Panda Updates – Wednesday, October 3

As many of you who have followed the giant pandas for a number of years know, female giant pandas can exhibit pseudopregnancy. Pseudopregnancy closely mimics pregnancy in terms of behaviors and hormone fluctuations, but is not an actual pregnancy. Lun Lun has recently been experiencing this. This is not a surprise for us in that we knew that Lun Lun was not expecting, but we are familiar with pseudopregnancy behaviors and hormone changes. Lun Lun has lately been awake and active when we arrive in the morning, sleeping less, and recently she started becoming a bit restless being in the behind-the-scenes dens. So yesterday she got to spend the day in one of the dayrooms. She is still a little restless, but this is expected as her hormones are once again fluctuating. If you visit her at the Zoo, or see her on PandaCam, and notice that she seems to be a little more restless than normal, this is why. Rest assured that this is very normal, and she’ll turn back into the bamboo-eating machine that we all know soon enough. On the flip side, Yang Yang is beyond happy to spend some time behind the scenes, as this gives him more opportunities to interact with his care team (read: sucker us into giving him treats)!
Jen W.
Keeper III, Mammals