Zoos. Can They Be Fixed?

Producer Liz Scheltens started digging in. One way that zoos maintain their social
license to operate despite our growing understanding of the harms to certain species is by marketing themselves as beacons of conservation.

Proponents argue that not only do zoos help preserve endangered wild populations, they also help make humans better conservationists. But when you look at the research, a different picture starts to emerge.

_________________
Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-Cje

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

American-Born Pandas Struggle In China

Giant panda twins Mei Lun and Mei Huan were born and raised in Atlanta, but not as a birthright citizens, and at age three they were returned to China. But since they were raised as Americans, the pandas only understand English, and their new Sichuanese-speaking keepers are finding them difficult to handle. Panda researchers in China can recognize basic panda vocalizations, but the twins probably speak panda with a Georgia drawl.

Mei Lun and Mei Huan don’t like the local food, either. The cuisine at the Chengdu Panda Breeding Center is not up to the standards of Zoo Atlanta, where the beasts feasted on sugarcane, bananas, rice gruel, carrots, apples, sweet potatoes, and high-fiber panda biscuits, not just bamboo and steamed bread.

More:

“U.S.-born panda twins return to China, but struggle with the language and food,” Simon Denyer, Washington Post

“Zoo Atlanta Panda Twins Move to China, Don’t Care for Country’s Food and Can’t Understand Chinese,” Kelli Bender, People

“American-born pandas return to China, struggle with adapting to local language, food,” Alex Linder, Shanghaiist

“Returned giant panda twins prefer western lifestyle,” Xinhua, via Global Times

____________________

Short Link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-oVc

Photo by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

Double-Good News from Washington DC

In the Nation’s Capital, Congress and the President may be on vacation, but the Smithsonian’s National Zoo has been busy. The zoo’s 17-year-old Giant Panda Mei Xiang gave birth to two cubs over the weekend. The twins are pink, and while new-born pandas are often said to be be the size of sticks of butter, they’re really more like packs of Starburst. The father of the two is Tian Tian, who had a little help from the National Zoo staff. Mother and cubbies are doing fine.

More:

“National Zoo’s twin pandas are only the 3rd set to be born at a U.S. zoo,” Michael E. Ruane, Washington Post

“It’s panda-monium! National Zoo says Mei Xiang has twins,” Jessica Gresko, AP via Deseret News

“Bamboo-zled: Panda surprises with birth of twins,” AFP via Asia Times

“Double the Joy at National Zoo as Panda Gives Birth to Twins,” Daniel Politi, Slate

______________

Short Link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-lWO

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

Panda Viewing

The Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoological Park made a rare juvenile female Ailuropoda melanoleuca available for public observation today, and hundreds of researchers participated. Review of preliminary field notes indicates wide agreement that the specimen is a widdle bitty roly-poly fuzzy-wuzzy cutise-wootsie-poo.

Name the Panda Cub

The National Zoo’s cute little panda princess needs a name. Vote here (or here for the Chinese ballot). Voting closes November 22nd.

More:

“Name of zoo’s giant panda cub is going up for a vote,” Michael E. Ruane, Washington Post

________________________

Shortlink: http://wp.me/p6sb6-hKR

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

Orangutans & iPads

Orangutans at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo are using iPads. That explains lots of blog comment threads ….

Seriously, this is a giant evolutionary step for our caged simian cousins. App-groping apes will become just as productive as iPad-toting humans, spending hours with Facebook and Angry Birds.

More:

“What Happens When You Give an Orangutan an iPad?,” Leah Binkovitz, Around the Mall blog

______________________

Short link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-fIs

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

Panda Passion

There’s romance in the air at the Edinburgh Zoo, but it’s in the minds of zookeepers, not in the hearts of the pair of pandas they hope to breed. Tian Tian and Yang Guang (“Sunshine” and “Sweetie”) got together on a brief date which included a cuddle, but cupid’s arrow missed its mark. The Sun has video (the swine).

The female panda only goes into heat for 1 day a year, leaving 364 when she’s JUST NOT IN THE MOOD thankyouverymuch. Pass the bamboo, please.

___________________

Short Link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-cVZ

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

Pandas: Unshakeable

Many animals at DC’s National Zoo were upset by the recent earthquake. Even before the quake struck, red ruffed lemurs were alarm-barking, Iris the orangutan yelled, and the flamingos huddled together in a big pink ball.

The Giant Pandas were neither stirred nor shaken. They just sat there, chewing bamboo. Those critters are tough. They’re from China. They were probably thinking: “Pah. You call that an earthquake?”