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October 2006
Panda cub gets feisty
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Maybe it’s because she feels her teeth beginning to show.
Or maybe she didn’t like the lens of the panda paparazzi hovering in her face.
Whatever the reason, Zoo Atlanta’s Giant Panda cub turned a little feisty Thursday morning. During her weekly physical, she squawked and suddenly lunged, albeit weakly, at a newspaper photographer who was busy clicking her profile. Then, almost instantly, she started to nod off to sleep.
At 50 days old, the panda baby weighs 5.5 pounds, a half pound more than last week, and has grown to 18 inches from nose to tip of tail.
“She’s growing very well, very steadily,” zoo veterinarian Maria Crane said. “Her incisors are beginning to erupt and her hair coat is much thicker than last week. She’s getting stronger. She’s a little more active and she’s trying to push up.” The cub is not expected to walk until about four months.
Meanwhile, mother panda Lun Lun, according to keeper Jay Pratte, is regaining muscle mass that was lost during pregnancy, when expectant pandas stop eating for the most part. She weighs about 105 kilos, or about 231 pounds, roughly ten pounds below her normal weight, he said.
Panda gains weight
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The little stick of butter has become a bag of sugar.
That’s how Zoo Atlanta officials were characterizing the growth of their Giant Panda she-cub Thursday. Lun Lun’s 43-day-old baby now weighs about five pounds — 4.9 pounds officially — and measures 17 inches from her nose to the tip of her tail. That’s a pound heavier and about a half-inch longer than last week. When the cub was born Sept. 6, zoo officials compared her size to a stick of butter.
During the bear’s fourth physical exam Thursday, the still-nameless panda was discovered to have hair growing on her feet. “She looks to be a very healthy cub … thriving and growing as expected,” said Zoo vet Maria Crane, who leads the checkups.
Last week, officials saw the panda’s eyes open for the first time. The next growth marker is the opening of her ears. “Right now her ear flaps are still tightly adhered to her skull,” Crane said. “When we start to see the ear flaps opening then we know that she’s beginning to hear more sounds also.” That could happen as soon as next week.
The cub is expected to begin walking at four months.
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Panda opens eyes; won’t see name for 8 weeks
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Now she’s staring back at you.
During a physical exam of Zoo Atlanta’s Giant Panda cub Thursday morning, zoo officials discovered that the 36-day-old baby’s eyes were open for the first time.
“She’s probably able to see now,” said Dr. Maria Crane, the zoo veterinarian. “We noticed she’s paying more attention to her environment.”
After being ogled by her keepers at the zoo and millions of viewers online, the cub’s own visual awareness is rapidly developing. Although Crane said it’s “hard to know” how much Lun Lun’s cub is actually seeing, the female newborn appeared slightly startled at one point during her checkup when she noticed some zoo staff intently watching her.
Since her previous checkup last week, the cub, whose name won’t be chosen for another two months, has grown to a little more than 16 inches in length, from nose to tip of tail. She has added almost a pound of weight, going from 2.9 pounds to 3.8 pounds.
“She’s a very solid cub,” Crane said following the seven-minute exam that started at 8:20 a.m.
“Her growth is nice and steady, and that’s really a testament to how well Lun Lun is taking care of her.”
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Pandas quiet after check up
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Zoo Atlanta vets were psyched about the panda cub’s physical and weigh-in Friday, but mother Lun Lun and her unnamed cub were acting just a bit miffed Saturday about the procedure, during which it was determined the cub weighs 2.91 pounds, and is 15.3 inches long.
“They were unsettled by the check up,” said Zoo Atlanta spokeswoman Susan Elliott. “They believe the cub is nursing, but the mother has her back turned so it’s more difficult to see. The cub is sleeping beside her now, instead of on top of her.”
Another reason for that sleeping arrangement could simply be that the cub, which turned a month old Friday, is getting older and bigger. The next great developmental question: When will the cub open her eyes? That usually happens at 35 to 45 days.
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Panda cub celebrates one-month birthday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Happy Birthday, whatever your name is.
Zoo Atlanta’s still nameless panda cub celebrated her one-month birthday Friday by getting another clean bill of health. Zoo veterinarian Maria Crane performed the second medical exam on Lun Lun’s baby shortly before 10 a.m. “She’s healthy and growing well, as we expect,” Crane said.
The cub has more than doubled in weight — to 2.9 pounds — since her first checkup Sept. 25, when she was handled by humans for the first time and discovered to be female.
“One more meal and she would have been three pounds,” Crane joked.
The cub has grown from 12 inches in length to more than 15 inches, from nose to tip of tail.
During the examination Friday, the first one opened to a news reporter, the cub bobbed and yawned while Crane measured her heartbeat, listened to her lungs, checked the coloring inside her mouth, and guided her paws to make prints in a special wax.
With more wispy black-and-white fur growing in, the baby now looks like a miniature version of her mother, except for some pink skin still evident on her snout. But she’s still not much bigger than a Beanie Baby.
The morning exam did not go off without a hitch. Shortly after 8 a.m., zoo staff initiated the procedure shortly by coaxing Lun Lun out of the birthing den to eat in an adjacent holding area. With biscuit in paw, however, mother panda quickly became suspicious, turning around repeatedly to eye her cub as Crane prepared to pick up the baby. At that point, zoo officials decided to wait to conduct the physical.
“Something was off for her this morning,” Crane said shortly after. “She knew something was different. She sensed other people around.”
Shortly before 10 a.m, the exam began, and finished five minutes later. “We’re getting this down pat,” said Dennis Kelly, Zoo President and CEO.
The cub, the only panda born outside China this year, is expected to be named 100 days after birth — Dec. 15 — according to Chinese custom. It will be unveiled to the public in late December or early January, zoo officials said.
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Yawns and wiggles
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lun Lun, Zoo Atlanta’s new mother panda, is continuing to take “excellent care� of her cub, zoo spokeswoman Susan Elliott said Monday.
Elliott said viewers of the zoo’s “pandacam� online and at the zoo are “going to be able to see more and more of the cub.�
The baby is “really wiggling around a great deal and Lun Lun is leaving it exposed more often,â€? Elliott said. “You can see amazing little yawns occasionally from the baby.â€?
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Lun Lun getting skinny, by panda standards
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Less than a month after Panda mother Lun Lun gave birth, she has regained what, by panda standards, is a girlish figure. Lun Lun is down to 100 kilograms — or roughly 220 pounds.
Before giving birth Sept. 6, her normal weight sometimes bumped up past 250 pounds. The weight loss is to be expected, given Lun Lun’s eccentric and persnickety diet in recent weeks (shunning bamboo, snacking on sugar cane and cookies), ZooAtlanta spokeswoman Susan Elliott said Sunday.
Zoo vets aren’t worried, either, because pandas can go weeks without eating after giving birth. But they’d like to see mom plump up, said Elliott: “We’d like to see her back to her normal weight, between 105 kilograms (231 pounds) and 115 kilograms (253 pounds).â€?
The great thing, she said, is that vets were able to entice Lun Lun onto the scales. Since giving birth she has been protective of her as-yet-unnamed female cub and unresponsive to verbal commands.
“She responded when they gave her the command to get on the scale,� said Elliott. That was Friday. Vets expect her behavior and response to keepers to continue to improve.
This Friday, the cub will turn a month old. That will begin the next episode of things to watch for, including when the cub’s eyes will open. “Usually it’s between 35 and 49 days,� Elliott said.
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