Panda Updates – Monday, October 26

The giant panda care routine consists of one person in the morning for roughly half an hour before the second person comes in. The opening shift team member makes sure to feed the bears who are up, order bamboo, and set up habitats or dayroom spaces, amongst other tasks, while the closing routine takes two care team members to clean outdoor habitats/inside dayrooms and den spaces, as well as set up each area with enough overnight bamboo so that the pandas have enough until we arrive the next day. Similar to the morning, the closing routine entails a team member finishing out the last half hour by themselves. During this time, I usually feed out whatever remaining leafeater biscuits the bear (or bears) who are behind-the-scenes have left. I like closing because it’s nice to just sit with that individual for a little bit and spend some time with them before heading out for the day. The other day, after feeding out Ya Lun’s and Xi Lun’s last few biscuits, Xi Lun promptly went over to a huge pile of bamboo and started munching away. It was too cute not to get a picture of and share. 

Amanda D.
Keeper I, Mammals

(photo by Amanda D.)