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Panda Updates – Wednesday, March 18

All Animal Care Teams are here at Zoo Atlanta caring for all of the animals even though the Zoo is temporarily closed. We are utilizing this time to work on projects in the animals’ habitats, brainstorming new enrichment items, and spending extra quality time with the animals. For us on the Panda Care Team, we will be utilizing this time to get in a lot of training with Ya Lun and Xi Lun! We wanted to share with you one of the ways that we are able to do voluntary blood draws with all of the giant pandas. While we are not doing an actual blood draw in this video, you can see the way that the panda is able to hold their arm in place while the keepers are still safe. In this position, our Veterinary Team would come in and collect a blood sample as long as the panda being trained is comfortable. It’s a really great way for us to monitor the pandas’ overall health! This is a complex voluntary veterinary behavior that the twins have known how to do since November of 2018, and is one of the many ways the animals here at the Zoo are able to participate in their own care.
Danica W.
Keeper II, Mammals

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