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The giant pandas spending more time in their outdoor habitats presents many more opportunities than just the pandas getting to spend time outside. Their outdoor habitats have fun places to hide enrichment, scatter their leafeater biscuits, and they can enjoy the crisp fall air. For keepers, it means we can do more cleaning projects inside … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Friday, October 20"

Zoo Atlanta is not just about animals. Indeed, people are not just about people. Recent advances in analyzing genetic samples have broken down the former wall that prevented scientists from really describing the bacterial fauna (“microbiome”) that lives on, in, and in association with all forms of life. We now can calculate the number and … Continue reading "The bacterial world of animals"

Hey reader, I recently had the opportunity to attend the 2017 Orangutan Species Survival Plan® (SSP) Husbandry Workshop. And let me start off by saying I had a wonderful time. The workshop was hosted by the Audubon Nature Institute in New Orleans. Zookeepers, veterinarians, researchers and other orangutan fans from all over the world gathered … Continue reading "Report from Orangutan SSP Husbandry Workshop"

We are all excited about the autumn weather finally arriving to Atlanta. Well, almost arriving. It’s not 80 degrees anymore! We have been taking advantage of these cooler mornings by getting the pandas into the outdoor habitats as early as possible. Due to their incredibly thick fur, the bears are not very tolerant of hot … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Monday, October 16"

I think we’re going to have to pull out some of the tricks we have up our sleeves to entice the twins to eat sweet potato. Sometimes, simply always offering a piece of sweet potato will eventually lead a cub to further investigate the new orange item and then eventually develop a liking for it. … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Friday, October 13"

If you have a pet, you may have had the (dis)pleasure of doing a nail trim. Just like our nails, dogs, cats and birds have nails that grow. Wolves, bobcats and wild birds keep their nails trimmed naturally through daily use. Animals in our homes and in the Zoo need a different solution. Since nail … Continue reading "Trim your toes!"

If you tuned in to Swing Keeper Sarah’s #TakeoverTuesday a few weeks ago, you know that the Hoofstock Team recently took over the care of warthogs Eleanor and Shirley! We’re currently getting to know our new charges, and it’s a been a fun experience so far! We’ve spent the last few weeks learning their routine … Continue reading "Getting to know Shirley and Eleanor"

Most of the animals in our care are trained for a number of behaviors depending on needs of the animal. At the Zoo we follow the principles of positive reinforcement, by which the individual being trained is reinforced for the behaviors that the trainer has asked for. The giant panda cubs have begun learning some … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Friday, October 6"

The rate at which Ya Lun and Xi Lun grow and develop is so fun to watch. It seems like even in just the past few days, the girls’ interest in bamboo has doubled. When we say that the girls are starting to investigate bamboo, we are usually referring to the smaller “twigs” that Lun … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Wednesday, October 4"

What is palm oil? Palm oil comes from the fruit of the African oil palm tree and is grown all over the world in warm and temperate climates. Why are we talking about palm oil? Over half of our household products contain this commonplace oil, which is found in snack foods, shampoo, cosmetics, toothpaste, pet … Continue reading "Why choose only sustainable palm oil?"