Panda Update – Wednesday, September 26

Enrichment is something we offer to all of the animals at Zoo Atlanta, and we often prepare enrichment that caters to an individual animal’s interests and preferences. As everyone knows, Yang Yang is our resident 21-year-old cub, and really enjoys playing with jolly balls. I thought it would be fun to offer Yang Yang a bunch of his favorite enrichment at once (16 of them total, to be exact). We sprinkled it with the scents of cinnamon and some rubbing alcohol. I don’t speak panda, but I think it’s safe to say that at the time, Yang Yang couldn’t have cared less about the crazy enrichment. He tunnel-visioned in the direction of his bamboo, and plowed through the pile of jolly balls. Sometimes enrichment doesn’t work out, and that’s okay! We adjust and think of new ideas for next time. This arrangement of enrichment items will probably be offered again when Yang Yang is showing us he is in a more playful mood. I expect he will be much more excited about turning the dayroom into a ball pit when he doesn’t have bamboo on the brain.
Danica W.
Keeper I, Mammals

(Photo by Danica W.)