< month 13
Thursday, September 6
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Mei enjoys her birthday "cake" |
Well, what can I say but HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEI LAN!!! It's been a very busy day here at Panda Central, and we've been doing our best to make this an awesome experience for Mei Lan, her parents, and all of the dignitaries here at the zoo. Of course, a party wouldn't be a party without you, our valued friends of the zoo and panda fans! We had cakes, sponsored by and served by our friends at Pandas Unlimited, and a new toy for Mei Lan from our sponsors Delta Airlines. There are people everywhere joining in the fun amidst traditional Chinese dancers and artists, as we're kicking off the Panda Art Festival as well.
Mei Lan is a little overwhelmed, and when presented with her new ball, checked it out, then went for a nap in her safe spot. Not long after a birthday lunch with mom though, she rolled around with the ball for a while, before zooming into the other dayroom to play with mom and her special birthday ice sculpture (scented with mouthwash, made by Kate). A long and busy day, with more treats and cakes to come later. Stay tuned on Pandacam to join in the fun.
And a special note. Thank you to Delta for their gift, and to all of you thoughtful panda folks for the wonderful cards and panda toys you sent in. We truly appreciate the thoughts and support. Special thanks to Pandas Unlimited for their ongoing friendship, and also to our special panda-friend Michelle and her mom Leanne who continue to raise funds for panda enrichment. And last but certainly not least, to FLOP and Doodlebugs for their generous contributions to make Mei Lan's first birthday the best seen anywhere!!!
And Mei Lan says thank you to her gramma for the birthday wish.
We couldn't do this without you all. Thank you from us, and have a great first birthday!
Jay Pratte
Carnivore Keeper III
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Mei, a manatee?
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Wednesday, September 5
As Kate painted on the enrichment bag for Pandacam today, there's only one day left before our Atlanta Beauty turns ONE!!! Mei Lan got her new car yesterday, which was a huge hit until mom Lun Lun took the keys away and went for a test drive herself, ultimately flipping the car. Memo to panda keepers: Pandas don't drive, revoke licenses.
Kate also managed to obtain measurements on Mei Lan this morning, so we can see how she's grown over the past year. Due to the wiggle factor, these might be slightly skewed, but you get the idea:
Weight: 26.1 kg or 57.5 pounds
Length: (tip of nose to tip of tail) approximately 53 inches
Chest girth: 29.5 inches
Abdomen girth: 30.5 inches (she's shaped like a tube. Maybe a baby manatee?)
Neck circumference: 19 inches
Ear length: almost 4 inches
Readers can look back to compare these, but yes folks, a stick of butter CAN evolve and grow.
See you all tomorrow on the big day!
Jay Pratte
Carnivore Keeper III
Monday, September 3
Mei Lan seems to be gearing up for her big day. Everyday this week she is receiving a brand new or favorite enrichment item. Yesterday, she received a peppermint scented jolly ball. All of the pandas have had a similar item before (only it was apple scented) and all have seemed to enjoy playing with it. The peppermint ball was no exception! Mei Lan rolled around with it in the afternoon for about 20 minutes. Today, Mei Lan was a given a big red tub to play in. This item was first given to Yang Yang and Lun Lun last year. For the adults, we filled it with water and apples placed in it—making a “bobbing for apples” challenge. But for Mei Lan’s safety we just gave her the empty tub. She rolled around in it for a while, causing it to tip over and seemed to enjoy her time in it. Be sure to check in tomorrow on Panda Cam to see what Mei Lan’s birthday week enrichment item will be.
Kate Roca
Carnivore Keeper II
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mom, pillow, mom, pillow |
Friday, August 31
I just spent the past week in sunny (hot) California at an international bear symposium/conference. It was an amazing, if somewhat eclectic, collection of bear researchers, caregivers, and individuals devoted to bear rescue and rehabilitation. I presented a couple of papers and a training workshop, and learned a tremendous amount from these experts from around the globe. It was very interesting to see how our panda research and conservation work compares with and fits in to the scheme of bear efforts throughout the rest of the world.
Unfortunately, I missed Lun Lun's birthday, but I know she was spoiled by the other keepers. We're all now kicking into high gear for next week's big "1-year" celebration. Local and Chinese dignitaries will be present throughout the week and on the big day, and the evening event for Mei Lan's birthday is a sold-out spectacular. I'm not sure what we're getting ourselves into, but it's going to be a wild ride. Stay tuned for further info.
Also, watch for our Atlanta Beauty on the local airwaves. The last few days there has been a very friendly reporter and film crew documenting and recording her day, along with some of our thoughts on the past year. She's been a complete ham, so keep your eye on the tube to see her in all her goofy glory.
And Yang Yang’s birthday is coming up September 9th.
Jay Pratte
Carnivore Keeper III
Wednesday, August 29
As Mei Lan’s first year is about to come to a close, I think about what the next year will hold for her. She will begin to eat bamboo and more solid foods and nurse her mother’s milk less, although she will not be fully weaned until she is around 18 months old. She should also continue to put on a pound or so more weight a week. Another thing she should start to do (that I am REALLY looking forward to hearing) is she should start making other panda noises. She currently makes occasional grunts or squawks when she plays with Lun Lun. One day, Mei Lan will be able to make all the sounds that her mother does – like bleating, chirping, honking, or huffing- to mention a few.
Kate Roca
Carnivore Keeper II
Monday, August 27
I can't remember being here at the Zoo, since Mei Lan was born, having a thunderstorm come through. So, it was my first chance to see how Mei was going to react to the loud cracks of thunder going off around her. Lun and Yang tend to not like them much, and most often never sleep through one. I figured that Mei was going to be the same as her parents, but she wasn't. She slept through it all, not even lifting her head to determine what was going on. Lun and Yang though did their normal, waking up every time that they heard thunder. Yang eventually went back to sleep, probably due to the fact that he was back in the dens and it is somewhat soundproof, but Lun could only handle so much. She started to "honk" for a little bit, then got up and started to walk. Luckily the storm did not last too long and things got back to normal.
Joseph T. Svoke
Carnivore Keeper II
Friday, August 24
Can anyone guess what tomorrow is? It is Lun Lun's 10th birthday! So, everyone wish her a happy b-day tomorrow.
It has been cute over the last week in the morning when Lun Lun is trying to eat her a.m. biscuits on the scale. Mei Lan has discovered a way to sneak herself in and steal a biscuit or two away from mom. I still do not know how she has been doing it without Lun getting mad, because Lun loves her biscuits. All you see is Mei at the bowl of food, then all of a sudden she’s "running" away with a biscuit in her mouth, trying to find a corner to eat in. Mei is one sneaky little girl.
Joseph T. Svoke
Carnivore Keeper II
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Mei gets her beauty rest to prepare for
her special day |
Wednesday, August 22
Two weeks tomorrow the Atlanta Beauty is one year old. She weighed in at a nice couple of round numbers this morning; 25 kg, which calculates roughly to 55 pounds. Her adult teeth are still erupting, and she's still losing the rest of her baby teeth. She has a FINE set of growing panda claws though. We see her trying to emulate mom and chew on bamboo a lot more often nowadays, so it's only a matter of time before she actually starts eating it.
We're having a lot of fun on our end planning for the birthday festivities. We're thinking up toys and enrichment for each of the days, with some special stuff for her birthday. BUT, we must not forget that two other special bears have birthdays coming up as well. Lun Lun and Yang Yang are both turning TEN this year. Lun's birthday is this Saturday, August 25th, and Yang's is Sunday September 9th. They will also be getting special treats those days, even though it might no be quite the grand affair their daughter's birthday is evolving into.
So three bear birthdays within two weeks. Going to be a lot of fun and festivities. Come join us, talk with panda staff, and wish Atlanta's fabulous giant pandas well for another year!!!
Jay Pratte
Carnivore Keeper III
Monday, August 20
I'm preparing to leave for Chengdu on Friday. I'll be taking a research assistant, Maryanne Heard, with me. She is going to stay in Chengdu through the end of December to collect data for our study of maternal behavior. We need three or four more subjects to complete data collection for this study. The Research Base has had five females give birth so far this year and more births are expected in the next few weeks. So, we should be able to add the last subjects we need. I will spend 10 days with Maryanne to get her started on data collection and help her settle into life in Chengdu. She has been collecting data on Lun Lun and Mei Lan for several months. So, she's well prepared. She will also have help from our longtime Chinese research assistant Li Chunlin. I'm looking forward to seeing the new cubs and their mothers. There are nine cubs so far. It's a huge treat for me to be able to see females that I have known since birth as mothers. I take great joy in that. Maybe I'll be really lucky and be there for a birth!
Rebecca Snyder, PhD
Curator of Carnivores
Friday, August 17
Mei Lan is 345 days old today. In three weeks, she is going to celebrate her 1-year birthday. And we will be right there celebrating alongside her. We will be out answering questions and talking with Zoo guests and "partygoers" twice a day, and we're going to try and give Mei Lan a big, fun toy each day to interact with. She will also be receiving special treats like ice blocks throughout the week, and maybe even a special birthday surprise. The Zoo is throwing a party on Thursday, September 6 up at the giant panda habitat for everyone who comes to wish our Atlanta Beauty a happy birthday. To top everything off, those of us that have been closest to the cub since her birth will also relate our experiences at a ticketed evening event. It’s going to be a busy week, culminating in another fun, late-night Asian Sunset Safari.
Mei Lan has been growing rapidly, gaining about a pound a week on average. She took a jump of about a pound over the last couple days, weighing in at over 54 pounds now. Maybe she's building up her strength for the big birthday week. We're all pretty excited around here when we're not wandering around in a daze wondering where the last year went.
See you all at the Zoo for the birthday!
Jay Pratte
Carnivore Keeper III
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Mom does her physical, while Mei snoozes |
Wednesday, August 15
It has been an exciting week for me. One of my goals this year was to train Lun Lun to participate in voluntary blood draw. Every year the bears go through their yearly physical so we can give them a good “once over” and check their teeth, body conditions, and take blood samples to make sure every thing is running smoothly. This is the same as a yearly doctor check up for you or me. But when you are dealing with a 250 pound bear, it is best to anaesthetize them for this full check up. But, with Mei Lan still nursing, we did not want to anaesthetize Lun Lun. So, voluntary blood draw became a very important step to allow us to check her blood with out having to use anesthesia. Shannon (one of the zoo’s vet techs) and I have been working with Lun Lun for some time to train her to allow us to draw blood for biscuit rewards, and last week we were able to do so—TWICE! So, if you see a patch of hair missing on Lun Lun’s right forearm- it is because she such a smart bear that just donated some blood.
Kate Roca
Carnivore Keeper II
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Lun and Mei playing up in the branches |
Monday, August 13
So, does Mei Lan like sweet potatoes like her daddy? It is still fairly early to tell, but this morning she ate a small sliver of a piece. Jay had mentioned on Friday that we are starting to offer carrots and sweet potatoes. At the time of Jay’s update, she had ignored both, and continued to do so through the weekend. This morning, though, she at least tried some.
Over the weekend, I finally saw Mei get even with Lun Lun. They were both going through a play fighting session, and Mei hit Lun when she least expected her to. Mei Lan had run away from mom to the other end of the dayroom, and Lun was attempting to get out of the hammock to go after her, but somehow she got stuck. Both of Lun's hind legs were still in the hammock, but her head was on the ground, resulting in a sort of headstand that exposed her belly. And that is when Mei struck. She came at full speed and nailed Lun right in the middle of her belly, knocking Lun the rest of the way out of the hammock, stunning Lun. It is good to see Mei dishing out some roughness.
Joseph T. Svoke
Carnivore Keeper II
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Not much of a taste for yams or this branch! |
Friday, August 10
I was reading a profile about the adult pandas the other day, when I hit a line that threw me for a loop. Everyone knows that over 95% of the bears' diets consists of different species of bamboo. The other small percentage is supplemented with leaf-eater biscuits (a soy based crunchie that is chock-full of vitamins and minerals), fruits and vegetables. The pandas are exceptionally picky eaters, preferring only a few favoured items, and what I read in the profile stated that the pandas like plums. This may not seem odd to the reader, but I have spent almost 4 years now with these bears, and they don't tend to waver from their likes and dislikes. They both eat apple, pear, and love bananas. These and the leaf-eater biscuits are what we use for training rewards, as the bears LOVE them. Yang Yang will also eat sweet potato, which Lun Lun won't touch. And neither of these pandas will eat carrots, which I'm reasonably certain is a staple for nearly every captive panda I've seen/read about from here to China. How did this evolve you ask? I have no idea. So the thought of them eating plums intrigues me, and I believe I will have to investigate for myself.
Of course, the littlest bear is following in mom's footsteps. Because she is still so young, we are trying to keep her sugar intake low, so as not to mess up her developing digestive system. Naturally, she loves mommy's bananas and biscuits... We have been trying to encourage her to eat little pieces of yam or carrot (lower sugar content), but so far these efforts have met with an almost adult panda-like disdain.
"No Mei Lan, no banana split until you eat your vegetables."
Jay Pratte
Carnivore Keeper III
Wednesday, August 8
If you were watching panda cam yesterday afternoon, you might have seen Mei Lan and Lun Lun having a good time playing with a large paper bag. Big paper bags stuffed with hay and treats are a favorite of Lun Lun and Yang Yang. Mei Lan isn’t too interested in the fruit and biscuit treats, yet, but she did seem to enjoy ripping the bag to pieces and attacking the bag while Lun Lun was holding it. After that excitement, Mei Lan climbed up to one of her favorite resting spots and had a long nap.
Rebecca Snyder, PhD
Curator of Carnivores
< month 13
