Friday, January 11, 2008

ON THE LITE SIDE - San Diego Zoo, Zhen Zhen


"Life with the Kids"

It’s been two weeks since Zhen Zhen (pictured) made her public debut, and in the best family tradition, she’s won over every visitor to see her, it seems. Her climbing skills are awesome, she’s just passed the five-month mark, and her weight increases weekly. All in all she’s just doing fine and handling the attention in the same manner as her siblings before her: going to sleep earlier and earlier each day, sleeping through visiting hours, and waking to romp when the exhibit doors have closed. Is this a family tradition, spread from mother to cubs? I recall Bai Yun doing the same thing in that same viewing area early on after her arrival in late 1996. The clock would strike nine, she’d cock her head in the direction of the carillon, drop her bamboo, climb into the pine tree, turn around, and go to sleep for the remainder of the morning.

All the attention has been directed toward Zhen: visitors come racing down the San Diego Zoo’s Bear Canyon and, with two viewing areas open in the morning, often bypass Gao Gao and Su Lin, or do a U-turn and race back up Panda Canyon to see the baby before her area closes, these days at 11:30 a.m. It’s almost shocking how quickly Su Lin’s status has dropped from being the bear everyone wanted to see to second-best. And, as if she senses this, within days of Zhen going on exhibit, Su Lin delighted those guests wise enough to still appreciate her with a classic cub romp throughout her enclosure! Up and down the climbing structures, bouncing on the elm branches, tearing branches off the bushes, and rolling and trotting across her space, is she reminding us that she’s still a growing panda kid, and as such retains a serious cute factor? Through these last rainy weeks, we’ve not seen the rain dancing that we’d seen before; perhaps the novelty has worn off since it’s rained so often.

Zhen Zhen, too, has been out and about in the rain, although not within our view until recently. The tree limbs were so slick this Saturday that she couldn’t reach her favorite napping spot, in spite of repeated attempts. The end result was a small, wet bear with a crusting of mud (bedraggled but bewitching) who finally toddled into the shelter box, curled up in the fresh, sweet hay, and went to sleep for the rest of the morning. Babies of all species sleep a lot, it’s true, but as she grows we hope that we’ll soon be seeing more of Zhen Zhen in action before that long summer stretch when, in the best cub fashion, she’ll climb up to the top of a leafy tree and go to sleep!

Lets all hear it.... AHHHHHH!

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