Panda Updates- Monday, February 20

It is never lost on me what a privilege it is to be able to work with the giant pandas. I was recently reminded of this fact when I watched Yang Yang’s wakeup routine. Something unique to Yang Yang is that when he first wakes up, it tends to be a very slow yawning and stretching session accompanied by a very distinct (and very cute) vocalization. However, he generally only does this  one time first thing in the morning. If you miss it the first go around, there won’t be another chance to hear him do this for the rest of the day.

A little background for you: giant pandas are what is called “polycyclical,” which literally means “many cycles.” This means that rather than being something like diurnal (awake during the day and sleeping at night) or nocturnal (awake at night and sleeping during the day), they are awake or napping in two to four-hour cycles through the day and nighttime. When Yang wakes up from his naps later in the day, it tends to be straight back to business, and he immediately goes to look for his next set of bamboo. For some reason, he only does this little routine one time, and one time only. 

Megan H.
Keeper II, Mammals