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Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Get ready to name the new panda
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Panda fans, start your laptops.
The public will choose the name for Zoo Atlanta’s new Giant Panda cub through an online poll Dec. 1-10 on ajc.com, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution web site.
Voters will choose from 10 names submitted by zoo staff, media organizations, sponsors and residents of Sichuan province in China, the panda’s native homeland.
All 10 potential names for the female cub will be pre-approved for submission by Zoo Atlanta staff and officials at the Chengdu Research Base for Giant Panda Breeding in China. Chengdu is the birthplace of Lun Lun and Yang Yang, the cub’s parents.
The names will be listed in English with their Chinese translations, Zoo spokeswoman Susan Elliott said. The list of candidates will be announced in late November by zoo officials.
Five local media companies — affiliates of the four major TV networks and The Atlanta-Journal Constitution — will submit one name each. Zoo sponsor Panda Express will also nominate a name. Two names each will be offered by zoo staff and residents of Sichuan province. A contest already is underway in Chengdu to choose those names.
Elliott said the Atlanta media companies were invited to participate because of their ongoing support of the zoo. “They didn’t give us a dime” to be included in the naming process, she said.
The winning name will be announced during a 100 Day Naming Celebration at Zoo Atlanta on Friday, Dec. 15, at 10 a.m. The celebration is a tradition in many parts of China. For panda cubs the one-hundredth day of life is a significant milestone because of the high infant-mortality rate in the species.
The cub born at Zoo Atlanta on Sept. 6, currently weighing 7.2 pounds, is the only giant panda to be born outside of China in 2006. It is the result of breeding recommendations from a Species Survival Plan for giant pandas administered by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and a breeding plan administered by the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens and the State Forestry Administration of China.
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