San Diego Zoo Blogs

I have had the pleasure of watching ZZ from her first veterinary exam. I admit to finding myself cooing when she wiggled her tail or smiling when I heard her vocalize for the first time (see Yadira’s blog, Cooing over the Cub). I worried when she’d take a tumble and I laughed as she bit her mom’s ear. Unlike her dedicated keepers, I’ve only watched ZZ from behind a table or behind the scenes. For her safety and mine, I don’t get to touch or handle the cub. Still, I have to admit that I’ve been pretty lucky as I help to coordinate the documentation and publicity of this little girl. Yes, I have been ZZ’s own publicist and I couldn’t be happier. I have been in the exam room many times and been there before the Zoo opens to see her with no one but her keepers around.

Now it’s time to share! You’ll get to see what I saw during those exams, during her first attempt to climb a tree or the first time she played with a ball. It was caught and you’ve seen short takes on our Web site, but Panda Tales is a fun year in the life of Zhen Zhen. Great music was created just for Panda Tales. And of course, you’ll get a chance to see Bai Yun and Gao Gao as well. You’ll even get a brief look at the “making of” little ZZ!

So tune in Sunday at 8 p.m. and you’ll be the first to see Panda Tales. You’ll hear from Dr. Ron Swaisgood, co-head of the San Diego Zoo’s Giant Panda Conservation Unit, as he talks to PBS live about the Zoo’s work with pandas in San Diego and China. Dr. Meg Sutherland-Smith—whom I am very jealous of—will also be at KPBS live. Dr. Meg, as we love to call her, was the Zoo’s veterinarian who not only was the first to examine ZZ at two weeks old, she is also the vet who told us Bai was pregnant with ZZ before she gave birth last year.

For panda fans outside of San Diego, check with your local PBS stations to see if they’ll be airing Panda Tales in late November or December.

Yadira Galindo is a public relations representative for the Zoological Society of San Diego.

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!FRIENDS!
Are they not great?
I love my friends…
ALL my friends.
My short friends
&
My tall friends
and especially my sharing friends.
Here’s to all my friends…

May chance and fortune
fall upon you like the sweet words of a friend!

Gary Voyles is a visitor assistance officer at the San Diego Zoo.

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(Don’t ask me why these things happen; it’s all up to the keepers and animal care managers, always in the best interests of the animals. It keeps the narrators and guests on their toes, since over the years we’ve learned not to be surprised by who we greet each morning at the Giant Panda Research Station.)

Gao has been treated the last two mornings with his favorite enrichment—piles of pine shavings, usually seen only once every few weeks. We know that this is one of his favorites; he rolls and stretches, rubs and curls into them at least once during its time in the exhibit. Feeder puzzles or feeder balls are a source of food, but pine shavings (and honey drizzles) seem to be the most enjoyed. Now that the busy summer season has passed and the number of visitors and buses through the canyon is fewer, it’s a fitting way to welcome him back to the viewing area.

He’s as grubby as ever, ploppping down in his favorite spots and even hanging off the faux tree stump as if he’d never been away. Perhaps he’s mellowing out in his “middle age.” There’s been some olfactory investigation, but mostly he’s just adopted his old routine, this morning sitting and eating bamboo, leaning against the rock, eyes closed, chowing down some bamboo culm.

Gao’s return to the fore means that Su Lin will be getting a well-deserved break after this busy time in the quieter, off-exhibit area behind the Giant Panda Research Station. While all pandas are noise-sensitive, younger pandas tend to react more visibly, so while we’ll miss her, a change of scene and a little more quiet will be a nice change of pace for Su Lin. Keepers are always alert to the behavior of their charges, and she, too, had been treated along the way to her favorite goodies while she did her important job of entertaining and educating our guests about her species through the spring and summer.

Reminder to all: Bai Yun will be 17 years old on September 7. In the wild, a panda’s life span can range from 16 to 20 years, but pandas in managed care can live up to 30 years or more and Bai shows all the indications of having many more good years ahead of her. Happy Birthday, precious bear! How much you have taught us over the years. Keep it up!

Ellie Rosenbaum is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo.

Moderator’s note: As luck would have it, our local TV station, KPBS, will be airing a show called Panda Tales about daughter Zhen Zhen’s first year on September 7 at 8 p.m. Other PBS stations will air the show later on this year. The KPBS production crew follows Zhen’s story from birth to her first birthday. The show also highlights our dedicated scientists and veterinarians at the San Diego Zoo and their colleagues in China, all of who have worked to improve breeding techniques for giant pandas. Panda Tales combines music and fun scenes of Zhen Zhen growing up while showcasing panda conservation. In between breaks you’ll also see Dr. Ron Swaisgood and Dr. Meg Sutherland-Smith talking about the San Diego Zoo’s panda program.

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The Maui parrotbill is an endangered Hawaiian honeycreeper that is related to North American finches. It inhabits highland forests on the eastern slopes of Haleakala on the Island of Maui. Its bill is specially designed to pick apart native plants in search of its favorite food, insect larvae. Maui parrotbills are monogamous birds, with both sexes cooperating in nest building and chick rearing. As with most native Hawaiian birds, the main threats to the Maui parrotbills are loss of habitat, predation, and disease. The wild population is estimated to be about 500 individuals. Not much is known about their natural behaviors in the wild, which makes captive propagation a big challenge.

In the wild, the chick can be cared for by the parents for as long as nine months. This is a very long time, especially for such a small bird. The reason for this is not well known, but it may be the time required for the chick to learn all the necessary life skills from its parents.

At the Maui Bird Conservation Center, we make every effort to keep our Maui parrotbill chick as ‘wild’ as possible. To prevent the chick from imprinting on people, we made hand puppets to stand in for real parrotbill parents. Every time we went in to feed or move the chick, we used our hand puppets. We also played audio recordings of Maui parrotbill songs in hopes that the chick will learn to sing like a wild parrotbill. Once old enough, the chick was moved to an aviary next to a pair of adult Maui parrotbills. By exposing the chick to others of its kind, we hope that it will learn some natural Maui parrotbill behaviors. The more natural behaviors we can promote, the higher the chances are that these birds and their offspring will survive in the wild.

We know little about their natural behaviors in the wild and even less about them in managed care. We try to emulate, as much as we can, the natural habitat of the Maui Parrotbill. They do not breed very often in managed care facilities, so much of what we do continues to be a learning process. In a way, we are deciphering a puzzle, one piece at a time. In time, the more we learn about the Maui parrotbill, the better guided we can be in making the right decisions to best aid in the recovery of the species. We hope, with continued patience and dedication, we will be able to restore the Maui parrotbill to its native habitat.

Marisa Boyd is a research associate at the San Diego Zoo’s Maui Bird Conservation Center.

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Andean bears are currently considered to be at “high risk of extinction in the wild in the medium-term future” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Because their populations are believed to be declining, for years South American researchers have conducted heroic research on Andean bears, trying to determine where they live and what habitats they use. However, because these bears typically live in forests, spend so much time in trees, and avoid humans, we still don’t know very much about them. (For more information on why I’m working on Andean bears, see my blog, Conserving Ursids: Andean Bears) I’m working in Peru because it’s thought to contain about one-third of the remaining Andean bear habitat and because there’s been relatively little research done here on Andean bears. One of the objectives of this program is to mentor and train students and parabiologists, thereby improving conservation science capacity in Peru.

I’m in Quince Mil, a town on the east slope of the Andes in southeast Peru, because this is where my collaborators are based. To understand the ecology and much of the behavior of the Andean bear, biologists have to understand how bears interact with their habitats. I am definitely not a tropical botanist, so as I looked for potential field sites I also looked for potential botanical collaborators. I was fortunate enough to find some botanists who are working to describe and understand the plant diversity of the forests of southeast Peru. These investigators are with the Andes to Amazon Biodiversity Program (AABP) of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. The co-director of the program, Dr. John Janovec, moved to Quince Mil with his family last December, just in time to experience the most fantastic rain storms of his life. When you consider that John has spent years working in lowland Amazon rain forests, you can understand why I was impressed with the weather. The town gets an average of 8 meters of rain per year; that’s about 26 feet of rain per year!! I was here last February, which was still during the rainy season, so I’m finding it hard to believe that I’ve been here for three days and it hasn’t rained yet.

Quince Mil and the surrounding area have been developed for decades for small farms, logging, and placer gold mines. There might have been bears here at one time, but now the closest bears live higher up the valleys. To study the bears and their habitats we’ll have to do a lot of hiking in some very rugged terrain. I’m not going to kid you – it will be a challenge to make the transition from the sea-level mesas and canyons of San Diego to the Andes Mountains!

At present the only road through this area is a dirt road just wide enough for two vehicles to meet. However, a major transcontinental highway, the Interoceanica, is under construction through this area. When finished in the next 24 months, this highway will run from the Atlantic coast of Brazil to the Pacific coast of Peru, and it will probably have major economic and ecological impacts on the area. Because of the construction of the highway, private cars are only allowed on the road on Sundays. So, rather than wait days to hire an expensive vehicle, I have two choices for travel from Cusco to Quince Mil. Catch a ride on a truck traveling at night between Cusco and Puerto Maldonado, or take an overnight bus on the same route. Although riding on a truck is cheaper, I prefer the comfort of the bus. So far this ride has taken me anywhere from 9 to 14 hours, but I’ve heard that when there are landslides it can take days to make the voyage. I hope I never have that much fun!

I’ll return to the U.S. in mid-December. Until then I’ll attempt to post blog updates when I’m not in the field and when I can access the Internet. This is going to be an exciting and challenging project, but with any luck we should be able to determine why Andean bears use the forests as they do, even if we can’t see the bears for all the trees.

Russ Van Horn is a senior researcher in the San Diego Zoo’s Applied Animal Ecology Division.

Listen to an iZoofari Chat with Russ…
Listen to an iZoofari Chat with an Andean bear keeper…

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Over the past month or two there have been some fights, some scars, and even some blood in the exhibit. Today I observed some interesting behavior that I had to share. Meerkats, as most animals, spend a lot of time scent marking. They have a gland near their rear with which they rub on anything and everything. Every day when I change the bedding in their nest box, Ngami is there to rub herself all through the hay and scent mark on the plastic tunnel leading out of the box. When Kasane was part of the group, she used to run in after Ngami and scent mark over her spot. I am sure if I sat there and watched they would continue remarking over each other all day.

So this afternoon I watched as Marula and Damara, our two next-oldest females, decided they wanted to take Seronga’s position. They were doing a lot of posturing, which basically is standing up next to one another, pushing each other with their shoulders or heads. Another amusing behavior is when they decide they must be in the same spot as the other one, therefore displacing the other. Seronga was sitting in a food bowl today and Damara forced her way in, hoping to make Seronga jump out. But Seronga held her ground and the two of them were stubbornly sitting on top of each other, both refusing to move.

And now for the scent marking: Damara and Marula scent marked anything they could get their butt on. Literally! They even scent marked their mom and dad, Ngami and Ghanzi. I thought Ngami would get annoyed with this behavior but she did not. I am still wondering if she was aware of what they were doing. Meerkats are very physical with each other so she might not have realized she had been marked!

We shall see what tomorrow brings as far as wounds and swellings. The fighting was not as violent as last month’s episode, so hopefully they have worked it out.

On a lighter note, the litter of pups born in June is doing well (see blog, A 7th Litter of Meerkats). They had their first vaccines and made sure to give my gloves a good bite while I was holding them. True meerkats! Make sure to see the article in the October issue of ZOONOOZ about this meerkat group. It promises to be drama-filled!

Laura Weiner is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo.

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Umngani has long, beautiful tusks and is the mother of the oldest calf, Khosi. Lungile is the smallest female with short tusks. Ndula has a “snaggle tusk” which hooks under her trunk and is only visible when she raises it to rest it on her son, the juvenile Musi. Now that I can tell the difference between each, it is on to the research and data collection!

We are currently outfitting our African elephants with collars that will hold both a GPS unit to track animal movement and a recording unit to capture vocalizations (see How Far Do Elephants Walk in One Day?). This collar will be worn together with the anklet pedometer to track the number of steps the animals take when moving around the enclosure. All of these units are designed to automatically collect data when worn by the elephants; the data is then downloaded for analysis.

You may notice that a critical piece of information is missing with all of the automatically collected data. What are the elephants actually doing and how are they behaving at the time? Is Musi playing in the pool on a hot afternoon? Is Swazi trumpeting at her nearest neighbor who is getting too close? Or are Umoya and Kamile simply wandering the yard munching on an afternoon snack? Over the course of the next year, I will be out with the elephants recording such daily behaviors.

How do you start when embarking on a project looking at animal behavior? The first step is to make an ethogram, a chart that describes all of the natural behaviors of the animals. Then we narrow down from this comprehensive list to the specific behaviors of interest. In our case, we will be looking for social behaviors between individuals, including trunk or body contact, chasing one another around the yard, and suckling by the calves.

Our data will give us a better picture of what the Wild Animal Park’s herd of African elephants is doing on a daily basis. From this we will know where each animal is moving in the yard and why. We should be able to figure out whether their daily walking distance depends on the weather, or where their food is placed, or where the other elephants are. Finally, we will be able to see what vocalizations and behaviors are friendly and seem to say, “Hey, come over here!” and which ones politely mean, “Get out of my way!” All of this will help us to more effectively manage our herd and increase our understanding of wild herds in Africa.

Emily Rothwell is a Heller Fellow Research Associate with the San Diego Zoo’s Behavioral Biology Division.

View the Park’s elephants daily on Elephant Cam…

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The sisters seem to have their favorites and behave accordingly. Looking at the interactions they have with each other, as well as noting if one sister prefers the company of another, is a perfect way for me to see if the sisters have a distinct dominance hierarchy. This hierarchy can then be compared to hormone levels of reproductive cycles in the cheetahs to see if the dominant cheetah is behaviorally suppressing her sisters from cycling. This is important for us to know in order to best house our lovely cheetah girls.

As many pet owners know, cats enjoy spending most of their time sleeping. Cheetahs are no different! The fact that the girls spend a lot of their time relaxing makes it difficult to record social interactions with each other. However, all is not lost. I can record which sisters relax next to others, and which ones relax alone. Even though they are not actively interacting, the fact that they make the choice to be next to another cheetah is an important choice I must be aware of. In fact, for being a solitary animal, the girls surprisingly spend almost half of their time together. Once I analyze my data, I will be able to see who the cooler sister is to hang out with and what this means for dominance.

When the cheetahs do interact with each other, it usually seems to be friendly. They enjoy grooming, playing, following, and approaching one another. There have been some instances of aggression and avoidance, but not many so far. The sisters seem to be getting along quite well. This is good news for their housing situation, because it appears they don’t mind living together.

At this point, a strong dominance hierarchy does not seem to be emerging. This could be because the sisters are still young, and once they get older they won’t enjoy hanging out as much with each other. It could just mean that within our group of cheetahs the sisters have chosen a democracy instead of a monarchy. I still have about a month left to collect more data and further analyze what is going on behaviorally and hormonally with these cheetahs. Even though no strict hierarchy characterizes the sisters, Moyo seems to be the magnet because she’s the favorite to be near. Check back in a month or so to find out more.

Megan Petersdorf is a CRES Bonner summer fellow in the San Diego Zoo’s Behavioral Biology Division.

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In fact, she was doing so well that the decision was made to proceed with the introduction to Herman. The hospital staff was well prepared to step in, if necessary, but aside from Sweet Otter being a bit protective over Kalila, the introduction went smoothly. Soon all three otters were swimming, eating, playing, and sleeping together over the next few days.

We were all prepared to welcome the three otters back to their home in the San Diego Zoo’s Bear Canyon when Kalila took a turn for the worse. On Monday morning, the hospital keeper noticed that she was moving slowly and wasn’t very interested in food. A few hours later she was more lethargic and the veterinarian on duty decided to check her out. Sadly, she passed away right as they were preparing to examine her. Many tests are pending to determine why she died, and as soon as I have some answers I will post another blog.

So, on Tuesday, Sweet Otter and Herman did come back to their exhibit where they are now residing. It’s hard to say what kind of loss Sweet Otter may be experiencing. She continues to have a good appetite and seems to have settled back into her exhibit. I’m probably more devastated than she as I had become very attached to little Kalila and was so looking forward to having the three of them in my charge. However, life doesn’t always go as planned, and I am accepting this as the days go by. The good news is that Herman and Sweet Otter are getting along fine and are both healthy.

Thank you to everyone who sent comments to my previous blogs. It’s been a fun and rewarding last five months and I’ve enjoyed sharing my experiences watching Kalila grow. She will be sorely missed.

Hali Anderson is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo.

Moderator’s note: We were all saddened to learn of Kalila’s passing and appreciate the effort Hali made to share her story with our readers.

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