At last, our newest Giant Panda baby has his name! He is YUN ZI, which means "Son of Cloud" (his momma is Bai Yun, "White Cloud"). The ceremony this morning at the San Diego Zoo revealed the name chosen by 17,526 votes from a list of five names submitted by panda fans. In keeping with Chinese tradition, panda cubs get their names when they are 100 days old, a milestone reached by our new little guy last Friday. As it was Friday the 13th, his naming ceremony was put off until today.
Scroll on to learn about Yun Zi, his family, and pandas! I hope you'll see here what amazing creatures they are. It's more than their appearance!
Birth
Yun Zi was born on August 5, 2009, and is the fifth cub of supermom, Bai Yun.
Momma Bai Yun:
Photo by Rita Petita
Bai Yun's name means "white cloud." She was the first panda cub born at the Wolong center in China, the panda research center that was devastated by the earthquake two years ago. She's been in San Diego since 1996 and is now 18 years old, so this is probably her last cub. Her little brother Tian Tian (daddy of the famed "butterstick," Tai Shan) now resides at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
Bai Yun is the only panda in the world who will allow regular ultrasounds when she is (or when we hope she is) pregnant. She is extremely smart. Although she can be quite frisky, she's also very cooperative with her keepers. Much of the knowledge scientists have about panda pregnancies came from her. (On the same note, the San Diego Zoo's possibly pregnant polar bear has now become the only polar bear in the world to allow regular ultrasounds--they seem to know what they're doing at the San Diego Zoo!)
In the absence of an official name, until today many folks on the San Diego Zoo's Panda blog have been calling Yun Zi "El Cinco de Bai-O."
Here is the video of his birth:
Here are Bai Yun and Yun Zi at 9 days old:
The zoo has provided Bai Yun with a cosy "birthing den," used only for births and initial cub-raising. Bai Yun herself dragged in all that bamboo and shredded it to make a soft, warm nest, and she does housework on it every day to keep it fresh.
Bai Yun did not leave the den for three full days after Yun Zi's birth, not even to take a drink of water, which is available to her right outside the den's door. Panda cubs are essentially fetuses when they're born, so Bai had to keep him constantly warm until he grew enough fur to make it possible for her to leave him for a minute or two. She didn't eat a normal diet for weeks, but spent about 99% of her time with her baby.
Fortunately, the zoo put several cameras in the den, so that we all can watch what happens there 24/7. At night there is no light, but a nifty night-vision camera makes it look like daytime to viewers, although of course the bears don't know it.
You can watch them at any time here. (If you tune in and find the den empty, it's because Bai has taken her baby out for "camping under the stars.") Or you can see all the American pandas at once on Daniel's Multiple Panda Cams.
The San Diego Zoo does their best to allow the pandas to live as they would in the wild as much as possible. Therefore, Bai Yun is raising Yun Zi entirely by herself, as she did with her previous four cubs. The keepers didn't even examine Yun Zi until he was 29 days old, when Bai finally started leaving the den for longer periods, thus keeping everyone in suspense about the cub's gender (although many pandacam viewers were pretty sure they saw "boy parts," so no one was surprised when he was officially designated a little boy).
And, our little guy got started in the normal, fun way. Although Bai Yun's first cub, Hua Mei (daughter of the late Shi Shi) was engendered by artificial insemination, once Big Daddy Gao Gao arrived, something clicked, and they've become the most successful natural breeding pair outside of China.
Daddy Gao Gao
Gao Gao's name means "big big" or "tall tall," but ironically, he is their smallest panda except for his youngest daughter Zhen Zhen and Yun Zi. Never mind. Gao Gao may be small, but he is mighty. Gao Gao was rescued from the wild as a cub in China. He was found quite beaten up with one of his ears nearly torn off. All the children of China hoped for his recovery.
Here are Gao Gao and Bai Yun in action. This was the 2007 mating which resulted in Zhen Zhen, but you get the idea! (The video actually ends at 2:20.)
Panda Porn:
Panda dads know nothing of their offspring. They mate and go off to their own lives. Gao Gao is living a marvelous life at SDZ, with days full of bamboo which he eats like a machine. Then he sleeps. He has many passionate fans on the SDZ panda blog.
Yun Zi's Siblings
Yun Zi's two oldest siblings are now in China. All cubs born in the U.S. belong to China, and eventually are sent back to participate in the breeding program. The San Diego cubs are extremely important, as they're wild-born Gao Gao's kids except for Hua Mei.
His oldest sister Hua Mei ("China U.S.A.") is the daughter of wild-born Shi Shi (the "rock"), who returned to China after he proved that he was entirely uninterested in Bai Yun (hence, the artificial insemination). Shi Shi passed away at an advanced age in China last year. Hua Mei is now the mother of seven, having had three sets of twins and recently, one singleton cub in China. Giant Pandas have great difficulty in caring for twins, usually leaving one to die. In China when twins are born they immediately rescue one and raise it in an incubator. They swap the cubs every few days so the mother can raise both as much as possible.
Here is Hua Mei with her latest cub in China:
Photo by H. L. Wu
His big brother, also in China, is Mei Sheng ("born in the U.S.A."), first offspring of Gao Gao, and remembered by all who knew him here as a very sweet bear. Mei Sheng is such a good climber that he once escaped from his enclosure at SDZ, wandered around outside for a bit, and was very happy to get back in. When he got to China, his American keeper warned the Chinese that Mei Sheng could escape from his enclosure. They didn't believe her until he did escape from it that very night. He is reported to be quite the star now in China. He has an affinity for climbing as high as he can go into trees, and has a large enclosure full of tall trees in which he puts his talent to good use. Earlier this year when he was only five years old (he's now six) Mei Sheng mated with a much older panda lady in China. He wasn't the lady's only paramour, however, so we're waiting for DNA tests to see if he's the lucky dad of the resulting cub. It's apparently quite unusual for a male bear as young as Mei Sheng to mate successfully. Mei Sheng was always a terrible mama's boy, so it is perhaps no surprise that he goes for the older ladies.
Here is Mei Sheng when he was still in San Diego, all dirty from enjoying his 4th birthday ice cake:
Photo by Rita Petita
Still in San Diego are Yun Zi's two big sisters.
This is sweet, beautiful Su Lin ("a little bit of something very cute"), ready to attack her 4th birthday ice cake:
Photo by Rita Petita
Su Lin is now four years old and is just a darling. She's already grown into a large bear, but she still has about another year of growing to do! She loves the rain, and goes on "rain romps," running around her enclosure, hanging from tree branches, rolling in the mud, and redecorating by snapping off tree limbs. (Daddy Gao Gao, on the other hand, always hides in his cave when it rains.) When she gets excited she will sometimes sit upright in her pool and slap the water with her front paws just like a toddler. Sadly, she will probably be returning to China sometime next year.
This is Su Lin doing some redecorating and advanced tree acrobatics:
Here is Yun Zi's youngest big sister, spunky little Zhen Zhen ("precious"):
Zhennie is now two years old. She's the little bear that first got my attention and turned me into a raving pandaholic, with the Panda Cam open in a separate window on my desktop all the time. She has her mom's frisky personality and, apparently, her dad's petite size, although she still has plenty of growing to do. She earned her nickname "Zoom Zoom" as soon as she learned to walk, and has always been extremely precocious. The PBS documentary "Panda Tales" follows her early life. Zhennie, even as a little cub, was able in just a few days to defeat the tree guards put up to prevent her from climbing too high. There is just no keeping "Miss ZZ" down! Like her mom, Zhennie is a very smart little bear, although she isn't mature enough yet to mind her keepers all the time.
Here is a recent video of Zhen Zhen illustrating her zooming and tree climbing abilities:
Fortunately, we'll have Zhennie here in San Diego for another two years!
Bears, Not Raccoons
For many decades, scientists didn't know if pandas really were bears, or if they were in the raccoon family. A few years ago, however, DNA tests proved them to be bears. No one knows why they have such distinct black and white markings, although field researchers have noted that pandas are almost invisible in thick bamboo forests.
Technically pandas are still carnivores, but they have evolved into mostly herbivores. They can eat meat and sometimes will catch mice and other small animals, but a steady diet of meat will kill a panda. Their diet is 99% bamboo (and "leafeater biscuits," apples and carrots in zoos). However, they have to eat many pounds of bamboo per day because it has little nutritional value, and their digestive tracts have not yet evolved into truly herbivore guts. Hence, they spend most of their time eating and sleeping.
However, pandas can be remarkably playful. They do wonderful trapeze acts in trees, and they like to do somersaults.
Here's a video of a grown panda in China, having fun in a tree, doing somersaults, etc.:
And, here is a video of Mei Xiang, the momma bear at the National Zoo, having a great time in the snow last winter. (For some reason, it just will not embed.)
They also like to roll in wood shavings in snowless San Diego (although the
SDZ does bring in a snow truck for the pandas and the polar bears once a year):
Here are Bai Yun and Zhen Zhen playing in wood shavings last year:
Photo by Rita Petita
Photo by Rita Petita
Photo by Rita Petita
Although pandas' fur looks as though it would be soft and fluffy, it isn't. It's coarse and greasy, and it's three inches thick. This dense covering protects them from the rain and snow in their Chinese mountain homes.
Here's a video of Tai Shan (National Zoo) when he was a cub demonstrating the deceptive chubbiness of pandas, with help from Momma Mei Xiang:
With that fur coat, it's no surprise that pandas don't like heat. The San Diego Zoo has misters that blow cooling water vapor out into their enclosures during the summer, and the pandas always have access to their air conditioned bedrooms. In Atlanta and Memphis they have large air conditioned indoor exhibits for their pandas during the summertime.
The San Diego Zoo does not wash their pandas, but pandas seem to have the ability to wash themselves:
And sometimes, they sneeze:
Weaning Panda Cubs
In the American zoos, panda cubs stay with their mothers for at least 18 months, just as they would in the wild (up to two years, actually). Wild panda cubs will either wander off on their own after that period, or their mothers will drive them away. In zoos they are gradually separated from their mothers, with increasing hours per day on their own over about a three-week period.
In China, where they have more room and need to make more pandas, cubs are taken from their mothers at six months of age so that the momma panda will be able to breed every year. With so many pandas, the cubs then go into a "panda kindergarten" where they will grow up together.
That isn't how things happen in the wild. Wild pandas are solitary animals, coming together only for mating, although subadults on their own will sometimes get together and play for short periods. That's why pandas are in solitary exhibits in the San Diego Zoo. The zoos who let their male and female adult pandas live together have not been nearly as successful in breeding as has SDZ.
I'm told that the six-month policy has been in place in China for about ten years, so Bai Yun, I surmise, was with her mother (Dong Dong, still living in China) for the full time. No wonder Bai Yun is such a wonderful mom. I understand that the Chinese need to have a large captive population in case something dreadful happens to the remaining 1,600 wild pandas, but I also wonder how well any pandas eventually released into the wild will do with their cubs without that good training from their own mothers. I've heard the Chinese are re-thinking the policy. I certainly hope so, as I dread the thought of my beloved Su Lin and Zhen Zhen losing their babies in China after only six months.
Why Do We Love Pandas?
I think it's more than their teddy bear looks. When you watch pandas, you'll see that much of their behavior looks remarkably "human." They sit upright when they eat, and hold their bamboo in their "hands" with their pseudothumbs (actually an extended wrist bone).
Here is Su Lin munching bamboo:
Photo by Rita Petita
Sometimes they sit up when they're not eating. Here's little Zhen Zhen imitating momma Bai.
Like Mommy:
Like baby:
They hold their cubs in their "arms."
Here are Bai Yun and little Yun Zi:
And here are Bai Yun and Zhen Zhen in their last days together:
And they often seem to be smiling:
Hello World!
And finally, here's an amazing video slideshow of Yun Zi's first 100 days of life:
Learn More about Pandas!
Lots of information is available about pandas on Pandas Live On, which has frequent updates, photos and videos about pandas around the world, along with plenty of live cam links, even to China, and more!
The SDZ has a great blog on their Panda Cam page, along with other nifty info and videos, including all the videos of Yun Zi's exams.
Zoo Atlanta has a great blog and live cam, although the cam only operates from 10 am to 5 pm during the weekdays.
The National Zoo has two live cams with sound and lots of printed info!
The Memphis Zoo has a panda cam.
The Vienna, Austria Zoo has a great panda section you might enjoy if you read German. Alas, their cub Fu Long is returning to China tomorrow.
There's also Pandas International.
And you can see more wonderful photos of the San Diego Zoo pandas on Rita Petita's Flickr pages (I recommend watching the slideshow "Bai Yun Greets Zhen Zhen under her Pandas 2009 collection). I've used several of her photographs here.
Liberals Donate!
Giant Pandas are one of the world's most endangered species. There are less than 2,000 alive today in the world. I hope this diary has helped you to see just what amazing animals we would lose if they don't survive.
You can help pandas by donating to Pandas International, the Wolong Panda Earthquake Relief Fund, Conservation International, and the World Wildlife Fund.
The Atlanta Zoo desperately needs help in raising funds to keep their pandas. All the adult pandas are rented from China for a period of years, and it's extremely expensive. Donate to the Give So They Can Stay Campaign.
And, you can help the San Diego Zoo pandas by purchasing items for them from the zoo's Wish List.
Thanks for reading! (Hope your heads didn't explode from the cuteness overload.)
Bye Bye!
Update: Good heavens! The rec list??? I'm super glad folks are so interested in pandas! (or, in cuteness!)
Disclosure: I am in no way affiliated with the San Diego Zoo except for membership. I've learned all this stuff just by being captivated with little Zhen Zhen and paying attention to panda lore. All unattributed photos are from the San Diego Zoo and the panda cam, or shots grabbed from YouTube videos.