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Adopt a Giant Panda
Asia Trail
Red Pandas
"Learning from Tai Shan" in Smithsonian
Visit the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art
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News from the Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat
Panda Viewing
Tickets to see the Zoo's pandas are no longer required. We regret any disappointment Zoo visitors may experience if the pandas are not on view during their visit.
November 9: Endless Learning Opportunities
Tai Shan, who is 16 months old today, weighs 77 pounds. What a larger presence he brings to the enclosures. And what an annoyance he is to Mei when he wants to play and she does not. It is still a pleasure for us to stop and watch them interact with each other.
Our understanding of the development of panda cubs grows with every observation and shared experience. At the foundation is a set of goals supported by collaborative projects among facilities that manage pandas in the U.S. and China. One specific goal is to collect data on panda cubs that remain with their mothers and are weaned through a more natural process. Panda cubs may remain with their mothers in the wild for up to, and sometimes beyond two years. In one study conducted in the wild, male cubs lingered longer than females, often past two years of age. The Zoo Atlanta mother/cub study data collection ended on October 15.
We started a new study, a nursing watch, last weekend. We will collect data two weekends per month to learn about Tai’s nursing frequency and duration. This watch, conducted by volunteers, will run continuously from 7 a.m. Friday morning through 7 p.m. Monday evening. This means more quality time for our nighttime web cam viewers! In January, we will look at his nursing frequency, as well as hormonal data, to determine the progress of his weaning. One specific hormone of interest is urinary cortisol. Increased corticoid levels are associated with the maintenance of lactation in mammals. We have documented this phenomenon for pandas, and Mei’s levels have doubled since Tai's birth. We have endless learning opportunities with Mei Xiang and Tai Shan. This information will also help us begin to plan for the 2007 breeding season.
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Support the National Zoo's panda conservation efforts, and get Tai Shan wallpaper and a screen saver as thanks for your donation to the Giant Panda Conservation Fund.Donate now.
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Adopt a Giant PandaOctober 17: Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat Opens
We all have decided that giant pandas have the most amazing media karma. The staff get lots of credit for placing their bamboo and treats in very strategic places, but when the cameras appear, the pandas move into their places to make movie magic. They were in full form for the Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat and Asia Trail press preview, last Wednesday. Tai Shan satisfied the first round of cameras by choosing to walk to the front of the exhibit and eat a carrot in a full frontal and seated repose. We then watched Tai Shan climb up the cork (Phyllodendron sp.) tree located front and center of the prime viewing area, to embrace it in deep sleep, his face resting on his crossed forepaws. To our amazement, Tai held this position facing the cameras, for over an hour! Prior to this event he had spent only a short minute climbing in this very tree. In order to respond to the needs to film a panda awake, Mei Xiang held an audience by the window across from red pandas, while dining on bamboo.
During several Good Morning America segments yesterday, both Mei Xiang and Tai Shan appeared, as if under remote control, to rest or sit in perfect panda poses and eat bamboo. It is particularly nice to see Mei and Tai through the glass, only inches away from our guests. They are used to people behind glass, about three feet away, in the indoor exhibit, and do not seem to mind that there are no guardrails outdoors. This morning, at the public grand opening of the new habitat, they performed admirably as well.
Currently, Mei and Tai are in the new yards from about 8 to 10:30, so they can return to their original exhibits to be viewed by our guests. Tian goes out from about 11 to 4. After all the Asia Trail debut events end this week, we will begin to rotate the pandas into the new yards on a less predicable—and thus more stimulating—schedule. Mei and Tai will continue to be kept separate from Tian. Male pandas are not involved in the care of their cubs. They may never encounter each other in the wild.
Tian Tian’s testosterone levels are beginning to rise so he is increasingly restless and needs to wander. Tian has unfortunately also developed a stereotypical behavior that involves rocking his mouth over his forepaws and foaming from the mouth. Stereotypical behaviors are not unusual in this species an may result from early weaning and unstimulating environments. We are hoping that his having new and varied yards to explore will reduce the frequency of this behavior. Tian will also get additional enrichment and daily training sessions. He will still be separated from Mei and Tai by the mesh windows, but he is able to socialize with them. Tian will also spend a lot of time investigating Mei’s and Tai’s scent marks. Recently, we watched Mei and Tai scent mark over almost all of Tian’s marks on the back wall of his original yard (Yard 1). Tai followed Mei and scent marked with his leg cocked just like his mother.
From October 19 to 29, a team of Zoo staff will be in China conducting a Behavioral Enrichment Workshop at the Shanghai Zoo and Shanghai Wild Animal Park. This workshop will address enrichment for birds, carnivores, and primates, and include exhibit makeovers with behavioral data collected, pre- and post-enrichment. We will also equip a workspace for making enrichment items. Other topics will include the use of volunteers to support enrichment programs and animal husbandry and management training. This will be a great opportunity to share ideas about management practices and creating enriched environments to promote normal behavior in zoo animals. more about enrichment
Giant pandas are black and white bears that live in temperate-zone bamboo forests in central China. Among the best recognized—but rarest—animals in the world, they have come to symbolize endangered species and conservation efforts. As few as 1,600 giant pandas survive in the mountain forests of central China. Another 120 are in Chinese breeding facilities and zoos, and about 20 live in zoos outside China.
Giant pandas Mei Xiang and Tian Tian are at the National Zoo on a ten-year loan from the China Wildlife Conservation Association. They are the focus of an ambitious research, conservation, and breeding program designed to preserve this endangered species.
