Panda Updates – Friday, January 26

As mentioned in previous posts, the cubs’ personalities have started to shine through as they have gotten older. They are both turning into great shifters during the day when we need to clean a dayroom and add fresh bamboo. The sound of the leafeater biscuit container will wake them out of a dead sleep and send them scurrying inside with Lun Lun for a snack, and they are becoming more independent each day. Xi Lun continues to be a bit more reserved than her sister and spends a lot of her time napping. Ya Lun is usually the first to greet us in the morning and the most eager for her leafeater biscuits, bamboo and just about everything else. She was the first to eat her sweet potato, and now the first to eat her banana, although, I’d probably refer to her banana method as more of a slurping rather than an eating technique. It’s pretty comical to be cleaning a dayroom or walking by a den Ya Lun is eating her banana in, and here a giant slurp as you walk past. The pandas are pretty good at making sure we are constantly laughing or smiling while working with them (not surprising, right?). She also closes her eyes most of the time, which is something most giant pandas do when they find a food item they thoroughly enjoy.
Danica W.
Swing Keeper I, Mammals