Panda Updates – Monday, March 26

This is the first day I’ve been back in Panda Land in a while, and I was super excited to see all the giant pandas today. I’ve been training on the meat-eating side of the Carnivore Department, and the cubs seemed to have doubled in size since last time I saw them. I thought it an appropriate time to write a quick update on everyone’s favorite papa bear since it’s been a while since we have updated you all on what Yang Yang is up to. Yang Yang is currently demonstrating behaviors that are natural for male giant pandas at the time of year that’s associated with giant panda breeding season. He’s doing a lot more scent-marking, olfactory investigation, and patrolling his territory. We decided to give him some extra-special scent enrichment today because he is so into sniffing around his habitats lately. Before we recycled this cardboard box, we filled it with wood wool, sprinkled it with cinnamon, and then put a few drops of Tabasco and rubbing alcohol on the outside. These scents (along with all of our animal enrichment) are approved by our Veterinary Team as being safe to use for the animals. Before we could even get our cameras ready, Yang Yang had destroyed the box and proceeded to self-anoint with it. This is probably my favorite thing the giant pandas do. After a good self-anointing session, Yang Yang was nice and smelly and ready to continue with his day.

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Danica W.
Swing Keeper I, Mammals