animalphiles

San Diego's newest panda gets a name

From Associated Press:
A three month-old panda cub has been named Zhen Zhen, or Precious. Following Chinese tradition, the San Diego Zoo waited until the cub, which was born Aug. 3, was 100 days old before giving her a name Monday.

Zhen Zhen (pronounced shen shen) won out over 2,400 names submitted by zoo visitors. Thirty-six percent of voters chose the name from among the four finalists.

The other choices were Li Hua, or Beautiful China; Ming Zhu, or Bright Treasure; and Xiao Li, or Little Beauty.

The cub is still living out of public view in a private den with her mother, the panda Bai Yun, but can be seen via the zoo's Web cam.

Zhen Zhen is the third cub born to Bai Yun and her consort, Gao Gao, since 2003. The panda couple has been one of the most reproductively successful ever in captivity.
Photo: Reuters

Panda birth leaves scientists scratching heads

From AFP:
A giant panda first thought to be male, then classified as a hermaphrodite who was unable to bear cubs, has now surprised Chinese scientists by having twins, state media reported on Thursday.

Eleven-year-old Jinzhu gave birth to two female cubs on Monday, Xinhua news agency said.

Jinzhu had been classified as male at birth in 1996, a mistake owing to the typically small penis size of pandas, which can sometimes confuse scientists as to a panda's sex, Xinhua said.

The mix-up led to an ill-fated attempt in 2000 to mate Jinzhu with a female panda in Japan.

The two animals showed "complete disinterest" in each other, the report said.

Scientists then attempted to artificially inseminate the female panda with Jinzhu's semen, only to discover that Jinzhu had female sex organs.

Jinzhu was sent back to China, with some scientists concluding she was a hermaphrodite.

However, they later discovered the confusion was due to the unusual "positioning" of her sex organs, which was corrected in a 2005 operation, Xinhua said.

Giant pandas are among the world's most endangered species, with around 1,600 living in the wild, mostly in the mountains of Sichuan province, and more than 210 in captivity.

However, a study by Chinese and British scientists in June said there may actually be as many as 3,000 in the wild, according to Xinhua.

Chinese pandas lend new meaning to "crappy souvenirs"

Visitors to the 2008 Olympics in China will be able to go home with knick-knacks that can honestly be described as a bunch of crap.

Panda poo is being sculpted into photo frames, bookmarks, fans and, of course panda statues.

The poo is coming from a wildlife research center - where the resident pandas generate about 300 tons of the stuff each year.
Officials at the center say the products don't smell "too bad" because panda excrement is mostly made up of undigested bamboo.

More room for China's pandas

The giant panda habitat in central China's Qinling Mountains has been expanded, greatly improving the protection of the endangered species.

The Qinling Mountains, encompassing a total area of 32,000 square miles, are home to about 200–300 pandas. However, rapid development and human settlement in the area in recent years have become major threats to the animal, which has little connection to other panda populations.

According to a survey conducted by WWF and China’s Shaanxi Forestry Department, extending the panda’s habitat and “green” corridors by about 16 miles to the east, 24 miles to the west, and 2.5 miles to the south and north — has helped reconnect fragmented populations in the area.

A newly-planted corridor above the Qinling Tunnel along National Road 108 has also contributed to bridging panda populations.

“It's very encouraging that panda habitat has improved in size and quality,” said Dermot O'Gorman, WWF country representative in China.

“We hope the corridors can connect the panda populations separated by the highway, free the animal from human and traffic disturbance, and bring new hope to the conservation of wild giant pandas in Qinling.”

Panda porn helps produce baby boom

Pandas are notorious for their reticence towards romance. Folks at the Wolong Panda Reserve in China have found panda "porn" helps. We're talking panda sex on video and live! live! live!

Females are only ready to mate three days of the year, so biologists are willing to do anything that helps. The males respond well to the sights (and sounds) of other couples getting it on. Enough so that there's been a bit of a baby boom in the past year. See the full report by CNN's John Vause.

Popular panda cub to stay in DC

Fans of panda cub Tai Shan will have two extra years to visit her at the National Zoo in Washington. China extended her stay with her parents today.

"As an envoy of goodwill from the Chinese people and a symbol of friendly cooperation between China and the United States, Tai Shan will continue to bring more happiness and delight to the American people," Chinese Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong said.

The zoo's agreement is to give the Chinese government $10 million to keep the adult pandas over 10 years since their arrival in 2000. John Gibbons, a National Zoo spokesman, said that the zoo agreed to pay an additional $600,000 for any cubs born to the pair. The money goes to panda conservation efforts in China. The zoo was not charged any more to extend Tai Shan's stay.

An estimated 2.25 million visitors have gone to the zoo to see the cub since his public debut in December 2005.
photo: Jessica Cohen/Smithsonian National Zoo

 

Panda porn a dud, insemination tried instead

Videos of pandas having sex didn't do anything to inspire two cage-mates at Thailand's Chaing Mai Zoo. So, officials turned to artificial insemination yesterday in hopes of getting the female Lin Hui pregnant.

The male, Chuang Chuang just didn't want to mate, obviously preferring a platonic relationship. Thailand rented Chuang Chuang and Lin Hui from China for ten years starting in 2003. Since then, zoo officials  have tried everything from putting Chuang Chuang on a special diet to holding a mock wedding.

The young male lost weight but his libido didn't improve do the zoo started showing him 15-minute video clips of successful panda couplings. That was a bust, too.

Artificial insemination is common for Pandas in China, but this is the first time it's been tried in Thailand. It will take about four months for zoo workers to know if it worked.
photo: Associated Press

Polar bear cub is cash cow, but Knut misses Thomas

The Berlin Zoo expects record attendance this Easter weekend, largely thanks to the new star attraction, Knut the polar bear cub.

The number of visitors doubled the usual in March to 200,000. The surge came after an animal rights activists suggested hand-rearing Knut was "unnatural" and said the cub should have been euthanized after it was rejected by its mother last December.

Knut was brought up and bottle-fed by his keeper, Thomas Doerflein. He has gone away on a short vacation and Knut is really pining for him. "It's like with any small child left alone at the kindergarten for the first time," Berlin Zoo's bear expert Heiner Klös told Spiegel Online. "Bears don't cry but Knut looked for him for a while and then sulked around a bit and wasn't amused.

Spiegel reports that on Monday, the first day of Dörflein's break, Knut scampered away from his other keepers towards the entrance to the enclosure, clearly waiting for Dörflein. In the wild, polar bear cubs stay with their mothers for almost three years.

Knut's antics and adorable face have captured the public's adoration. Enough so that shares in the Berlin Zoo's stocks have jumped 58% this week. Analysts predict Knut-related merchandise and events would earn the Zoo nearly 13-million dollars.
photo: Reuters

Check out the latest great video of Knut at Speigel Online.

 

Mei Lan gets taste of the outdoors

Zoo Atlanta says Mei Lan, the giant panda cub born Sept. 6 ventured into her outdoor habitat for the first time today. She didn't go far, but zoo officials expect her to get bolder as she becomes used to having more room to roam.

Staff has been busy “baby-proofing” the exhibit over the last couple of weeks to ensure the safety of the cub as she explores this new habitat.  Extra padding and bedding has been placed in some areas to support the cub as she becomes more accustomed to these new surroundings.

At 27.3 pounds and slightly over 6 months old, she is growing rapidly and changing on a weekly basis. “This is a fantastic age.  She is at the height of her cuteness and is still very small compared to her mother,” said Zoo Atlanta Curator of Giant Pandas and Research Dr. Rebecca Snyder.  “There is nothing like watching her run, climb, play with her mother and experience the world around her.”

This announcement coincides with an extension of available hours for visitors to see Mei Lan.  Over the last few weeks, she has become increasingly comfortable with her surroundings. As a result, her availability will now coincide with Zoo Atlanta’s regular operating hours.

China picks two pandas for Hong Kong

Two pandas now known simply as male No. 606 and female No. 610 will get new names and a new home in Hong Kong soon.

Both pandas were born in August 2005 at the China Panda Protection and Research Center in Wolong, Sichuan Province. A scientist who helped with the selection say the two are "well-mannered, lively, mentally healthy and easy going."

The director of the panda center says they also appear fertile. Zhang Hemin says, "the male panda has short mouth and sleek fur, the female looks shy, sensitive and well-set. They seemed attracted by each other at first sight and would not be apart."

The Hong Kong government will hold a competition for the public to name the pandas.