The Panda Thread!

[mamselle]

A few places either have young pandas, panda-cam's, or newborns at the moment.

Share away!

1) The Korean baby panda (3 1/2 months old on Nov. 4) is featured here:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah8ByQ2aUFc&feature=emb_err_woyt


2) The Washington DC/Smithsonian National Zoo has updates and a panda-cam here:

   

3) Recent clips from their cameras include:

  a) A general update: the baby (never named, according to Chinese custom, for 100 days, so referred to until then as "cubbie") is working on leg strength, needed to get traction for walking on all fours:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBv0FlE9c14

At 2:41, his mother, Mei-mei picks him up like a cat and takes him to their stone-walled enclosure to nurse, lick, and cuddle him.

At 7:12 she climbs out of the smaller area, called the "play pen" and leaves him there to rest while she gets bamboo shoots to eat.

At 14:14, Mei-mei eats a pressed carrot-apple-etc. fruit-like treat (orange from the carrots, to resemble a Hallowe'en pumpkin)

At 17"43. the camera in Tien-Tien (the father)'s pen shows him climbing a tree and "anointing" it (marking it) as his own.

A shorter clip, here:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBv0FlE9c14

shows Mei-mei leaving her own food to attend to her vocalizing cub.

The way she handles him and is so attuned to him is healing, somehow, if one projects oneself into the cub's place.

4) Chinese National Zoo clips are here, on their raising and natural accomodation program:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_cpPMjE0vU

and here, when the first baby panda triplets were born:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvxwfTRrvjI
   
   (NB: to interested forumites, there's a Capybara sighting at .07!)

Others?

M.

[mamselle]

Missed the edit window: the National Zoo panda-cam page site is here:

   https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/news/top-10-giant-panda-cub-cam-moments

There's also the Zoo Atlanta blog on their five pandas, the newest born in 2017, here:

   https://zooatlanta.org/11558-2/

And the San Diego Zoo:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp9RTY1H7xs

(a few years ago)

M.

[mamselle]

Atlanta update:

Pandas playing with squeegees on the other side of a window...

   https://zooatlanta.org/panda-updates-monday-november-9/

M.

[namazu]

May red pandas play in this thread, in addition to the giant pandas?

[mamselle]

Absolutely!

Brimg 'em on!


ETA: I went back to see if they've posted the "squeegee dance" yet, but they're just sleeping right now.

   https://zooatlanta.org/panda-cam/

They sleep in the weirdest positions...I'd fall out of the tree like that!

M.

[nebo113]

Love it!!!!

[apl68]

May red pandas play in this thread, in addition to the giant pandas?

Red pandas have long lived in the shadow of giant pandas.

[mamselle]

Who currently has red pandas?

Has anyone visited/seen them?

Open to comments!

M.

[namazu]

Who currently has red pandas?

There have been red panda cubs born at the Toronto Zoo, the Erie Zoo, the Oregon Zoo, and the Cincinnati Zoo in the past year.

Here's one named Pabu in Oregon practicing his pounce.

Here's one in Toronto having some trouble getting out of bed.

[mamselle]

Ewoks!

;--}

And the little button eyes on the one in Toronto...awwww...

If Baby Yoda is going to go to the bad side, I might have to take pandas of all colors more seriously...

M.

[nebo113]

Saw that a K Pop group cuddled/fondled/manhandled a baby panda, and is getting grief for doing so....which they should.

[mamselle]

Yes, I wondered if that was a serious issue, or if in fact it was politicized by the Chinese-S. Korean edginess that continues in all sorts of things.

There have occasionally been China-based campaigns to "shame" U.S. and other zoos for what are really acceptable, innocent practices (a feeding non-issue arose, recently, I believe, and there were others) on the grounds that all giant pandas are considered to be, finally, Chinese "property," on loan to the zoos in other places.

I definitely agree with the practice of returning grown cubs of--i think it's 4 or 5 years of age--to China to be repatriated in their natural habitats as good conservation practice, and I've read a couple of articles/seen videos on that in the Chinese National Zoo.

But sometimes it seems as if some Twitter users are too ready to call "foul" unnecessarily, just to stir things up, and I'm not sure that serves any good purpose, either.

In any case, the new National Zoo/US cub comes up it to its100-day mark Nov.21, which means they're probably preparing to name it soon (a Chinese custom adopted by zoos globally).

I'm curious what they'll name it.

M.

[no1capybara]

and here, when the first baby panda triplets were born:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvxwfTRrvjI
   
   (NB: to interested forumites, there's a Capybara sighting at .07!)

Others?

M.

Hooray for capybaras!!!  It took me a while to remember why I changed my forum name to this - I had my zip code at the time and someone called me out that it would be too easy to figure out where I work (not that it really mattered).  So I was on a google doc at the time and my icon was a capybara and voila!

[mamselle]

Yes, he's a cute little critter, isn't he?

M.

[mamselle]

Double post, sorry...a few days later...

The most recent update is that the National Zoo cub is teething and still gaining weight.

   https://wjla.com/news/local/panda-alert-national-zoos-giant-panda-cub-is-teething-and-exploring-more-on-his-own

Apparently he can get three legs under him but hasn't yet gotten up on all fours...

M.