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Bamboo is the giant panda’s primary food, but they don’t just eat any old bamboo. Pandas are very selective about the type and parts of the bamboo that they eat. Because they have to put so much effort into processing bamboo (breaking, stripping, peeling, etc), the giant pandas only eat the most nutritious bamboo. They … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Friday, July 20"

Grilled? Steamed? Blackened? Deep fried? I prefer deep fried because it adds an extra crunch to the crunch. Just kidding. Why would anyone eat plastic? It isn’t particularly nutritious, it’s really tough to chew on and it’s pretty notorious for getting lodged in your throat. And most of it is made from fossil fuels with … Continue reading "How would you like your plastic cooked?"

As animal care professionals, we spend countless hours making sure the animals live the best life possible and form close bonds with each of them, but loss is inevitably part of our job and is arguably the toughest part of the job. You may have heard that recently we said goodbye to a member of … Continue reading "Caring for Bakairi"

Many of you may have noticed there is a white barrel in the place of the hammock in one of the giant panda dayrooms. As is often the case, the hammock needed a bit of cleaning so, in the meantime, we decided to put up one of our many leafeater biscuit feeder devices. After Yang … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Monday, July 16"

Have you ever eaten something so delicious that you had to lick any remnants from your fingers? Well, giant pandas do that too! Anytime the pandas eat one of their favorite treats like sugarcane or a very juicy piece of fruit, they spend a few minutes licking their paws, arms, chest, and any other places … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Friday, July 13"

My time as an intern at Zoo Atlanta has been an amazing experience. One of my favorite things that I have learned about is enrichment. Enrichment can be defined as anything that promotes an animal’s natural behaviors. It is mentally and physically stimulating for the animal, and aims to use all or any of the … Continue reading "Building enrichment for ambassador animals"

With the summer in full swing, the giant pandas’ behaviors are starting to change. Generally during the summer they tend to eat less and sleep a bit more, and that is exactly what they are starting to do. Their hour-long naps begin to turn into hour and a half or even two-hour-long naps. We are … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Wednesday, July 11"

If you’re familiar with birds or the Bird Department here at Zoo Atlanta, you will know one thing is certain at this time of year: breeding season. With this excitement comes a whole lot of extra activity added into our daily routine. It seems like it would be easy, doesn’t it? You have a breeding … Continue reading "Exciting times for azure-winged magpies"

We really aren’t joking when we say Ya Lun and Xi Lun are becoming quite the bamboo-eating machines! Much like their parents do, they spend the majority of their time these days munching away, taking breaks to nap, play, or interact with their care team for training sessions. One day last week before lunch, we … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Monday, July 9"

Friday, July 6 Where’s Idgie? If you’ve visited the Zoo in the last week or so, you’ve probably noticed that the red panda, Idgie, is not in her habitat. We know that Idgie has many fans, so I wanted to update everyone about her. Idgie is fine and is currently at our vet clinic. We’re … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Friday, July 6"