great! Normally Lun Lun can't consume enough bamboo, and so when she goes down for a nap we all dance a quiet jig. Pretty soon Yang Yang is going to start consuming massive amounts of bamboo in an effort to bulk up to impress Lun Lun next year. We'll see how that goes – she hasn't been too impressed in the past!  
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Monday, November 12
Things have quieted down a lot since all of the panda birthdays are over. It's nice to be able to get back to the daily grind and normal routine here in PandaLand.  All of the panda keepers (and all other keepers for that matter) are quite busy juggling husbandry and finishing our yearly goals. Every keeper here at Zoo Atlanta has a list of projects we have to accomplish by the end of each calendar year.  We create this list with our supervisors at the beginning of the year. Examples might be: create a new enrichment item; become cleared in collecting giant panda data; train one new behavior; create some sizable improvement to an outdoor/indoor habitat; organize/execute Zoo Atlanta's participation in International Red Panda Awareness Day; etc. Usually the goals are based on the individual keeper's interests and experience as a zookeeper. We enjoy having the goals because they help us grow professionally, and it helps to break up the monotony of our daily routine. (And I personally get bored pretty easily!) Hopefully the pandas are nice and sleep a lot so we can get some extra project time in… Ha! I doubt it!
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Wednesday, November 7
The weather in Atlanta is damp and chilly, which is just fine for the pandas. This weather reminds me a lot of the fall and winter weather in Chengdu. I spent some time bundled up collecting behavioral data on the pandas this week and it was very reminiscent of the months I spent doing the same thing in Chengdu. Unfortunately, I don’t have any wonderful Chinese tea here to warm up my chilly fingers afterwards. While I was collecting data, Po had a nursing session. He approached Lun Lun and whined and chirped for a few minutes until she sat down and let him nurse. So, she continues to be very responsive to him. Also during my data collection session, Yang Yang was sprawled out on the damp ground in the adjacent habitat having a nap. I wished I could be as comfortable as him.
Rebecca Snyder, PhD
Curator of Mammals

Monday, November 5
Saturday was Po's 2nd birthday and as with the others, he too received a cake built by Jen and a few hand-painted boxes filled with treats. Two of the boxes were filled with yummy biscuits, and one box had a brand-new toy that none of the pandas had seen before. When he was finally let into the dayroom, he went straight for the cake. After some quick investigation, he decided that the giant box next to the cake deserved his attention. Inside the box were some biscuits. He knocked the box on its side and crawled in grabbing biscuits one by one, pulling them out and eating them. After finding every biscuit in that box, he turned his attention to the cake. With a little help from Lun Lun, he was able to get to the "flames" which were actually flame shaped sweet potatoes. Since he had never received sweet potatoes as large as these, I wasn't sure how he would handle them. The simple answer to that is one bite at a time. After several minutes of gnawing, he finished one of the "flames." This is when he noticed a small piece of sugarcane frozen on the edge of the cake. He spent a few minutes on and off working on getting it free. After he was done with that, he discovered that he still had another sweet potato. After all that sweet potato, he was stuffed. He passed out on the structure for the rest of the day. He didn't even want to come in at the end of the day, that's how full he was.

Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, November 2
Po's birthday is tomorrow! Woot woot! While I love building their cakes, I'm kind of relieved that I'm at the last one - it takes up more time than you would ever imagine! 
 
These blistery, windy days have been pretty cold for a majority of the animals here at the Zoo, but our pandas love it! Every morning there is a "morning update" where each department or area gives an update by radio to the Education staff about whether all animals in their charge will be on exhibit or if someone(s) will be off exhibit due to exhibit maintenance, vet visit, etc. We also mention if animals are going out late due to pool cleanings or temperatures. In the summer usually all animals are out first thing, but not pandas! We're the only area that routinely has an animal off-exhibit all day, because we don’t have enough separate on-exhibit air-conditioned spaces to put all of the pandas on exhibit all day. After temperatures turn cold, though, we're the ones who are able to send our animals out first thing while most other areas have to wait until the temperatures reach a point where they can let their animals have access to the outdoor habitats. Even then their animals might be all "Yeah, it's too cold, I want to stay inside where it's toasty warm." But our giant pandas (and Shandy the red panda) are built for these temperatures so they're quite content to go sit outside and eat their fresh bamboo!
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Monday, October 29
Temperatures are dropping again in a few days. Soon mornings will be in the mid to high 30s. That's right, 30s. Luckily the keepers of Pandaland work with some of the few animals at the Zoo that love such chilly temperatures. They will definitely be putting their thick, wooly coats to good use in the coming days. Surely Shandy the red panda will also be enjoying the brisk morning air lying comfortably on her bridge. Unfortunately there is one little animal on the panda routine that is not a fan of the cold, little Marvin the Marvelous Muntjac. Being from the warmer regions of southeast Asia, he is not built for the cold. To keep him warm and cozy we do a number of things. We provide him with plenty of hay to snuggle up in. He also has a den box in his off-exhibit area that is blocked on all sides but one to keep the wind and the cold away. It also has a radiant heater for extra warmth. And on those extra chilly nights, we also provide him with a heat lamp. A few mornings when we check on him first thing, we see him laying right in front of his lamp keeping warm. The lamp in conjunction with all the above mentioned tactics will keep him nice and warm during these cold nights, and soon to come, days.
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Wednesday, October 24
It's that time of the year! The last panda birthday! And some might argue that we've saved the best for last - PO!  Our little tyke will be turning 2 years old on November 3rd. To celebrate, he will be getting some presents in hand painted boxes (compliments of his keepers) and his very own ice cake designed by yours truly! I've got the concept down and will hopefully be making it this week. Why so early you ask?  Well any expert ice cake maker knows that freezing multiple layers of water with food coloring or treats in a multi-tiered cake takes a long time! If there's one thing I've learned it's that you can't rush the process!  Po really enjoyed his mom's birthday cake so I'm sure he's going to get a blast out of this one! It won't be nearly as tall as the others have been, simply because it's for a smaller bear, and I like my cakes as tall as the bears they're for! Next year will be a challenge - not sure how I will out-do my cakes from this year! :-)
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Monday, October 22
The first weekend of Boo at the Zoo was a big success and each animal area helped with festivities.  PandaLand was no exception! We decorated the dayrooms/outdoor yards with "ghosts", carved pumpkins and even had a activity planned: bobbing for apples (or sweet potatoes in Xi Lan's case).  It's absolutely hilarious to watch the pandas try to figure out how to get their delicious treats from the water! Each panda has figured out his/her own way of completing this puzzle: Lun Lun seems to be a master at scooping the apples right out of the water and into her waiting mouth without missing at all. Yang Yang commits to a few feeble attempts at "scooping" with his paw (he sometimes doesn't like his paws getting wet) but gives up after a few failed tries and simply knocks the whole tub over and eats the treats that way - leave it to Yang to cheat if there's a way! Xi Lan's short attention span usually kicks in and he'll try scooping his sweet potatoes, walk off, come back and try again, walk off, and then maybe give it one last go. He usually figures it out in the end, though! Po has been the real joy to watch!  ast year everything was pretty scary to him but this year his confidence is really high and he's attacking his new enrichment with vigor! Playing in the water seemed more fun than "bobbing" as we saw many wet trails leading to and fro Po's tub. The "ghosts" are especially fun for Po as he's successfully "killed" every one he's encountered! Never a dull day in PandaLand!
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Monday, October 15
It's about three weeks from Po's 2nd birthday now, and Lun Lun is still tolerating all his pestering. She still gives up her food to him and still plays with him. Even if she was just eating or sleeping before he decided to jump on her, she will reluctantly play along. And just this morning (Sunday 10/14) I saw him nursing when I went to check them first thing. He is about half her size now, weighing in at about 46 kg this morning, mind you that was after his breakfast, so he requires a lot of milk to feel satisfied. But Lun Lun continues to let him nurse. We continue to monitor them for any behavior changes, but so far nothing.
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, October 12
Earlier this week I saw some interesting behavior in Lun Lun and Po. Lun Lun scent marked two areas in one of the outdoor exhibits. Po smelled the areas she marked and then marked over one of the spots. Giant pandas have a large gland under their tails which they rub on a surface to deposit scent. Adult females do most of their scent marking when they are in estrus. It’s one way a female lets males know when she is ready to mate. But females will also mark at other times. In captivity this often happens when an animal goes into a new enclosure or an enclosure that she hasn’t been in for awhile. So, Lun Lun may have been marking because the outdoor enclosures are still a bit “new” after the long summer of being indoors. Cubs are often interested in their mothers scent marks and they will often mark over areas scent marked by their mothers. The scent gland develops as a young panda matures. Po may not be producing a scent substance to deposit, yet, but he is learning an important method for communicating with other pandas.
Rebecca Snyder, PhD
Curator of Mammals

Wednesday, October 10
With the lovely weather we've been having lately here in Atlanta, the pandas each get a turn at spending the entire day outside in one of our 2 habitats. This past Monday was no exception; however, that afternoon I was bringing Lun Lun and Po inside for the night and things got a little hairy for a moment. Lun Lun was ready for her dinner but Po was zonked out in the moat on his favorite log that covers the storm drain. I remember when Po was much smaller, back before summer, he would crash mid-afternoon on that log and wouldn't wake up for anyone, including his mother! There were a few nights where it was a real struggle to get him to come inside and by the end of the ordeal both Lun Lun and keeper would be a little cranky. So needless to say, my knee-jerk reaction when I saw him passed out Monday afternoon was "Oh boy...good thing I'm not running late!" 
 
But then Po reminded me that he isn't a little cub anymore, because as soon as I hopped up on the boardwalk between the two outdoor habitats and called his name, he opened his eyes and looked at me and hopped right up and came inside without much fuss. It probably helped that Lun Lun was already halfway to her nighttime holding, bleating her head off for her little shadow to hurry up, but still! It's refreshing to be reminded of how cooperative Po is now that he is a big boy.
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Monday, October 1
Saturday was a very exciting day at the Zoo, because we had our annual enrichment day called Play the Animal Way. There were various activities throughout the day in which our animals received special enrichment items that they normally do not get on a daily basis. Examples ranged from our carnivores receiving cow hides and bones to our kangaroos getting a life size papier-mâché’ kangaroo on exhibit. A big shout out goes to our enrichment team for making it a great day! The giant pandas each received a papier-mâché box and a piece of our big yellow toy car. They enjoyed their enrichment items so much that today they are still playing with them. We hid some of Xi Lan's food in his box, and he still enjoys ripping it apart to find his food. He is so funny, but I think he has finally destroyed his box to the point that we can no longer put it back together.
Katie
Mammal Keeper I

Friday, September 28
Po continues to excell at training. He has picked up on "target" quite well. He has also learned "paw," both left and right, and "up." Occasionally he lets his short cub attention span get the better of him as he seems to not know what we are asking him to do, but after a little bit of reminding and re-asking, he figures it out and gets his yummy reward. He has also almost perfected "shift" as he occasionally beats Lun Lun in the door, and has also learned "bamboo," in which we ask him to eat some bamboo in order to receive a biscuit, which is very helpful when the pandas are not liking the bamboo we offer them. Future behaviors we hope to train him soon are things such as "down" and presenting his shoulder for voluntary vaccinations.
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Wednesday, September 26
Yesterday morning I was watching Yang Yang during data collection and he did one of the funniest things that pandas do.  He was sitting in the bamboo eating away and then – kurplunk! – he collapsed over onto his side.  No transition between eating and sleeping whatsoever – just munch, munch, munch, munch, flop.  It’s almost like something in their brains suddenly clicks and tells them “stomach too full, must sleep NOW!”.  It doesn’t happen often and Yang Yang is the one I’ve seen do it the most, but it always makes me laugh out loud when I see it.
Heather
Carnivore Keeper III

Monday, September 24
Our hearts go out to the giant panda team at the National Zoo for the loss of their cub. This is a reminder to us how very fortunate we have been and to enjoy every moment with our pandas. Po broke the 45 kg mark a couple of days ago.  He is almost half of his mom's weight and he continues to nurse! And she continues to let him! That's a lot of nutrients and energy he is still demanding from his mom. But Lun Lun doesn't seem bothered by any of this.  She may get up and walk around during a nursing session, but so far she always sits back down and lets him continue if he wants.  We continue to monitor their interactions carefully to see if there are any signs of impending weaning. So far nothing, but come January if she hasn't kicked him to the proverbial curb, we will start to facilitate the weaning process.
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, September 21
The mornings here in Atlanta are cooling down and we have been able to put the pandas in the outdoor habitats for at least half of the day. Yang Yang and Xi Lan are especially enjoying stretching their legs outside. Yang Yang has reclaimed his sleeping spot in the far habitat where he curls up and looks like a boulder in the middle of the yard. Xi Lan has turned back into the eating machine that we know and love (when it’s hot, the pandas eat less) and has been seen stretched out spread eagle on the climbing structures more than once. However, Lun Lun continues to prefer the indoor habitats and Po is happy to be wherever his mother is. Lun Lun doesn’t seem unhappy outside; she just stays happier longer when she is inside, so we oblige when we can. Happy pandas mean happy keepers!
Heather Baker Roberts
Carnivore Keeper III

Wednesday, September 19
Yesterday morning Po was being very adorable playing with the ping pearls that were hanging in dayroom 2. He was all sorts of silly, hanging upside down from the top of the structure and trying to yank the toy down. Then mom decided to join in on the fun. She played with Po by knocking him off the structure, and then they chased each other around. They were so cute!
Katie
Mammal Keeper I

Monday, September 17
Life in PandaLand has quieted down some since the bulk of the panda birthdays are over. Rest assured I'm diligently working on ideas for little Po's birthday cake! I'd love for him to be able to walk into his cake so we'll see if I can't create some masterpiece for him to destroy! 
 
With all of this beautiful morning weather, the pandas have all had ample time outside getting some fresh air in their outdoor habitats. There is a covered training panel between the two habitats that has become quite the social hotspot! At first Xi Lan and Po had quite the conversation (you can read about it in one of the updates below), but most recently Po was trying to talk to his dad Yang Yang through the steel door. He was making all sorts of cute little chirps with Lun Lun coming over to investigate what the commotion was all about. Yang Yang was on the other side, resting his head on a ledge appearing to just listen to the noise, not quite as excited as his son. The pandas don't have access to each other here, and can only glimpse each other through a very small gap. Either way, both boys were clearly interested in each other and it was a lot of fun to watch!
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, September 14
The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, birthplace of Yang Yang and Lun Lun and current home of Mei Lan, is offering a very exciting opportunity. The Research Base (as I like to call it for short) has partnered with WildAid to launch the 2012 Chengdu Pambassador Program, a three-month contest to engage giant panda fans on three continents in conservation and awareness of a beloved endangered species. The contest began on the Chengdu Pambassador Facebook page on September 7, 2012, and will continue through November 30, 2012.

The world’s most passionate panda fans (and I know that includes many of you!) are invited to start a PandaQuest on Facebook, where over a three-week period, 24 semifinalists from the U.S., the United Kingdom, Singapore and China will be selected to advance to the next phase. The contestant pool will then be cut to 16 lucky individuals, who will have the opportunity to travel to Chengdu to visit the giant pandas. Three finalists will then be chosen as official Chengdu Pambassadors. Winners will serve in this capacity for one year, and will have a chance to participate in a Global Panda Protection Tour in 2013. Enter the contest today at www.facebook.com/ChengduPambassador.

I had the great fortune to spend two years in Chengdu studying giant pandas at the Research Base and the Chengdu Zoo for my dissertation. After that I made many, many trips to Chengdu for several years with graduate students and keepers to train them to collect data for ongoing behavioral studies on the Chengdu pandas. Chengdu is like a second home to me and the pandas and staff at the Research Base are an extension of the Zoo Atlanta family. Lun Lun’s and Yang Yang’s mothers, aunts, sisters, brothers, cousins, and son all live there! I hope you will take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to experience Chengdu and the amazing work carried out at the Research Base firsthand. Enter the contest today!
Rebecca Snyder, PhD
Curator of Mammals

Red panda Hangout

Wednesday, September 12
Today was a beautiful day in Atlanta. The morning was in the low 60's and the afternoon temps crept up to the 80 degree mark. Because of the nice weather, we are able to exhibit all four of our pandas at the same time. We were able to put two groups of bears outside for the day, and the other panda was in the dayroom. The pandas have recently changed their tastes in bamboo, so we had to follow suit. They have been eating Rubro, Phyllostaychs rubromarginata, for quite some time, but have recently started disliking it. We have switched to two of our stalwarts to see if they will eat those instead.  Those two "go to" species would be Henon, Phyllostachys nigra henon, and Yellow Groove, Phyllostachys aureosulcata.  We haven't had too much success with the Henon yet, but the Yellow Groove appears to be a hit right out of the gate. They may eat the Henon tomorrow, and then again they may not. You just never can really tell with these guys. All we can do is keep trying it with them.  For right now, we can just stick with the Yellow Groove because as long as the pandas are happy, we are happy as well.
Kenn
Lead Keeper of Carnivores

Monday, September 10
As many of you know, yesterday was Yang Yang's 15th birthday. As with Lun Lun's and Xi Lan's birthdays, Yang also received a custom made ice cake designed by Jen and two hand painted boxes along with a few other gifts. The very colorful cake was about six feet tall with layers of sweet potato, apples, bananas and sugar cane with various scents added on later.

When we shifted Yang off exhibit to clean the dayroom and put the cake out there, he stopped in front of the cake when he caught sight of it and did not want to shift any further. He knew what was coming and he really wanted it. When he finally got the chance to get his paws on the cake, he smelled it top to bottom and then promptly knocked it over. In a show of strength, he broke a large chunk of ice off the cake with what seemed to be a small amount of effort. After further investigation of the cake, he decided that it needed some time to melt a bit before he could get any of the treats. It was at this time that he noticed the boxes and other gifts strewn across the dayroom. He spent a few minutes ripping into each box and searching through the hay to get the biscuits that were hidden inside. After snacking on bamboo for a while, he went back to the cake. It was then that he discovered the scents sprinkled on the cake. He rolled all over the cake and self-anointed for a long time. By the time I left for the night, he still hadn't found the sugar cane. So, he still had some surprises left to discover.
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, September 7
During my data collection session this week, I had the opportunity to observe Lun and Po in one of their outdoor habitats. It’s been a very long time since I’ve observed them outside, so it was nice to switch things up a little bit. It was also nice that day because I was able to observe some interesting panda behavior. Lun and Po were in Habitat 2, and Xi Lan was in Habitat 1. None of the pandas really seemed all that interested in the bamboo they had been provided, so I think they went looking for something else to do. Po and Xi Lan realized that they were next door to each other and proceeded to spend the majority of the session focused on that. Both pandas vocalized and Xi Lan often placed one of his eyes up to a very small gap in the door to take a peek at little Po. He alternated between peeking and sniffing, while Po remained pressed up against the door for minutes at a time. Lun was present for much of the interaction.  She didn’t seem upset, but frequently checked back on Po and even spent a few minutes looking through the door herself. This kept all of the pandas, and me, amused for quite some time. It was so distracting that I think the pandas even forgot that they didn’t like their bamboo!
Megan Wilson, PhD
Assistant Curator of Mammals

Wednesday, September 5
Two cakes down, two to go!  I, with the help of my fellow coworkers, am diligently working on Yang Yang's upcoming birthday ice cake!  It will look very different from Lun Lun’s and Xi Lan's, but still pretty big! 
 
On a side note, a couple of days ago we placed our large black plastic culvert in Dayroom 2 for some added enrichment for the pandas.  It's really cute watching a black and white bear climb up, over and into the culvert to get to his/her bamboo and treats we hide inside.  Po thought this was the coolest place to be and rooted around inside for quite some time.  Eventually he popped his head back up and clambered out of the culvert to find his mom.  The cutest part?  When he climbed back into it later and was joined by his mom.  Two pandas in a culvert! Ha!
 
On a third side note: happy early birthday to Mei Lan! He turns 6 tomorrow!
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Monday, September 3
There isn't much going on today here in the giant panda building aside from the normal rigmarole. All the bears are behaving themselves and are eating their bamboo well. That being said, I will let you know the current weights of all the bears. Before I give you those I would like to tell you that all the bears are weighed twice daily, once in the morning and again in the evening before we leave for the night. These weights can vary as much as 10 kg from morning to night, depending on how much bamboo they have consumed.  We use their morning weights as their actual weights since they haven't been stuffing themselves with bamboo for a while.  Yang Yang is currently 123.0 kg. Lun Lun is 98.5 kg. Xi Lan is slowly creeping up on mom at 87.5 kg, while Po is now tipping the scales at 43.5 kg. If you are curious what these weights are in pounds, simply multiply each weight by 2.2 and it will give you the conversion to pounds.
Kenn Harwood
Lead Keeper of Carnivores

Wednesday, August 29
After successfully executing the construction of Lun Lun's birthday cake, I was eager to start on Xi Lan's as this will more than likely be the last cake we get to construct for him before he heads over to China (date TBD). I figured hey, I learned a lot making Lun Lun's...this should be a piece of cake (pun intended!). 
 
Boy was I wrong.
 
This cake has fought being constructed tooth and nail! Layers haven't been freezing right, support poles have frozen all wonky, and on more than one occasion I sat there and had a quiet discussion with the ice as it froze trying to impose upon it the importance of this cake! As a panda keeper, we have to be meticulous with our daily husbandry, which naturally strengthens pre-existing OCD tendencies. Obviously this has spilled over into my ice-cake making skills, haha! 
 
But nevertheless the cake is almost finished, but unfortunately won't look identical to the sketch I made that's floating around.  Originally I wanted 4 tiers, but due to time and - more importantly - the weight of water as it freezes, Xi Lan's cake will only have 3 tiers. I hadn't anticipated this thing weighing as much as it does. 4 tiers would be rather difficult to transport from our Animal Nutrition Kitchen freezer to its end destination. But I highly doubt Xi Lan will care!  He's going to have a lot of fun with all of the frozen goodies and scents in his birthday cake to notice the missing tier. Plus there are his birthday presents decorated by the panda keeper staff.
 
So currently I'm 1 for 1. Lun's cake was a success, Xi's cake a minor fail. Now on to Yang Yang's cake! I'm gonna go start that now!  And most importantly: happy early birthday Xi Lan!!!
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores
 

Monday, August 27
As many of you know, Saturday was Lun Lun's 15th birthday. To celebrate we gave her an ice cake custom-designed and made by Jen. It was quite the cake. It had one layer of bananas and apples, another layer of Lun's favorite scents, and yet another layer of sugar cane. The cake topper was the number 15 made of bamboo with a piece of sugar cane hidden inside. Surrounding the cake were fresh cut pieces of bamboo. She also received three hand painted boxes as presents to open. Two contained biscuits and one contained a brand new jolly ball.
 
Both Lun and Po were really interested in the cake. They could smell the Listerine. They both went straight for the cake when they were let into the dayroom. Lun went straight to the top and investigated the entire thing. Po, too, was quite curious about it. After thorough investigation of the cake, Lun went to the box that was closest to her and opened it right up and discovered it had some biscuits in it. After eating all the biscuits, she went to eating the bamboo pieces that were around the cake. Meanwhile, Po did his own investigation, nearly getting all four paws on the cake to reach the bamboo numbers on top. He managed to knock the number 5 off the cake, which seemed to startle him slightly. He also tried numerous times to get at the bananas and apples, but they were too deep in the ice.
 
By this point Lun was trying to grab the bamboo pieces from the top of the cake and in doing so, knocked the cake over. Po again climbed on top of the cake now that it was on its side. Then something caught his attention. It was the smell of sugar cane in the 5 that he knocked down earlier. When he finally found the sugar cane, he picked it up and nearly ran to the other side of the room presumably to keep his prize from Lun. After a while Lun went to eating her normal serving of bamboo while Po gnawed on the sugar cane. When he was done he would run back and forth between bamboo and the cake, hoping it melted enough for him to get the fruit that was still stuck inside. At the end of the day when I was leaving for the night, I saw them both back at the cake self-anointing with the scents that were frozen into the cake. They had not yet discovered the sugar cane in the top layer when I left that night, but when I came in the next morning, the sugar cane was gone and Lun Lun was eating the bamboo that was used to make the layers of the cake. The cake provided them with many hours of entertainment and enrichment.
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Wednesday, August 22
As Jen mentioned last week, we have been keeping an eye on the forecast for the cooler mornings that have been predicted lately. However, until this morning, it has still been too warm to have pandas in the outdoor habitats. This morning was a little warmer than the forecast indicated, but cool enough for pandas to be outside for a few hours. Lun Lun and Po got that opportunity this morning! Lun Lun walked right out, but Po was less convinced. Once he realized mom had gone out and fresh bamboo and biscuits awaited him, he followed his mother. They happily ate for a couple of hours, enjoying the sights and sounds of the outdoors and then spent a bit of time exploring the habitats  I believe the last time we have put pandas out in the habitats was in late May -- it has been such a hot summer. I imagine that after such a long time there are many things to smell and investigate. Of course, Po had to make his way down to into the moat to check that his favorite spot was still there!
Heather Baker Roberts
Carnivore Keeper III

Monday, August 20
The other night I was setting Lun Lun and Po up for the night and cleaning up the dayroom that they just used. As I worked, I would periodically walk by the den that they were in and give them some of their biscuits. By the time I had finished cleaning the dayroom, I was out of biscuits but they were both staring at me expectantly instead of eating their bamboo. It was then that I saw the bottle of bubbles sitting on the shelf waiting to be used. I began blowing bubbles through the opening in the training panel towards Po who wasn't really sure what to make of them. When Lun noticed them she came over right away as she knew what they were and really enjoyed the scent of the bubble mix. When I was finally able to get a sufficient amount of bubbles into the den Lun Lun began self-anointing. Po became curious, and of course when he sees mom self-anointing, he has to also. He actually began using Lun to self-anoint by rubbing all over her. Lun in turn grabbed him and rubbed on him. The whole thing only lasted maybe 5 minutes but it was quite a sight to see.
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, August 17
We continue to see Po nurse regularly. Normally, the keepers see him nurse at least once during the day. This week I happened to see him nurse once in the morning and then again in the afternoon. Po weighs nearly 100 lbs. and Lun weighs about 220 lbs., which means he is nearly half her weight. It’s pretty impressive that she is continuing to nurse such a big “baby.” Po also eats bamboo well and his daily amount of leafeater biscuits will increase next week. He is a rapidly growing boy and he has a big appetite.
Rebecca Snyder, PhD
Curator of Mammals

Wednesday, August 15
I thought I would take a moment and brag about Marvin the Marvelous Mighty Muntjac. He is the Chinese muntjac that lives in the same exhibit as our red panda Shandy. Being a deer (and at roughly 18 inches tall full-grown) he is understandably skittish around anyone and anything new. Through lots of time, patience and lots of positive reinforcement we have gotten him to really come out of his shell over the past year. Before he wouldn't hardly come over to take a piece of banana (his favorite treat). Now he readily follows us around the exhibit and will 'target' to our fist for a reward. Even new people aren't as terrifying! I was recently able to train him to shift into his off-exhibit holding and get locked in - something pretty scary to do if you're a flighty prey species! This came in handy when our Horticulture staff needed to come into the exhibit and lay down a fresh layer of mulch on the ground.  To keep Marvin calm during this noisy process (and since there were a bunch of new people he's never met), locking him into his holding where it was a little more quiet and comfortable was very helpful. In case you were wondering, Shandy our red panda was comfortably resting in her tree during the the re-mulch, peering down and observing everyone with an air of regal royalty.
 
I am pretty spoiled with our giant pandas as they are amazing animals to train and learn very quickly. Marvin is a completely different story as a trainer needs to approach training a prey species completely differently than a predator species like giant pandas (ok I know they're in that weird gray area being classified as a carnivore that eats primarily bamboo but you know what I mean!). Tackling the task of training little Marvin has really helped me grow as a professional and he is continually teaching me new ways to approach training that trickles down into every other aspect of my job as a zookeeper.  So kudos to Marvin and all of his keepers! The next project with him? Training for voluntary hand injections for vaccines and physicals.  As awesome as Marvin is, I have no worries!
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores
 
Monday, August 13
As many of you know, in the summer, one of our pandas spends the day eating and sleeping in the off-exhibit dens in the building. The temperatures are too hot for the pandas to go in the outdoor habitats, and we only have two indoor (climate controlled) exhibits. Until recently, we have always had one of the boys in the back – we rotate them daily so the same one is not always the one on exhibit.  However, just last week, I asked about giving Lun Lun and Po the opportunity to spend the day in the back dens and was given permission to do so once a week. I know this is probably sad news for you panda fans out there, but so far, it has been a nice break for Lun Lun and Po. They have been in the back twice now and they both enjoyed it. The first time I moved them from their overnight dens to the other side of the building to spend the day, Po was a little confused! He has always shifted through an exhibit door in the mornings, so it took him a few minutes to go the right way. Once he realized he had fresh bamboo and biscuits in the den, he settled right in and tucked into his breakfast.  Lun Lun was unfazed – she’s done this before. Po has discovered a bonus to spending the day in the back – keepers are always running back and forth and that means he may get biscuits!
Heather
Carnivore Keeper III

Friday, August 10
Today was a good day in the giant panda building. The weather was actually cool in the morning, and we were able to let the bears go outside for a little bit to enjoy the fresh air before the Atlanta summer returned and they went back into their air conditioned dayrooms.  All the bears seem to be liking all of the bamboo we offer them, which makes for very happy pandas as well as happy keepers.  Without much to report, I will fill you in on their most current weights. Yang Yang is currently 125.5 kg.  Lun Lun is tipping the scales at an even 100 kg. Xi Lan  is at 87 kg, and Po is bringing up the rear at 43.5 kg. We looked back at our weight records and Po is exactly right on schedule along with his two brothers when they were his age.
Kenn
Lead Keeper of Carnivores

Wednesday, August 8
In this day and age, I hope our weathermen/women have gotten more accurate about weather prediction.  I say this because I was looking at Atlanta's extended forecast and noticed that on Friday and Saturday morning, the temperatures will (hopefully) be in the mid to upper 60's.  This is great!!  We might actually have a couple hours of low enough temperatures that we can let our pandas spend the morning in the outdoor habitats.  I can't remember when they were last outside but it's been quite awhile since the heatwave started here in the South.  And since it's been so long, the outdoor habitats will definitely need a little TLC and sprucing up, which is probably what Heather and I will be doing today.  But that's ok because I'm super excited about giving the pandas a change of scenery!
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Monday, August 6
So today, like everyday we had our Giant Panda Wild Encounter. As the education staff person was giving the tour of the giant panda building, I was listening to what she was saying about the different types of enrichment that we give to the pandas. One enrichment category that stood out to me was sensory. So at the end of the tour, we decided to show what the pandas do when they self-anoint with a scent. In one of the dens I put Tabasco and mouthwash on the floor. When we gave Yang Yang the den, he went straight over to the scented area of floor and started to roll all around in the Tabasco. He was so cute!
Katie
Mammal Keeper

Wednesday, August 1
All of the giant pandas have been spending more time sleeping lately especially in the morning. This may be because they have switched to eating more leaves. Our pandas are a bit unusual in that they eat bamboo culm most of the year and only switch to eating leaves for short periods of time. Giant pandas usually eat culm mainly in the spring and leaves the rest of the year. It takes less time to process leaves than culm, and so that may be giving the pandas more time for resting. This morning after waking from her nap, Lun Lun woke Po up to play. He was sleepy and reluctant at first, but after about 20 minutes he got into the spirit of things and had a good wrestling session with his mom.
Rebecca Snyder, PhD
Curator of Mammals

Monday, July 30
Today was my first day back after not working panda land in a long time. It’s nice to be back, especially in the air conditioning. Haha. All the pandas have been great today; Yang Yang was very playful this afternoon. He was grabbing his ping pearl toy, running back and forth with it in his mouth,  and rolling all around the den with it. After he was done playing with that, he climbed up the log we have secured in the back dens and was playing tug a war with a hanging toy in the den; he was so adorable. I love when he is that playful. Well, that's all that is new and exciting in panda land today...stay tuned to find out what will go on next week.
Katie
Mammal Keeper I

Monday, July 22
When training our animals in front of the public, we are routinely asked to "make" the animal do something. The training we do with our animals is completely voluntary on the animals’ part, and we cannot "make" them do anything.  We ask the animal to give us a desired behavior, and then it is up to the animal whether or not it wants to do it or not.  If it performs the behavior we asked for, the animal will get a treat. All we can do if the animal decides not to give me the desired behavior, is to withhold the treat it would normally get for performing the behavior correctly. Today was a good example of that. A frustrating one, but a good one. All of our pandas, including Po, have been shift trained, or in other words, will shift into a new area when we ask them to. Three of our pandas excel at this behavior, and then there is Po.  He really likes to rely on the "voluntary" aspect of the training.  When he wants to shift, he is great, but when he doesn't want to, good luck.  Tonight was one of those nights when he didn't feel like shifting.  At around 4:00, the keepers begin shifting the pandas around in order to have the pandas where they will be overnight. Today, Lun Lun and Po were in the dayroom with the teepee climbing structure, and everything was progressing normally for a good close. Both Lun Lun and Po were at the door, waiting to be shifted into their normal sleeping den. Upon seeing this, I got everything ready for them as fast as I could. Unfortunately, when I went to shift Lun Lun and Po inside, Po had decided that he no longer wanted to shift, but instead wanted to climb and sit in the climbing structure. I knew I was in for it when I saw this. I repeatedly asked Po to shift with no results.  I tried offering him his biscuits. I tried offering him his sweet potato.  I offered him fresh bamboo. I even let Lun Lun back out with him to coax him in. All of these attempts were to no avail. Po was still planted in the top of the climbing structure. All of this wouldn't be a big deal, but Xi Lan was supposed to be in this dayroom overnight.  We normally put Lun Lun and Po in other sections of the building, so we don't have to put bamboo out for them in a dayroom. We do this because of the enormous mess those two can make overnight which takes a very long time to clean up in the morning. Xi Lan and Yang Yang do not leave nearly the mess that Lun Lun and Po can, so we prefer to put them in the dayrooms overnight. It was now 5:00 and the exhibits were closing, and I was still trying to get Po to voluntarily shift to no avail. I was running out of time for the day, but I still had hope. I continued trying to get him to shift as I was cleaning the building.  By now it was 5:45 and I had to decide to make other plans for the night, as Po was still planted at the top of the structure.  By now I had conceded that he wasn't going to shift for me, so I set Xi Lan up with bamboo in the other dayroom and Xi Lan shifted out beautifully for me.  It is now 6:30, and he still hasn't moved a muscle. I guess he didn't want any training treats tonight.  This is definitely one of those times that I had to remain calm by repeatedly reminding myself that all the training is voluntary on the animal's part. I just hope he volunteers to shift for Shauna in the morning.
Kenn
Lead Keeper of Carnivores

Wednesday, July 18
Lun Lun has been very playful this past week. When we arrive first thing in the morning, she and Po are often already engaged in a rousing play bout. Additionally, every day this week, she has spent over half an hour playing with Po after breakfast. Yesterday, she even woke Po up to play with him.  He was so sleepy it took several minutes of prodding to get him interested in playing, but she persisted. It is nice to see Lun Lun spending more time doing leisurely things. For the past 6 months or so, she has only been concerned with eating – everything else was secondary. She is still nursing Po, but since he is eating a good amount of bamboo now, she does not have to sustain him entirely with her milk, so she doesn’t have to eat as much herself. Lun Lun is such a good mother and it has been a pleasure watching her rear her babies. I am especially excited to be able to see how and when she will wean Po. As of yet, she has shown no signs of weaning him, so it will be interesting to see what happens.
Heather Baker Roberts
Carnivore Keeper III

Monday, July 16
The other day Yang Yang got into another one of his playful moods. He was running around the dayroom and throwing around his toy. This time it was the ping pearls (the three balls attached to a piece of fire hose). He would climb onto the hammock and promptly fall off. He climbed all over the structure. He took the toy up to the top of the structure and was shaking it around a bit until he dropped it. He then went back to running around the dayroom like a mad man. He carried the toy around the dayroom some more stopping periodically to shake it and make sure it was dead. After he was done he decided it was snack time. After all he needed to replace all the energy he had just burned!
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, July 13
Well, it has finally happened. The bamboo team has determined that the stands of arrow bamboo need a rest for a little while. This means that we will have to get the pandas eating several other species of bamboo for the summer. Normally (if we can say that about anything the pandas do), the pandas eat arrow bamboo, Psuedosasa japonica, in the spring and early summer. During the hot months of summer, they typically turn their attention to a more leafy species of bamboo. We are currently feeding out Henon, Phyllostachys nigra henon, with success. We always need two species to feed out, however, in case they sudenly stop eating the main species, leaving us with no options. Right now, we have turned our attention to rubro, P. rubromarginata, to some success. They are all preferring henon, but are eating the rubro as well, which is good news. If the rubro doesn't work out, we will just move on to another species to try. We have about 25 species to choose from in the Atlanta area depending on available cutting sites. This is a normal progression in the summer months as the pandas tend to switch their taste preferences quite often during the heat. Sometimes we will find a species they will love one day, only to find out that they hate it several days later. Such is the life of a panda and a panda keeper. As of right now, things are going well and the pandas are enjoying both species, but if that should change, we will be ready with a new species quick as can be. 
Kenn Harwood
Lead Keeper of Carnivores

Wednesday, July 11
I was hoping for some exciting behavior during my data collection session on Po this morning, so that I would have something interesting to write. He and Lun Lun spent the first 30 minutes sleeping. This is not exciting behavior but it is satisfying, because I do like to see content pandas. A morning nap is not unusual for Po, but it is unusual for Lun Lun. She has especially liked her bamboo the last few days and has been filling up well and early, which gives her some extra time to rest. When she woke up, she bleated which roused Po. He climbed down to the hammock where he nursed. Then he and Lun Lun started a play bout. Unfortunately, my data collection session was over and I needed to leave to do some other work. Before I left I got to see Lun Lun balancing precariously on her back on the top of the climbing structure with Po on top of her in full play fighting attack mode. Time spent watching the pandas is always a nice way to start the day.
Rebecca Snyder, PhD
Curator of Mammals

Monday, July 9
Y'all might have noticed that we recently hung a hammock made out of a different material. This new one is made out of thinner vinyl, yet is just as sturdy as our older, and much heavier, fire-hose hammock. The fire-hose hammock is great, but a big pain to clean and it takes forever to dry. So we were able to get a new one and installed it over the weekend. We are curious as to how well it will hold up to the pandas. The first ones who got to inspect it were Lun Lun and Po. I wasn't here at the time, but my coworkers tell me Po had a crazy-good time playing in it, rolling around, acting like a goon! And apparently Lun Lun wasn't able to enjoy it as Po was rolling all around her as she tried to get in it. Yang Yang got it the next day and deemed it a suitable place to take a nap as he curled right up in it and dozed after he ate his breakfast. The real test will come, probably tomorrow, when Xi Lan gets to meet the new hammock; he is after all our demolition panda! If the hammock can survive Xi Lan, it's perfect!
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Wednesday, July 4
I had the pleasure of watching a long play bout between Lun Lun and Po on Monday. They wrestled for about 20 minutes on the ground and on the climbing structure. Po is getting big, but he is still no match for his mother. Several times he broke away from her and scrambled up the climbing structure only to have Lun reach up and pull him down again. In anticipation of this, he clings to the climbing structure with all his might and his formidable claws. A person would certainly not be able to pull him down, but his mother makes it look easy. Not only can she pull him down, she can also knock him off the structure with just one swipe of her paw. Although she might not look like she is being gentle when she plays with Po, she is. She never hurts him and she practices a hallmark of play, which is self-handicapping. That means that although she is bigger and stronger, she doesn’t use those advantages to dominate the play session. She self inhibits her strength and speed to allow Po to get in lots of paw swats and bites of his own. She also reclines a lot while playing, so that he can climb on top of her and target any area of her body for biting. This is just one of the many ways that Lun provides excellent maternal care.
Rebecca Snyder, PhD
Curator of Mammals

Monday, July 2
It was another scorcher yesterday in Atlanta, with high temperatures hovering right at 104 degrees. It is, however, a nice crisp 68 degrees here in giant panda land. These are the days that you are REALLY glad that you are a panda keeper. That being said, we were unable to put any pandas out this morning, seeing that it was above 80 degrees at 7:30 this morning. All four of the pandas got to hang out in the air conditioning and relax. The heat isn't totally exempt from the pandas’ day, as the hot and dry weather really affects the bamboo that is available.  When it is hot and dry the pandas tend not to eat the available bamboo quite as well as they do when it is cool and wet. They are still eating well, but they are always looking for better bamboo this time of year. Because of this, the keepers really need to get creative with different ways to make them eat the bamboo they have. This could be giving them their biscuits and fruit in puzzle feeders, doing more one on one feedings, or even offering more frequent, smaller biscuit feedings. The pandas will all eat the bamboo they have if it is in conjunction with a biscuit feed. All we need is a couple rain storms to swing through and all will be right again in pandaland.
Kenn
Lead Keeper of Carnivores

Wednesday, June 27
As Jen mentioned in the previous update, it is getting hot here in Atlanta. In addition to spending less time in the outdoor habitats, once the warm weather starts, the pandas sleep more often. This is a natural way for pandas to conserve more energy during a time when their bodies are trying to keep cool. Another way pandas conserve energy during the warmer months is by eating less, so their bodies do not have to work so hard digesting. We have already noticed our pandas falling into these seasonal patterns.  Even Lun Lun has been napping more frequently than she usually does (though, she is NOT eating less!). As bachelors, Yang Yang and Xi Lan have more leisure time to spend resting. Lun Lun still has to support a (rather large) cub, which uses up a lot of energy, so she doesn’t have the luxury of taking off too much time. 
Heather
Carnivore Keeper III

Monday, June 25
I hope everyone enjoyed watching my Google Hangout below! I had a enormous amount of fun chatting with all the kids from the different schools and camp groups! And boy did they have some awesome and intriguing questions! I look forward to many more Hangouts - hopefully I'll get to chat with some you who are reading this blog!

Everything in PandaLand is pretty status quo. Usually in the summer we can let the pandas be outside for a couple of hours first thing in the morning until it gets too warm. But for the past couple of days - and I suspect the next few - we'll keep them inside as it's already in the mid 70's at 7 a.m. These pandas are sensitive to the heat, as their wild counterparts live in cool mountainous areas of China. Once the temperatures reach 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit, it's too warm for the pandas and we bring them inside to cool off in our nice air-conditioned dayrooms and off-exhibit dens. The bears react to the hot weather differently. Yang Yang (our very melodramatic big guy) gets annoyed when it's too warm and instead of picking a shady spot (or the pool) to cool off while waiting for us to set him up with fresh food inside, he walks around and gets himself even more hot and tired! Silly panda. Lun Lun can tolerate the warmer weather much easier if she has yummy food to eat. If the bamboo is good, she almost seems oblivious to the heat; otherwise she's smart and finds a way to cool off. Xi Lan uses a bit of common sense and finds a shady spot to cool off and take a nap (he usually stays away from the pool). And that leaves little Po. He usually is down in the moat, in direct sunlight, panting away but doesn't want to make the big trek back up out of the moat and into the building. He'll sit out there for a long time even after we make it completely obvious that there's a way out of the heat! Lun Lun will even go down and check on him but he remains in his spot. Eventually he always comes in and relaxes in the much more panda-friendly temperatures in our dayrooms. At least he doesn't get himself all worked up like his dad!
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, June 22
Yesterday’s enrichment for the giant pandas was food enrichment. This means we offer the pandas a food item that they usually don’t get, or offer familiar food in a way that’s unique to them. Jen and I chose to give them frozen fruit and sugarcane. I placed Yang’s frozen apple on the drinker in the dayroom. He noticed it immediately when he went into the dayroom and grabbed it from the drinker on his way by. The apple was whole and he proceeded to take a bite.  But he clearly realized right away that there was something different about the apple. He pulled the apple out of his mouth without chewing the piece he had bitten and then took a close look at it. When he finally took another bite, it was very small and he chewed very slowly. I suspect it felt weird on his teeth, or maybe that he even had a little brain freeze! But Yang’s reaction was exactly what we like to see with that type of enrichment. He got to eat something he loves, but in a different way and it also increased the time that it took for him to process his food. 
Megan Wilson, Ph.D.
Assistant Curator of Mammals

Wednesday, June 21
Po is becoming a bamboo eating machine. He is spending more and more time feeding on bamboo, though he still fits in plenty of naps. Although he likes to take bamboo away from his mom, especially culm that she has already stripped, he is becoming proficient at stripping culm himself. He often companionably sits next to Lun Lun to eat, but sometimes he seems to prefer to eat away from his mom. He often carries bamboo up into the climbing structure, and the other day he snuck down from the climbing structure to eat while Lun Lun was taking a nap. I’m not sure why he does this. Lun Lun usually doesn’t take bamboo away from him, and if he waits until she’s done eating all the best pieces are gone. However, unlike his parents and big brother, Po is not choosy about his bamboo, yet. None of the cubs have been selective about bamboo initially. That has developed over time, and I expect Po will become more discriminating as he matures. He is still nursing, and so he might not need to be selective about the bamboo he eats now because he still obtains a lot of his nutrition from his mother’s milk.
Rebecca Snyder, PhD
Curator of Mammals 

Tuesday, June 19
Check out our panda hangout!

Monday, June 18
I am writing this update on Father's Day so I thought I would dedicate it to our proud panda poppa, Yang Yang. He is turning 15 in early September. He currently weighs around 280-290 lbs. Some of his favorite things to eat, other than perfect bamboo of course, are sugar cane and frozen treats such as banana and apple. When he eats them we can hear "happy panda" sounds. He also loves his daily ration of leafeater biscuits. Some favorite scents are Tabasco sauce, minty mouthwash, and cinnamon. When he receives these scents he will self-anoint, which means he will rub the scent, and anything it is on, all over his body.

Yang is a creature of habit. If we stray from his routine too much, he will let us know. If we have him on exhibit for a late-event, even if he has the best bamboo, he generally won't stay happy for long. He is used to having his night time bamboo at a certain time, and if he doesn't, he will remind you. He is excellent at training. He is very food-motivated, so training him is a breeze. He knows over 20 behaviors, all of which help us to provide the best care possible for him. He also seems to enjoy the keeper interaction that comes with training. So to our panda dad, we say, “Happy Father's Day, Yang Yang!”
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, June 15
Today has been the exact opposite of most of the days of the previous week. All of the pandas are relaxed and just loving the bamboo being offered to them. I don't know if it is because of all the recent rains, or if the bamboo is just from a different cutting site. What stand the bamboo comes from is apparently very important to the pandas. They may love the stuff from one stand, but won't touch the same species from another. It doesn't have to make sense to me, as long as it does to them and they are eating well.  Hearing them chomping away is music to the keepers’ ears. As I have said numerous times in these updates,"a happy panda is one that is eating well, and a happy panda equals a happy keeper."
Kenn Harwood
Lead Keeper of Carnivores

Monday, June 11
Today has been one of those yucky, rainy days here in Atlanta.  For the pandas, however, it is a beautiful 63 degree day without a raindrop to be seen. Aside from Xi Lan, who doesn't seem to mind the rain, the other pandas really dislike being outside in the rain. This is evident to us from their normal pleading at the door to be let inside at the sign of the first drop. Knowing this, I decided to keep all the bears nice and dry, and let them stay in the dayrooms all day where they will be much happier. This  is a good thing for the keepers because the pandas tend to eat much better when they are happy. A happy panda equals a happy keeper. While the rain may be a drag, it is actually really good for the pandas. It has been really hot and dry as of late here in Atlanta. When the weather gets hot and dry, apparently the quality of the bamboo really begins to suffer, according to the pandas at least. They really start to get picky about the bamboo in the long hot days of summer. With all this rain coming in today and tomorrow, however, the bamboo should be good to go, at least for a little while..
Kenn
Lead Keeper of Carnivores

Friday, June 8
We've recently started some additional training with Po. He is learning behaviors such as "target," in which the trainer places their fist against the mesh and Po puts his nose up to the fist, and "paw," in which he places his paw on the mesh. The training is completely voluntary and he is catching on quickly. Training helps us to better care for our animals by allowing us to see almost every part of the animals' bodies in a fun and rewarding manner. It gives them a chance to use their brains by thinking about what we are asking them to do, while also allowing us to get a closer look at them. The behaviors that Po is learning now are stepping stones to future behaviors. By using behaviors such as "target," we can train other behaviors such as "eye" and "ear." It will take some time for Po to learn the 20+ behaviors that his parents know, but you have to start somewhere.
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Wednesday, June 6
Not much to report in PandaLand. Xi Lan is pretty much back to his old self. I think he enjoyed being off exhibit where he saw us all the time, because he's been a bit reluctant to shift onto exhibit. Lun Lun is still an eating machine, but now she's having to contend with little Po, who tries to steal as many pieces of bamboo from his mom as his little paws are capable! Yang Yang is still lovable Yang Yang. All of the pandas are having second thoughts about the bamboo as of late; it's so hard to please these bears! They usually eventually settle down and decide that the bamboo is pretty good, so we're not too concerned.
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Monday, June 4
Xi Lan continues to feel better every day.  So much so that we felt confident enough to let him spend the day in the dayrooms where he isn't as easily accessible as he is in the off exhibit dens.  It was over my weekend, but I heard that he went crazy in the dayroom and was running around like a madman playing with everything he could get his paws on.  The mess this made was clearly evident the next morning when I tried to make sense of the bamboo that seemed to have exploded all over the room!  But it's a relief to see him acting like his old self again.  He's still on some medication but hopefully we're well out of the woods with his recovery!
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, June 1
In case anyone continues to worry that Xi Lan may not be a male – rest assured!  His testicles are now visible to the naked eye. During his most recent physical, we were able to palpate them, but they were not visible externally. It has just been in the last day or so that we have been able to see them. This is normal for giant panda males and one of the reasons it can be challenging to correctly identify their sex when they are young. So, even though Xi Lan is not a baby anymore, he still has hit another milestone in his development.

Further news about Xi Lan is that he received a diagnostic exam this week because he has been lethargic, not eating well, and has had some nasal discharge. The exam revealed that his nasal cavity is irritated. We don’t know what caused this, but he is receiving medication and has responded well to the treatment. He’s eating well now and acting more like his fun-loving usual self.
Heather
Carnivore Keeper III

Wednesday, May 30
Today was not a good day if you are a big, black and white bamboo eater. Apparently all the nice, fresh arrow and yellow groove bamboo is just not up to snuff today. They all really don't want to eat any of it. That is weird, because they have been eating thebamboo, cut from the same stand, quite well over the past few days. When this happens the keepers can employ several different strategies. One is to offer smaller amounts of bamboo, but offer it more often. The pandas tend to eat more bamboo when it has just been offered to them.  Secondly, we will perform biscuit feeds with the pandas. To do this, we will feed them their ration of biscuits and fruit, one small piece at a time. After a few small pieces, the pandas are required to eat some bamboo. This is actually a trained behavior for the pandas. This normally works well, as you can stretch a single feeding to last a while, making them eat more of the bamboo. Third, we will give them some frozen enrichment, such as an apple, or bamboo shoots. They will normally eat the enrichment and then start eating some bamboo. When all else fails, we will call the bamboo team and beg them for some different bamboo. That is what we did today, and apparently, the new bamboo they brought was just the right stuff, as the pandas dove right in and didn't come out until it was finished. It is so nice to see the day end with happy pandas once again.
Kenn Harwood
Lead Keeper of Carnivores

Monday, May 28
Po has been receiving sweet potato in his diet for about two months now and he seems to be enjoying it. Originally when we first offered it to him, he wanted nothing to do with it. His mom doesn't eat them so he wouldn't either; new things can be scary, after all. We offered him a small amount every day in order for him to work up the courage to try it. Then we decided maybe if we disguise it as bananas he would eat it and that worked for a little while until he discovered our clever trick. But it seems patience and persistence pays off. He has been eating the sweet potato quite well lately. We've been able to increase the size pieces we give him and we were gradually able to increase the amount he receives to the current amount of 100g. One thing I have noticed, however, is that he doesn't seem to like the end pieces as much. Often times, when cleaning up in the morning we will find leftover ends. Perhaps they are tougher or maybe not as good as the rest, who knows?
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, May 25
Po is now over 18 months old, which is when giant panda moms often wean their cubs. As I wrote in an earlier update, we are not going to do anything to encourage Lun Lun to wean Po this year. We are watching Lun Lun closely, though, to see if she shows any signs of starting to wean Po on her own. So far, we have not observed her refusing to let Po nurse. She sometimes doesn’t give in to his pleas to nurse right away, but she does eventually allow him to nurse. She is also still initiating some of the nursing sessions. At this point, Po looks like a big boy to still be nursing, but giant panda cubs do sometimes remain with their mothers for over two years. So, it’s not abnormal for him to still be nursing. We will continue to monitor Lun Lun’s and Po’s relationship and will keep you informed if we observe significant changes.
Rebecca Snyder, PhD
Curator of Mammals

Wednesday, May 23
Since there is nothing new going on with the giant pandas right now, I thought I’d take this opportunity to recognize our Bamboo Team. Our Animal Nutrition Kitchen employs four guys whose sole responsibility is to cut, bundle, and deliver bamboo. These guys are an integral part of caring for our pandas and other animals at the Zoo, like elephants and giraffe, who benefit from having their diets supplemented with bamboo. We communicate with the Bamboo Team daily about how the pandas are eating the bamboo and which species they prefer at the time. After they have delivered a day’s worth of bamboo to the panda building (around 300 lbs.), they go out to cut and bundle around 400 pounds of bamboo each day, regardless of the weather. I don’t know if any of you have ever tried to cut bamboo, but it is tough!  The sites they cut from are often treacherous and just getting through the dense bamboo itself to find pieces the pandas prefer can be tricky. We appreciate that these guys have a difficult job and we are grateful for their hard work! We would not be able to take care of the pandas without them!
Heather
Keeper III, Carnivores

Monday, May 21
Xi Lan seems to be going through a bit of a growth spurt recently. He has gradually been increasing in weight over the past few weeks. He is now around 88-91kgs which is right around the 200lb mark. While the pandas tend to be a bit lighter in the morning, I don't think it will be long before his morning weight surpasses 200lbs as his evening weight has. He's still got a bit of growing room to catch up to Yang Yang however who is fluctuating at the 280-290lb mark.
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, May 18
Today, Po has been shifting like a rock star. It used to be the case that he would never shift when we wanted him to.  I think it is finally getting through to him that when we ask the pandas to shift, they are normally going to get something worth shifting for on the other side.  When Po does shift, he normally waits a while after Lun Lun has already gone through, and then decides to slowly make his entrance. Today, however, he was racing mom through the door to get at the biscuits and fresh bamboo that were waiting for him.  He even managed to snag a couple of biscuits that were meant for mom. Don't worry too much about Lun Lun, though. She managed to snag a couple of biscuits that were meant for Po. It usually all works out in the end. I hope this trend of shifting well lasts, as it makes the keepers’ job much nicer, rather than having to sit there for 10 minutes asking Po to shift.
Kenn
Lead Keeper of Carnivores

Tuesday, May 15
We have definitely noticed a change in Po's attitude towards the keeper staff now that he is eating more solid food. Before he could have cared less about us and actually preferred to be left alone.  His big brothers were both the exact opposite. Now that's all starting to change. He is interacting with us more and more every day now that he's associated us with yummy leaf-eater biscuits and bamboo and sweet potatoes! It's really sweet and cute to watch him run up to the mesh in hopes of receiving a treat, whereas before he rarely would.  This is also perfect timing as he is approaching the age where we can start training him for more behaviors (besides shifting and getting on the scale). See, we aren't that scary after all, Po!
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Monday, May 14
Not much is happening in PandaLand.  All of our pandas are staying nice and dry inside the dayrooms and off-exhibit dens while Atlanta gets some much needed rain.  Shandy, our red panda, could care less if she gets drenched as she prefers to sleep at the top of her tree to wait out rain showers.  Po keeps wobbling around the 38-40 kg mark which is completely normal as he is definitely ingesting more and more bamboo and treats and defecating more and more.  Right now we only get his weight once a day whereas the adults get weighed in morning and at night.  I'm sure soon enough Po will graduate to a twice daily weighing.  We're all really curious to see if Lun Lun will start her weaning process on her own. This is new territory for us, and so we're keeping a close eye on her and Po.
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, May 11
Just when I thought Po was becoming an expert at shifting when we ask him to, today happened. He had been doing so well. He would shift out in the morning and come in the evening with very little trouble. Today however, was different. He went out perfectly fine this morning. At the mid-morning servicing he shifted great. At the end of the day on the other hand, he did not come in. He decided that he wanted to spend some extra time outside. He was nice and comfortable on his grate and just did not want to move. He was going to make the most out this cooler weather.
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Monday, May 7
I know we've mentioned bamboo shoots before, but I thought this was worth repeating. Pandas LOVE shoots. Any time we need to keep them occupied for a few minutes, we give them a shoot and they're content. Po is a shoot fiend. He steals shoots from Lun Lun. He'll eat any leftover pieces he can find. Even if he's in a deep sleep, he'll wake up for a shoot. The other night during Beastly Feast (the Zoo's black tie fundraiser), I gave Lun and Po a rather large shoot in order to keep them happy for the few extra hours that they'd be on exhibit. What I was expecting to happen was that Lun Lun would go right for the shoot, but to my surprise she went straight for the bamboo. Maybe she didn't see it. Po certainly did, though. When he saw it, he dragged it a few feet before he dug into it. My guess was that he was trying to bring it to the top of the structure but it was just too heavy and large for him. This thing was probably 7-8 feet long, at least 4 inches in diameter and had to weigh at the very least 15 pounds if not more. It took Lun quite some time to realize the shoot was there, but when she did, there was no pulling her away from it. At the end of the 3 or so hour event, when it was time to bring them in and set them up for the night, Lun came in happily, ready for her fresh bamboo. Po, on the other hand, did not come in right away. When I looked at the camera to see what he was doing, I saw him back at the spot where the shoot was nibbling on any leftover bits of shoot that he could find.
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores


Wednesday, May 2
You might have had the hilarious pleasure of watching Po interact with a new enrichment item given to him on Monday: a black plastic trash can. He was initially pretty wary of it, but soon came down to get the biscuits and sweet potato I had hidden inside. I was unable to watch him interact with the new toy after this point, as I had a couple of other cranky pandas in need of fresh bamboo. Thankfully though, right at the same time Rebecca came in to collect behavioral data on Lun Lun and got to watch Po become adventurous. He grabbed the trash can (which is a little bigger than he is) and hauled it up the climbing structure in Dayroom 1 to the top where he is usually perched. At some point the trash can then flopped over onto his head.  I am really bummed that I didn't get to see this but it was very evident that Po enjoyed the new toy because the damage was pretty extensive to have come from a 'little' cub! The next day I gave the trash can to Xi Lan (our demolition panda) who didn't fail to disappoint me as he proceeded to destroy the thing by using it as a perch! That poor little trash can never stood a chance!
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Monday, April 30
It's arrow bamboo (Pseudosasa japonica) season again! This time of year our giant pandas are typically eating this species of bamboo.  It's very distinct in that it only has leaves at the very top of each culm. This species tends to fill the pandas up more so we don't have to offer as much which is nice! The keepers have a love/hate relationship with arrow. We love that the pandas love it, but we hate how much of a mess it tends to make. Because the pandas primarily eat just the culm, there are more 'shards' (the outside green part of the culm that the pandas peel off) to pick up. Po was introduced to this species last year so it's not new to him. However, when it was offered last year, he wasn't eating bamboo yet so this is the first time he's gotten to try it and like the rest of the gang he loves it! Just now he ran over and stole a piece Lun Lun had just prepared. Now that he's getting older we're starting to notice a little more jostling over food between the two. Lun Lun lets him win some fights, but certainly not all as she routinely puts him in his place!
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Wednesday, April 25
If you have read my previous updates, you know that I love to watch giant panda mothers play with their cubs. My second favorite thing to watch is giant panda mothers and cubs eat bamboo side by side. Po and Lun Lun did just that while I was collecting behavioral data on them on Monday. Po is becoming more and more skilled at eating bamboo and is spending more and more time eating. He tried to convince Lun Lun to share a large piece of culm, which she had already prepared for eating by breaking and stripping. He reached for the culm and whined to his mother. She wasn’t convinced and continued to eat the culm herself, but he eventually managed to get a piece of it for himself. Lun Lun is expert at processing culm and can handle larger pieces than Po. He likes to take advantage of her efforts whenever he can. With continued practice and increased size, he’ll be as proficient at feeding on bamboo as his mom in another year.

By the way, when Lun Lun was a subadult and she and Yang Yang spent lots of time together, she used to swipe pieces of culm which Yang Yang had already stripped. She did it frequently and Yang Yang never seemed to mind. So, she’s used to doing the swiping and is not as good at sharing.
Rebecca Snyder, PhD
Curator of Mammals

Monday, April 23
All of our animals at the Zoo are weighed on a regular basis. This allows us to monitor their health and ensure that they are eating and getting just the right amount of food to maintain a healthy weight. The pandas are no different, only they get weighed twice a day, every day. This is because their weight can change up to 20 pounds in a day! The adults are used to this routine. They know they get weighed in the morning and in the evening and they usually go right on the scale as they know there will be a reward waiting for them. Po is slowly starting to get the hang of this. It used to be that we would get Lun Lun's weight while distracting Po with a biscuit and then just wait for him to walk onto the scale to see what Lun was doing. But now that he's a little more independent, he's become less likely to follow Lun onto the scale. Now to get his weight, we use the same method we use for the adults. We put some biscuits on the scale and shift him into the den while saying "scale." At first he wasn't really sure what to do. When I would shift him into the den with the scale, he would walk up to the mesh waiting for his biscuits. But recently it seems he has learned that there will be treats waiting for him and he'll make a beeline for the scale. Our little Po is starting to learn! And just in case you want to know, he's not so little anymore. Po's last weight was 37 kg, which is just over 81 lbs!
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, April 21
The older and bigger Po gets - he's over 80 pounds, people! - the more comical it gets when Lun Lun becomes frustrated with her baby. We no longer ask Lun Lun to "go get her baby" because Po is getting to big for her move on and off exhibit.

Well, let me rephrase this - we don't ask Lun Lun this anymore, but she will do it on her own accord and it's pretty funny to watch her trying to drag an unrelenting cub around who's fighting her the whole time. But if there's one thing Lun Lun has no patience for, it's waiting for a shift door to open when she knows yummy fresh bamboo is on the other side. She'll give one warning bleat and then she's on a mission to grab her cub even if he realizes she is coming and hurries after her - she still drags him! What's hilarious is when Po couldn't care less if he's being dragged and takes the piece of bamboo he's eating along with him on the 'trip'. Oh Po!
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Wednesday, April 18
There is not much to report today.  Everything has been going quite normally.  There was one thing that Po did to himself that made me smile, though.  As I was trying to shift Lun Lun and Po inside the dayroom for the rest of the afternoon, Po decided that that would be a great time to go back down in the moat to his grate.  I tried and tried to call him to come inside, but it was all for naught as he made himself comfortable.  Then suddenly, the sky opened up and it began to pour.  He then decided that his indoor climbing structure retreat would be a much better place for a little R&R than his grate.  I have never seen Po run quite so fast to come inside. 
Kenn
Lead Keeper of Carnivores

Monday, April 16
Pool season has begun with the pandas. With the warmer weather setting in, the pandas like to cool off with a little dip in the "cement pond.” This was illustrated yesterday by Yang Yang, who was put into one of the outside exhibits in the morning when the temperatures were quite comfortable. As the morning went on, the temperatures started heading up to the low 80's. This is beautiful for us, but it is a little warm for a panda. Especially one who is used to the air conditioning. He was fine all morning, right up until the time we decided to bring him inside because it was getting warmer. He also decided that it was just a little too warm for him as well. Instead of shifting inside for us, he decided to slip in the pool for a little relief. If you can picture someone completely kicked back and relaxing in a hot tub, then you can envision what Yang Yang looked like in the pool. He was even kicking his feet lazily as he was relaxing. He decided that ten minutes was enough time to relax, so he got out and finally shifted inside for us, dripping water and tracking mud as he went along. 
Kenn
Lead Keeper of Carnivores

Friday April 13
Is it fall already? What great giant panda weather we’ve had recently. The pandas have been spending a lot of time in their outdoor habitats, and are sometimes out there for the entire day. Po, as usual, has been planting himself in his favorite spot over the drain.  Fortunately for him, there’s a drain in each of the habitats! The other day I was surprised to see Lun Lun sitting next to him in the moat of Habitat 2. This isn’t one of her preferred spots, probably because there usually isn’t any bamboo down there. But the other day, Po had either dragged a piece of bamboo into the moat, or one had fallen down there and Lun was happily eating it.  I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen Lun spend time in the moat, aside from taking a quick walk down there or when retrieving a cub. I wonder if Po was worried that Lun was going to steal his favorite resting spot. No fear, Po, it’s still yours. Your mom just wanted the bamboo.
Megan Wilson, Ph.D.
Assistant Curator of Mammals

Monday, April 9
We’re getting to the time of year when we start changing the species of bamboo that we offer the pandas. Before, we were offering them yellow groove (Phyllostachys aureosulcata) as their primary species, the species they eat the best. And we were offering them henon (Phyllostachys nigra henon) as their secondary species, the species they don’t eat as well as the primary species. We always offer them at least two species to provide them with a bit of a variety and because they may eat one species better one day and another species better the next. Recently we switched to offering them bissetti (Phyllostachys bissetti) as their secondary species instead of henon. We are hoping to slowly phase out the yellow groove so that we don’t deplete our reserves. As with most other species, the pandas have their good days and their bad days. Some days they LOVE the bissetti, other days not so much. We also recently tried introducing black (Phyllostachys nigra) as a secondary species. The pandas barely even gave the black a second glance. We’ll keep trying to find a secondary species that they actually eat. Po doesn’t seem to care what species he gets just yet. When he’s hungry, he’ll eat it.
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Wednesday, April 4
Yesterday for enrichment for Lun Lun and Po, we decided to hang a tire to make a tire swing. I was hoping that Po would get into the tire and sit in it, but unfortunately he did not. Po and Lun did come over to check out the new toy, but that was about it. They were more interested in playing with one another, which I hope a lot of guests got to watch because it was really funny.
Katie
Mammal Keeper I

Monday, April 2
It's bamboo shoot season! Nothing makes me happier than seeing young bamboo sprouting from the ground. Giant pandas (and red pandas and a lot of other critters) LOVE bamboo shoots. They're easy to tell apart from the mature bamboo the pandas get because they're covered in a protective sheath and they're pretty 'flimsy'. As far as I know, these pandas don't discriminate against bamboo shoots based on species and the time of year (like they do with the mature version). Shoots are full of water and contain lots of sugar because the young plant is trying to grow. Pandas love sugar [energy]; thus, pandas love shoots! We harvest them (as well as our team that harvests bamboo daily off-grounds) from certain areas around the zoo as long as they have not been in any other animal exhibit and only after they've reached a certain height as some species contain high levels of toxins in the early stages of growth.  We're very careful, though, not to harvest too many shoots because then we wouldn't have any mature bamboo to harvest in the future! Our pandas love them so much we usually feed them out at night. Given the option, our guys would love to feast on these instead of the mature bamboo. Normally we would allow for this, as pandas in the wild will munch on shoots almost exclusively in the spring. But since we're careful about how much we harvest, we simply don't have enough to give to the pandas as their primary source of food. Little Po seems to love them just like the rest of his family - I had to wait for over 10 minutes for the little guy to shift onto exhibit this morning because he found a piece his big brother Xi Lan left and refused to pass the tasty treat by. Oh Po...
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, March 30
On Wednesday, I was collecting data on Po. About half-way through my session, Lun Lun and Po started playing. They had a really long play bout (over half an hour) and I enjoyed getting to watch them. Lun Lun especially was extremely wound up – chasing Po and even doing a few of somersaults and flinging a ball around. It is rare to see Lun Lun that playful. She is so busy eating to keep up her energy to be able to take care of Po, she does not take much time to enjoy herself. It makes me feel good when she is sated enough to expend a little energy playing.
Heather Baker Roberts
Carnivore Keeper III

Wednesday, March 28
On Monday when I was watching Lun Lun and Po for data collection, I thought I was going to get lucky and see a play session. Po woke up from a nap and followed his mom around for awhile swiping and biting at her back legs to try to entice her to play. She stopped a few times to interact with him briefly, but her focus was clearly on food. As soon as the keepers gave her some fresh bamboo, she settled down to eat and easily fended off Po’s play invitations. Po then had to make do with his toys. First, he tackled his weeble a few times. This is a weighted cylinder, which rocks back and forth but cannot be knocked over. We have a really big one that Yang Yang likes very much and we have a small one that is just right for Po. It’s not as good as playing with mom, but at least it sort of “fights back”. Next Po played with his ball. He chased it, hugged it, and reclined on his back holding it with all four paws. After all that play, he found a tasty piece of bamboo, which he carried onto the climbing structure to eat.
Rebecca Snyder, PhD
Curator of Mammals

Monday, March 26
So I've been working here a few months and have started noticing differences in the personalities of the giant pandas. Yang Yang, for example, seems to enjoy interacting with his keepers. He also seems to love the training sessions as it combines two of his favorite things, interacting with the keepers and eating his biscuits. As with all the animals here, we use positive reinforcement in order to train all the behaviors. When the animal does the behavior we ask, he/she gets a reward and in the case of the giant pandas the reward is his/her biscuits. Also, when eating bamboo and biscuits for that matter, Yang eats slowly and calmly.

Lun Lun is a different story. She is all about food, she still has to feed Po after all. She tears through her bamboo, trying to consume it as quickly as possible. And she seems like she is never full, like a bottomless pit. She isn't as interested in keeper interaction, unless it involves biscuits. When training, she wants us to go quickly so she can get her biscuits quickly. If we don't go fast enough, she'll just walk away.

Xi Lan seems to love the keeper interaction regardless of whether there is food involved. He's very playful and tries to get us to play with him by calling to us using a bleat vocalization which sounds similar to the bleat of a goat or sheep. He seems to love his toys as I always see him playing with them at least once a day. He isn't as good at training as his parents, yet, but he is still young. He's like his dad when he eats bamboo, slow and calm. Po is not interested in keeper interaction, unless of course, we have biscuits. He will come up to us to see if we have anything for him and if we don't he will just walk away. He's too young for more complex training; we are still working on mastering "shift" with him. When eating bamboo, he will try to pull a piece to the top of the structure if he is in one of the dayrooms. He is not quite strong enough to break the large pieces like the adults do. So, he sticks with the leaves and the small stems. As one might imagine, he loves to play, usually when Lun is trying to sleep.
 
On an unrelated note, Happy Birthday to my younger brother!
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, March 23
We have recently started offering Po sweet potato along with his biscuits. Initially, he refused to take the sweet potato. Then he took it from us, but spit it out. So, we started smearing a little banana on the sweet potato. This tricked him for a few feedings, but then he started sucking the banana off of the sweet potato and spitting it back out again. Just today he actually consumed a few pieces of the sweet potato without banana. Time will tell whether he will take after his mother and dislike sweet potato permanently.
Heather
Carnivore Keeper III

Wednesday, March 21
Hello everyone! My name is Ryan and I have just been trained to work in the panda area. I am currently a carnivore keeper working primarily with the meat-eating carnivores (e.g., the lions, tigers, etc.). Today was my first day preparing the exhibits and shifting the pandas onto exhibit on my own. Thankfully everyone cooperated and everything went smoothly. It being my first time back in the area in two weeks since I was first trained, it took me a minute to distinguish Xi Lan from Yang Yang. But as soon as I saw the Mickey Mouse ears I knew it was Yang.
Ryan
Keeper II

Monday, March 19
If you've been able to visit the Zoo or caught the sight on PandaCam, you might have noticed a new (and to Po, annoying) addition to the storm drain grates in the outdoor habitat moats. Po, as well as every other cub born here, loves these grates and likes to spend practically his entire day outside laying on top of them. We think the cubs like the sounds, smells, and drafts associated with the drains. To try and dissuade him from spending the long hours in one spot, I have cleverly placed several branches on top of the grates. Upon noticing the invaders for the first time in Habitat 2, Po spent about 5 minutes trying to push the heavy branch off. When that didn't work he tried to see how much of his 70+ pound body he could squeeze in the 5 inch gap between the branch and grate. When he gave up on that pointless endeavor, he started ripping off pieces of the bark and walking off camera with them. What he did with those pieces I'll never know, but I couldn't help but giggle at his determination. He eventually gave up after ripping a few pieces of the bark off and did exactly what I had wanted him to do all along - fall asleep on the structures we built for the pandas where he is easily visible to the public, not tucked away in some obscure corner.
 
However, later on in the day, much to my dismay, I found the little tyke passed out on the grate. Actually, only his rear end was on the grate as that was the only part he could fit on it. Oh well, back to the drawing board!
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, March 16
With the weather getting warmer, we have to start making some adjustments to the pandas' routine. Pandas love the cold, and they cannot handle very warm temperatures. They have thick, wooly fur to protect them from the cold, but having all that fur in the summer isn’t helpful. In order to keep our pandas cool we've done a few things differently. We've filled the pools in the outdoor yards in order to give them the opportunity to cool themselves off with a nice dip in the pool. We've also moved the Chillspot mentioned in an earlier post to one of the outdoor habitats where it will be of better use than in the dayrooms. We also, depending on the temperature, will give them access to an indoor area to get some relief from this early start to spring.
 
On a completely different note, Happy Birthday Dad!
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Wednesday, March 14
When I collected data on Monday I saw Po nurse. I rarely see nursing during data collection these days, because Po only nurses once or twice during the day. His nursing bouts are usually 15-20 minutes long and don’t occur at the same time each day. Prior to this bout, Po was sleeping on the grate in the moat (of course) and Lun Lun was eating bamboo. She stopped eating, then walked around the habitat bleating for several minutes. That didn’t rouse Po, and so she went into the moat and nuzzled him. That woke him up, but he was still slow to follow her. After a few more minutes of walking and bleating by Lun Lun, he came out of the moat, followed Lun Lun, and then she sat down and nursed him. After nursing, Po went back to sleep and Lun Lun went back to eating.
Rebecca Snyder, PhD
Curator of Mammals

Monday, March 12
I'm not sure about you guys, but before I started working with pandas, I had no idea how picky they were. One day they like a species of bamboo, the next day they don’t. They like bamboo harvested from location A and dislike the same species of bamboo harvested from location B.  They like a couple pieces from one bundle, but not the rest. The bamboo looks perfect to us keepers, nice and green and full of leaves. Clearly, they sense something that we cannot. That is why we offer them multiple species of bamboo each day. Another thing Lun Lun is picky about are her apples. She does not like green apples. Maybe they are too tart for her? And just the other day we opened up a new bag of leafeater biscuits and Po would not touch them. He usually tries to steal some from Lun, but not this bag. Even Xi Lan hesitated before he ate the biscuits. Picky, picky pandas.
Shauna
Keeper I, Mammals

Wednesday, March 7
You might have noticed a new addition to one of our dayrooms! A big, strange retangular-looking-thing? Yep! That thing! It's called a Chillspot and it was donated to us (and hopefully other animals areas!) for our pandas to - you guessed it - chill out! There are four compartments within the outer casing that can hold two ice packs each (filled with harmless saltwater). It's anchored into the ground and has a latch that prevents the pandas from getting to the ice packs (or destroying the whole thing because that's standard procedure for Xi Lan). It's in the trial phase currently but everything seems to be going well.  We intend to use these outside this summer to give the pandas yet another option to cool off on those warm summer days. In the past we've given big ice blocks but those melt quicker than this thing will. So far the pandas definitely seem to enjoy it! We even saw little Po sprawled across it, cooling off his cute little belly. He usually won't go near anything new until after he's watched his mom inspect it and he deems it safe to approach. He's such a baby.

On a side note, Po has recently discovered that brown packing paper is quite possibly the coolest thing to play with. He was barreling around the dayroom, up and down the structure, dragging a big, long piece of it. Silly panda.
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Monday, March 5
Po has just shot up in weight recently. He is just under 70 lbs., and I suspect that at the rate he's been growing lately, it won't take that long to reach and exceed that 70 lb. mark. Just to give you an idea of how much he's grown, when I first started in January, he was just about 55 lbs. He devours his allotment of red leafeater biscuits, and even tries to steal some from his mom. Any time he can sneak an apple away from Lun Lun, he does. He's also been gobbling up bamboo like crazy. He also still nurses every once in a while. It's amazing how he can put all that food in his little belly.
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, March 2
Yesterday, Xi Lan received his first physical exam under anesthesia. Xi Lan allowed the veterinarian to inject the immobilization drug into his hip and he calmly and quickly fell asleep. I have been working with Xi Lan to allow voluntary injections for the past few weeks, so I was very pleased that it went so well. The difficult part about training pandas for this behavior is that on the day of the actual injection, they cannot have any food before the anesthesia (sometimes the anesthesia can cause nausea so it is best to not have food in the stomach). That means they have to cooperate without a treat! I was so proud of Xi Lan for presenting his hip and holding still for the injection without getting a food reward. His physical went very smoothly and he is a healthy panda. 
Heather
Carnivore Keeper III

Monday, February 27
Sunday was an entertaining day to be a panda keeper. All the pandas received boxes which were painted by a group from our overnight education program, NightCrawlers. The boxes, which are used as enrichment, contained some leafeater biscuits. Enrichment is a way for us to provide our animals with something new to do. It encourages the animals to problem solve to figure out what this new thing is. And it stimulates them to use all their senses as well. Each panda reacted differently to his/her box. Yang Yang tore right into the box and gobbled up his biscuits, spending only a couple minutes exploring the box before going to his bamboo. Xi Lan stuck his head in the top and it came out the bottom as he was scooping up his biscuits. He spent a couple minutes doing that, then he went to his bamboo, but occasionally returned to his box. Lun Lun knocked hers over and tried to eat as many biscuits as she could before Po could get to them. She spent only enough time to search for her biscuits before going for her bamboo.

Po was a different story. He first tried to find the biscuits that Lun Lun missed. He then explored these strange new additions to his exhibit by smelling them. After deciding that they weren't a threat, he realized that boxes make fantastic toys! He pounced on them and ripped them apart. He also tried as hard as he could to carry the boxes to the top of his climbing structure all to no avail. Every time he tried, he would drop it, so he'd climb back down and try again. After a while, he got frustrated and would rip pieces off. It was all great fun which lasted a couple of hours. After all that excitement was over and he filled his belly with bamboo, he fell asleep atop his structure.
Shauna
Keeper 1, Mammals

Monday, February 20
I'm constantly reminded of just how big Po is getting on a daily basis. Let me explain: one way to get  to Dayroom 2 if you're a panda is to walk through our training cage run. This is simply a tunnel that all of the pandas go through to get from Den 4 to Dayroom 2. This run contains the mobile training cage that we use for training for various veterinary procedures. Po doesn't go this route as often as his big brother and dad do. So we take advantage of any opportunity to get Po used to walking through the training cage as a prep for when he will get trained to remain stationary within it for certain procedures. So we were shifting Lun Lun and Po through this run the other day.  It's a lot of fun to play around and sniff everything if you're a cub, but after a lot of coaxing, he shifted all the way into dayroom.

As a reward, we offered him a couple of red leafeater biscuits at the keeper access panel on the door that goes into the dayroom (if you're a human). I was a little taken aback when all of a sudden Po's face just appeared at the mesh, ready for his treats. It wasn't that long ago when his front paws could barely reach the keeper panel when he was standing on tip-toe! I also remember when he was small enough that he was able to shimmy his way under the training cage instead of walking through it. Thankfully he doesn't try to do that anymore because he simply couldn't fit!
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, February 17
As we have mentioned in previous updates, Yang Yang, Lun Lun, and Xi Lan are all trained for voluntary blood draw. It is very valuable to be able to collect blood from the giant pandas voluntarily for a few reasons. The most important being that if an animal shows signs of illness one of the most useful initial diagnostic steps is to collect a blood sample and test it. Often this can help the veterinarians determine the cause of the illness and develop a treatment plan. Because the giant pandas are trained for blood collection, we don’t have to anesthetize them to collect blood. That means we don’t have to put them through the stress and risk of anesthesia, particularly when they are already ill.

Fortunately, our giant pandas are very healthy. But we still collect blood samples from them regularly for one of the studies in our research program. The purpose of this study is to establish reference ranges for essential vitamins and minerals (i.e., vitamins A, E, and D as well as trace minerals). These essential vitamins and minerals affect the physiological state of the individual when the levels are above or below the optimal range. Currently, the optimal range is unknown for giant pandas and that is what we are trying to determine.

Lun Lun and Xi Lan had blood samples collected yesterday and Yang Yang will have a sample collected today. They all participate in this willingly for a reward of biscuits and produce. The collection takes place in the panda’s indoor den and he/she can refuse to participate or can choose to leave the training area at any time. The only consequence for not participating is that he/she doesn’t receive the food reward during that session. But he/she will still receive that food sometime later in the day. It is extremely rare for the giant pandas to refuse a training session or choose to leave during one. They enjoy the interaction with their keepers and the food they receive and, if having some blood drawn is part of that, they don’t seem to mind. When Po is a little older, he will also be trained for voluntary blood draw.
Rebecca Snyder, PhD
Curator of Mammals

Monday, February 13
For the first day in months Lun Lun and Po had access to Habitat 2. We were worried that little Po might get scared going through the tunnel that leads to the habitat because he has never gone through it, but Po went through like it was nothing new. They both seemed really excited to be in this habitat. They explored the entire exhibit for hours in between bouts of snacking on bamboo. There were so many new scents and new places to climb and explore. I frequently checked on them, and almost every time I did, Po was exploring a different area. But, as pandas frequently do, it was finally time for a nap and of course Po found the drain in the moat as he does in Habitat 1. When it was time to come in at night, they both came right in. Po is really starting to get good at shifting in at night.
Shauna
Keeper I, Mammals

Wednesday, February 8
Normally these updates are about the giant pandas, but I wanted to give a quick shout-out to Shandy our red panda.  She's pretty awesome! As Megan mentioned awhile back, we've been working hard on getting her comfortable coming into a crate and staying relaxed for when she will go to the vet clinic to get her physical exam. It's the breeding season for red pandas and, although Shandy is not recommended for breeding, she still experiences the behavioral changes and so she's super active. We use this opportunity to train with her as much as possible since it's the time of year when she's most willing to participate with training (the rest of the year she's a little more lazy). Well she has been a training rockstar!  You should definitely come by and see her in the mornings because she's a walking machine!  She's been busy every morning inspecting every nook and cranny of her exhibit (territory) to make sure it's 'all in order'. Marvin the muntjac (her roommate) is a little unnerved with her sudden bout of activity, but he's getting used to seeing her on the ground at his level. Thankfully they still get along!
 
On the giant panda side of things, we're gearing up to change out the mulch in both dayrooms. The mulch is a couple of feet thick so it'll be a fun adventure shoveling everything out and putting fresh mulch in, but the dayrooms will look and smell so nice afterwards! Plus, talk about enrichment for the giant pandas! So many new smells!  We'll also be working on replacing some of the logs that make up the climbing structure in Dayroom 2 (the teepee structure) that are starting to show some wear and tear. You'll also notice some new enrichment additions to that structure within the next couple of months, with any luck!
Jen
Keeper I, Mammals

Monday, February 6
Hello All! For those of you anxiously awaiting word about how Po's vaccinations went, here it is! Everything went well! We did not even need to restrain him. He was sitting on a climbing structure in his den with his hip (which is where the vet gave the injections) right up against the mesh. So, we distracted him with some biscuits while the vet injected him. He didn't even flinch! Afterwards we rewarded him with plenty of biscuits. Though, like a young child after injections, he went to the corner and pouted a little bit. But no worries, minutes later he was up and back to being normal Po!
Shauna
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, February 3
For our previous cubs, Mei Lan and Xi Lan, February was when we started the weaning process because they were nearing 18 months of age, which is the species-typical age for giant panda weaning. That’s not the plan for Po. He was born unusually late in the year for a giant panda (November 2010), and so he will not be 18 months old until May. If we started the weaning process in May, it would be too late to expect Lun Lun to cycle in spring, which is the normal giant panda breeding season. Giant pandas do occasionally breed outside of spring, but it’s not the norm for the species and we would prefer for Lun Lun to stick to the normal schedule. So, we are not planning do anything to wean Po this year. Giant panda cubs in the wild sometimes stay with their mothers for up to 2.5 years. Our plan is for Po to have this extra time with his mom. We won’t start the weaning process until January or February 2013. However, Lun Lun might have a different plan. She might decide to wean Po this year on her own. That’s okay and we’ll let her make that choice. It will provide a nice case study for us to document that weaning process. We are prepared for whichever scenario Lun Lun chooses and it will be interesting to see what happens. I am happy for Po that he gets some extra time with his mom. I hope you will be happy for him too and won’t be too disappointed if we don’t have another cub until late summer or early fall of 2013.
Rebecca Snyder, PhD
Curator of Mammals

Wednesday, February 1
I don't know what is going on with the weather this winter, but I am not complaining. It has been unseasonably warm for January and now February. It is a perfect temperature for both giant pandas and keepers alike. We were able to get everyone outside today to enjoy the nice weather. Lun Lun got to spread her bamboo all over the exhibit and fall asleep on the climbing structure. Yang Yang enjoyed munching on all the bamboo we gave him and then sacked out on his favorite log. Xi Lan was as content as he could be in the off-exhibit area. The pandas have pretty much eaten all the bamboo that is growing in that yard, so we had to provide him with an ample supply. Po, as usual, played with mom for a while, ate a little bamboo, and then assumed his position over his favorite storm grate. That is, until it started to rain at about 3:00. That's when everyone decided that they preferred in the indoor dayrooms. Oh well. I guess good things can't last forever. 

For those of you curious about Po's weight. He has just surpassed the 60-pound mark. They grow up so fast.
Kenn
Lead Keeper of Carnivores

Monday, January 30
Well, it seems that we are finally getting a couple of nice sunny days at the Zoo and so our pandas are able to be outside, unlike the last couple of days where it has rained or we have had thunderstorms. Yesterday, we had Yang Yang and Xi Lan out all day and they quite enjoyed themselves. They destroyed their bamboo, which is good for us, because that means that they like it, and they slept a lot, too, which is typical panda behavior. I hope that we continue to have this beautiful weather not just for the pandas, but for the rest of our animals too. Oh and for the keepers; we love it when it is nice and sunny!
Katie
Mammal Keeper I

Friday, January 27
Hi everyone! I'm Shauna the new panda keeper in the mammals department. I'm new to Georgia and have not taken care of giant pandas before, so this will be a great learning experience for me. Giant pandas require more care and attention than any other animals I've cared for before, but I'm learning and I'm catching on to the routine. I'm excited to learn about all of their individual personalities, their likes, and their dislikes the more I work with them.
Shauna
Keeper I, Mammals

Wednesday, January 25
It's that time of the year! Vaccines! Little Po is getting geared up (actually, he isn't doing anything, but we're the ones getting geared up) to receive his vaccines next week. We'll also do a quick physical just to make sure he's doing just fine and keep a close eye on him afterwards to make sure he doesn't have an adverse reaction to the vaccines.  In order to receive his vaccines and physical, we'll have to manually restrain him for a few minutes. For the adult pandas, we're able to give vaccines voluntarily by asking the pandas to present their shoulders. This is something they have been trained to do and are really comfortable doing. Obviously little Po isn't trained to present his shoulder, yet. We're still working on mastering shifting on and off exhibit on command! So we'll have to hold him. That may sound like an easy task, but he weighs over 27 kg and so it's not as easy as one might think! Po may look small, but he's very strong for his size. I expect all will go smoothly and after it’s over we will shower him with treats. Because let’s face it - who likes getting shots?!
Jen
Keeper I, Mammals

Monday, January 23
Yucky weather! That's been my thought lately. Although I know we need this rain, I am not a fan of muddy pandas (and the muddy mess they make on my nice, clean floors!). That being said, everyone has gotten to spend the last couple of days inside. I don't think they mind, really. The boys (Yang Yang & Xi Lan) love getting attention so they actually enjoy being off exhibit in the dens because they get to see and interact with us more. Lun Lun doesn't seem to care, as long as she has her bamboo she's happy anywhere! I can't wait for the sun to come out and the yards to dry up a bit, though! All of this muggy/cloudy weather means our building never completely dries after cleaning. But again, I think the only ones who notice/care are us keepers.
Jen
Keeper I, Carnivores

Friday, January 20
These updates typically focus on the giant pandas, but I thought I’d give a short update on Shandy, our red panda. Lately we’ve stepped up our training with Shandy. Unlike the giant pandas, Shandy is fairly reluctant to train, particularly when she’s not familiar with the trainer (the giant pandas will pretty much train for anyone!). But Shandy does know a few behaviors that help us care for her, such as sitting on a scale to be weighed. Because Shandy has a physical coming up, we’ve begun to focus on crate training. She does know how to enter her crate, but she’s not that reliable right now. Our goal is to get her to reliably enter her crate and remain calm when she’s in there. This will allow us to safely transport her to the veterinary clinic for her exam. Crating is a very important behavior that can come in handy in other situations, too.  For example, if we need to do some exhibit work, Shandy would likely be more comfortable if she wasn’t in the exhibit during that time. By training her to reliably crate, we could move her to an area away from the commotion, where she could relax until the work is completed. Shandy can be a challenging animal to train, but her primary keepers have great relationships with her. And they also have raisins, Shandy’s favorite treat!        
Megan Wilson, Ph.D.
Assistant Curator of Mammals

Wednesday, January 18
Po is becoming such a big boy! His latest weight is 26.6 kg. This week we have removed the step that Po has been using to access the drinker in one of the dayrooms. We have seen him drinking from that drinker without using the step several times lately. Overnight, he and Lun Lun have been playing with the step, so it is starting to get a little frayed. Although I am sure it is a fun toy for them, we would like to keep it in good condition for the next cub. Yang Yang and Xi Lan destroyed our original step last year, so this one is fairly new and still in good shape (Xi Lan started it, Yang Yang finished it). So, we will put it away in storage until we need it again. Ah, they grow up so quickly!
Heather
Carnivore Keeper II

Monday, January 16
For us regular folk, the weather in Atlanta these days is kind of cold and dreary. For a panda, however, it is great weather. All the pandas are outside today enjoying this great panda weather. It is cold, but not too cold. In addition to cold, it has been rather cloudy. This works to the pandas advantage in several aspects. Their thick coats make them feel rather comfortable when the mercury dips down low, and with it being cloudy, their bamboo doesn't dry out, allowing them to enjoy it for a longer period of time. The keepers really like the latter aspect. That being said, all the pandas have been very well behaved today. As I write this, they are all snoozing their day away. Yang Yang is actually sleeping flat on his back, completely spread eagle. I have worked with these guys for ten years now, and have never seen this before. The other pandas are in their usual sleeping  positions and postures. Xi Lan out in the middle of everything,  Lun Lun on the climbing structure and Po is of course on his favorite storm drain cover. There must be something to that spot, as it has been a favorite spot of all three of our cubs. To each his own, I guess. 
Kenn
Lead Keeper of Carnivores

Friday, January 13
I had the pleasure of collecting data on Lun Lun and Po earlier this week during a big play session. One of my favorite parts of my job is watching mothers play with their young. If you are a frequent panda cam watcher, you are familiar with panda play sessions. But you are missing one of the best parts, which is this cute and funny blowing noise that cubs make when they are excited. It’s basically just heavy breathing through the nose, but everything is cuter when a panda does it. They sound like little steam engines chugging around. Po was doing a lot of it while playing with his mom and it’s a sound that always makes me smile.
Rebecca Snyder, PhD
Curator of Mammals

Wednesday, January 11
Due to all the fun happenings around the Zoo that have kept everyone busy, it has been a while since I’ve taken a day off from the meat-eating carnivores to come and work with these cute black and white fur balls. It couldn’t have ended up as a better day. We started out very busy and pretty behind schedule due to some preparations for future tree work around the red panda exhibit, but, as is not always the case, the pandas could not have been more accommodating to our slight change of schedule. Everyone was a dream this morning – or I should say spent the morning in dreamland. They loved their henon and yellow groove bamboo and after feasting to their hearts’ content, it was time to nap – and nap they did. Thank goodness! It gave us all the time we needed to catch up and then have a relaxing lunch. For those of you familiar with our updates and our routines, you know that sometimes all the pandas want to do is eat, and then eat some more, sometimes making us run around quite a bit. But not today.  I made sure to give everyone a big thank you at the end of the day. I’m sure they didn’t care, but I thought it was deserved.

One last fun note. I knew that Xi Lan was becoming more and more like his dad from what I’ve seen in the past and what my fellow keepers have shared with me, but he definitely showed it tonight and put a big smile on my face. Nothing ends the day better than seeing a big happy panda rubbing on the mesh and grabbing at his paw in excitement while he flips around on his climbing structure, demanding attention and laughs from everyone around. He is such a goofball like his dad!
Jenny
Keeper III, Carnivores

Monday, January 9
Today started off just like any other day. I had to look everywhere to find Po in the morning. I located him high on the mesh, next to the ceiling once again. He was just hanging there looking at me. Once I knew he was alive and well, I went to check on the other pandas. I then continued with my normal day, a little ahead of schedule I might add.  I set up the yards with bamboo and began shifting the pandas on exhibit. Yang Yang shifted out like a rock star, as did Lun Lun. Po on the other hand was completely holding up the show, as he decided to dawdle around in holding awhile.  When he was done dawdling, he decided to climb the mesh again. When this bored him, he came down, but went right back up the climbing structure we have in holding. From this vantage point, all he would do was sit and stare at me.  When this happened, I decided to go ahead with my day and just check back on him. I assumed he would become bored just sitting on top of the log, now that his entertainment was in the other hallway. I was wrong. It took another 30 minutes before he slid down and slowly made his way to the shift door leading into the habitat. I thought for sure I had him there, but alas, I was wrong again.  He made a detour and headed down another hallway, only to sit at the wrong end, once again staring at me. I wasn't going to wait him out this time.  Enough time had been wasted this morning already. I went outside with some biscuits and called him out. It took about five minutes, but he finally emerged into the daylight. I gave him his reward for shifting, but had to race back inside to shut the door to prevent a reverse shift. With this completed, I was finally able to shift Xi Lan on exhibit, who had been waiting patiently for his little brother to "clear the runway,” so to speak. Long story short, it’s not fun for me when what should be 5 minutes of shifting actually takes around 45 minutes. But maybe it’s fun for Po.
Kenn
Lead Keeper of Carnivores

Friday, January 6
Po started eating bamboo leaves recently and just like Xi Lan at this age, he is a big eater!  Also like Xi Lan, he likes to eat a couple of leafeater biscuits and then eat a couple of mouthfuls of bamboo. Although Po likes biscuits with his bamboo, he will eat bamboo without them as well.  I would estimate that Po is consuming the leaves from 3-4 pieces of bamboo each day. As a result of all of this eating, we are also finding more feces from Po as well. We are finding 4-6 piles of Po feces per day (compare this with ~ 30 piles per day from Yang Yang).  Po’s most current weight is 25.8 kg.
Heather
Carnivore Keeper II

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