Panda Updates – Wednesday, February 13

After working with the giant pandas for over eight years, it can sometimes be challenging to come up with creative enrichment that I haven’t used before that will be stimulating for the bears. Lun Lun has had a tub full of water and apple pieces before, and she seems to thoroughly enjoy the challenge of getting the apple. This time, I wanted to raise the complexity of the task, so I added some river rocks and only a little bit of water. Giant pandas are not the most dexterous animals when it comes to picking up small objects that aren’t cylindrical in nature, so having her grab only the pieces of apple and not the river rocks was quite the challenge. She was, however, determined to get her apples … but it was amusing to watch her scoop up what she thought was an apple, only to discover it was a rock, promptly drop said rock, and resume her apple-fishing!
Jen W.
Keeper III, Mammals