Home > Panda Watch > Archives > 2006 > December > 21 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USOne giant step for Mei Lan
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Slide some all-terrain sneakers in Mei Lan’s stocking. She’s going to need them any day now.
Zoo Atlanta’s baby panda expanded her horizons Thursday morning. Moments after submitting to her weekly exam, the 3 1/2-month-old cub managed to step outside the box where she’s been snoozing the nights away.
It wasn’t the smoothest step ever taken. In crawling over the 2-inch-by-4-inch barrier that forms her sleeping place, Mei Lan was as graceful as a rockslide.
But shaky steps soon became smooth, strong ones. Zoo officials are confident the cub, named in a ceremony last week, soon will be toddling after her mom, Lun Lun. She just needs to gain more strength in her rear legs, they say.
“Once she gets her legs underneath her, she’s going to be a lot of fun to watch,” said Dr. Maria Crane, the zoo’s senior veterinarian. Crane conducted the 12-minute weekly exam, the cub’s 13th since her Sept. 6 birth.
Mei Lan, as usual, wriggled in her examiners’ arms while Crane struggled to get measurements with a cloth measuring tape. Crane looked like a patient tailor, trying to outfit a reluctant 3-year-old.
Here’s the tale of tape and scale:
• Mei Lan is 27.5 inches long. True to form, the cub has grown an inch in the past week.
• The cub hasn’t missed many meals. She’s nearly 21 inches around.
• Mei Lan weighs 13 pounds — a 1-pound gain in seven days.
• Her teeth are getting longer. Crane ran a finger inside Mei Lan’s mouth,
• The cub’s coordination and strength continue to improve, Crane said. Mei Lan at least twice tried to crawl off the table where her handlers conducted the examination.
Crane smiled at her young patient. “She continues to grow quite nicely, as you can see,” Crane said.
Zoo officials think Mei Lan may need those sneakers within two weeks, and maybe sooner.
Click here to see this week’s photo gallery and here for video.
PLUS: Did you hear about the zebra shark? Read about it here.
Comments
By Mary
December 21, 2006 10:48 AM | Link to this
She just gets cuter all the time. Maybe she and that handsome guy Tai Shan will meet some day. Merry Christmas Mei Lan.
By panda lover
December 21, 2006 11:02 AM | Link to this
I wish that Zoo Atlanta would allow us to view her more than 10 -5pm. She is sleeping most of the day and we are missing the important moments. For those of us who are disabled and cannot come to see her, it would be a blessing. I have really enjoyed watching her grow daily. She is a beauty with a great personality already. We love you Bling Bling.
By Ex-Northerner
December 21, 2006 11:23 AM | Link to this
I agree with Panda Lover. I get to do more viewing time after 5pm than during the day. And she is sleeping in the daytime ALL the time. Have a heart, Zoo Atlanta!
By Carolyn
December 21, 2006 11:32 AM | Link to this
Is there any way that they could get more than one sponsor for the webcam? Divide the time up among more than one sponsor? Split the costs, so we can enjoy her full time again and watch for all her first moments?
I live in Florida and can’t get there to see her in person (at least now) — the webcam is the next best thing!
Come on guys, more sponsors, please! The world loves Mei Lan!! :)
By In Awe of Panda
December 21, 2006 11:33 AM | Link to this
If we want to see her all the time we should take issue with CNN and not Zoo Atlanta…they are the ones who stopped supporting the pandas.
By Dan
December 21, 2006 11:46 AM | Link to this
Guys..the pandacam is a FREE service. Why do you feel so entitled to more of it? Maybe if the Zoo had more city funding (they get very little compared to other, smaller Zoos) and more public support through attendance, they could bring us a 24 hour cam.
By Suma
December 21, 2006 12:47 PM | Link to this
For those of us who cannot watch little Mei Lan during the 10am to 5pm viewing time, I wonder if it would be possible for Zoo Atlanta to show the film from the daytime hours during the evening? I agree that we are missing the best part in the evening when she is most active but at least we could see some daytime footage. I really miss being able to see her daily!
By Carla
December 21, 2006 01:10 PM | Link to this
Oh my!!! She just gets cuter and cuter each week. I can’t wait to see her walk. Happy Holidays everyone!!
By catZilla
December 21, 2006 01:27 PM | Link to this
Dan,
It’s not about a ‘sense of entitlement,’ it’s about not being able to participate in a veritable history-making event: it isn’t every day a panda cub is born, not just in the US but in China. In Memphis, DC and San Diego where there are other pandas, sponsers are more than willing to pony up the dollars for at least 8-6 cam coverage, if not 24/7. Webcams and the broadband that support them are not that expensive. What I’m not understanding is why corporate sponsorship of Zoo Atlanta is so stingy when Atlanta is home to 15 Fortune 500 companies. Now, THAT’S a problem.
By Dan
December 21, 2006 01:34 PM | Link to this
I agree that they need more sponsor dollars, but these “have a heart, zoo atlanta” (Ex-Northerner) comments bug me. They are doing a great thing by giving us for free what, by all means, we should be paying for. Now THATS heart. Happy Holidays.
By catZilla
December 21, 2006 01:50 PM | Link to this
Dan,
You’re definitely missing the point on these “have a heart” posts, these are posts from people who NEVER get to see her until new photos are published each week.
If you can’t watch it from work, and therefore can’t see it at ALL, it doesn’t matter how free it is. Many dollar supporters of the zoo, such as myself, are among those who don’t get to see her during the day, so where does that leave me? I’m one of the ones who’d be more than happy to pay for it (and in fact I already am in a sense); there are more of those people than you’d think.
By the way, I don’t even live in Atlanta, much less Georgia, but even still I support the Atlanta Zoo, as do others who live out of state.
It’s not just Atlantans who donate to your zoo, there are people from all over the world who send your zoo money.
So, Dan, have a heart, willya?
By Suzanna
December 21, 2006 03:09 PM | Link to this
Merry Christmas, darling Mei Lan. We love you very much!
By Carol
December 21, 2006 03:13 PM | Link to this
catZilla, thank you so much for your post! There are many of us who enjoy watching the Panda Cam; yet can’t during the current hours. And guess what Dan, if there were more opportunities to watch; more people (including myself) who are out of state would probably send money in order to support the zoo. As to your “have a heart comment”…”cuteness” sells!
By Kathy
December 21, 2006 03:25 PM | Link to this
Your 7 hours M-F is when the kids are in school and the parents are at work. Atlanta is the only one with a baby ane the other 4 panda cams are open 24-7 ~~~7 days a week. Love ya Mei Lan.
By Colleen Horan
December 21, 2006 03:27 PM | Link to this
Sure wish some other big company (Coke, American Airlines) for example would sponsor more hours on the camera. Surely they can, it depends on their priorities. What’s that?? p-r-i-o-r-i-t-i-e-s!!! Surely those companys and other ones have slush funds and can set money aside for our Mei Lan viewing. Even during the 10-5 time period, she’s sound asleep, unless her mom comes and feeds her.
Sure wish these companies would change their minds snd give this issue some consideration.
Thank you AJC for your continued covering of our jewel.
Colleen Lansing Mi
By Dan
December 21, 2006 04:44 PM | Link to this
Whats that old cliche…oh yeah! Beggers can’t be choosers. Its FREE! And if youre such a monster, super-duper Turner-esque supporter; why do you call it the wrong name? (Zoo Atlanta, fyi). Yes, cuteness sells. You know what else makes a profit? Smart business decisions.
By Carol
December 21, 2006 05:24 PM | Link to this
True Dan, smart business decisions do make a profit. And just think how much more they would sell if people would have the opportunity to watch Mei Lan from our homes. More people would visit ZOO ATLANTA to see little Mei Lan…and more people would send funds to support her! By the way I am NOT a “begger”; neither am I a beggAr. Just stating my opinion of the Panda Cam hours.
By Cheryl
December 21, 2006 05:25 PM | Link to this
I LOVE MEI LAN!! She is the cutest baby :o) Just don’t do away with the cam, Zoo Atlanta!
By Carolyn
December 21, 2006 05:25 PM | Link to this
Maybe I shouldn’t say this for everyone, but I do think that we all appreciate Zoo Atlanta and Earthlink for providing the webcam for the times that they do. That said, I know I was saying that I wished they’d have the camera on either more hours or at times when more people can watch her. I’m lucky that I have computer access at work where I can watch her … my mom, unfortunately, doesn’t. And she loves Mei Lan also, but unfortunately hardly has a chance to see her.
The few hours we do have access with the webcam is great … we’re just wishing (outloud) that more sponsors would be willing to help out. The opportunity to witness such a beautiful baby like this doesn’t happen often.
Thank you Zoo Atlanta and Earthlink for allowing all of us outside of Atlanta to share in the joy of Mei Lan!
By Zoopery Doopery Dope
December 22, 2006 08:02 AM | Link to this
I am not a zoologist, but I trained a frog to P on a signal once. The tale of the tape of Bling Bling’s measurements make me think that what you’re describing is a infant gorilla, not a panda. Someone must have switched the newborns at birth. I’d check the monkey cages for the real panda.
And get that baby gorilla out of the panda cage. What is wrong with you people? This is why I say it’s high time our government take another real hard look at allowing doctors to use foreceps when birthin’ babies. The damage is permanent and complete.
And I think it’s a dang shame. Thats 4sure. That’s 4dangsure.
By dan
December 22, 2006 10:28 AM | Link to this
“…if people would have the opportunity to watch Mei Lan from our homes. More people would visit ZOO ATLANTA to see little Mei Lan” WHAT??? Thats like saying youd go to the theatre to see a movie if you could watch it at home first. I’m calling bull** on that.
By dan-is-a-troll
December 22, 2006 10:37 AM | Link to this
Troll: a person who enters an established community such as an online discussion forum and intentionally tries to cause disruption, often in the form of posting messages that are inflammatory, insulting, or off-topic, with the intent of provoking a reaction from others.
Stop falling for it folks.
By Dan
December 22, 2006 11:27 AM | Link to this
I’ve been called worse. If you think outside of your selfish little boxes, you’ll see that, at least, I have a point.
By Chach Rod
December 22, 2006 11:37 AM | Link to this
while the argument might have been improperly delivered, I’m kind of with Dan. As a business owner, I can say that if it were my panda, I would want people to pay to see it. The panda cam is free to al of us and we should be happy with whatever hours they give us. We forget that the Zoo is a Non-prof.
By Bobby
December 22, 2006 12:13 PM | Link to this
Zoo Atlanta is an independent non-profit. It doesn’t recieve government funding. Most of their money goes towards conservation efforts and personally, I’d rather them spend money on that instead of letting people watch the pandacam 24 hours. If you really love the pandas, you should be glad that they are spending the money where it is actually needed instead of wasting it on your entertainment. National zoo is owned by the government so it is our tax dollars that are paying for that 24 hour pandacam which I think is a waste of our tax money. San Diego can afford it because they are such a huge zoo that generates such proceeds and memphis can afford it because they don’t have a cub so not as many people are watching it so they don’t need as much bandwith. Give Zoo Atlanta a break. They are doing the right thing and finding balance and trying to please everyone.
By Political Foreskin
December 23, 2006 09:57 AM | Link to this
Now I’m no zoologist, but I did train goldfish to swim to the surface of the bowl simply by sprinkling food with my hand over them. I’ve seen the PandaCam, and I’ve done frame by frame analysis of certain footage that promises to expose this Piltdown Panda hoax once and for all.
First, how suspicious is it that zoo officials allowed the panda’s mother to drive while holding baby Bling Bling with one paw? No seat belt? No whelp seat? Would they risk a real infant panda that way? They’d never get insurance again. Think, people.
Secondly, my hi-tech computer enhancement of the phoney panda cub reveals smoke coming from the phoney panda’s ears. I’m certain I’ve spotted what appears to be cigarette butts in the cage so I’m thinking they’re paying rhesus monkeys to take turns in a barely authentic panda suit.
Third, Have you ever heard of a baby panda throwing feces at the camera? I was lucky to capture that footage with my digital zoom and contrast-enhanced pixel matrix thing.
Finally: Suppose it were a real panda. Do you think the Chinese would allow people to feed baby Bling Bling hot dogs and chili fries? Check out the panda cam. People are feeding that poor thing transfatty foods.
I dont know. I dream of a day when folks start respectin’ the jungle code. And I be expectin’ that I wont be respectin’ no zoo what donts live by the code.
By trisha
December 23, 2006 01:31 PM | Link to this
TELLING IT LIKE IT IS
Well you see, mostly all organizations, nonprofits included, have marketing departments. Nonprofits want to be able to thrive while keeping their tax exempt status. So they do what they can to attract the private and public sector donations they look for in order to continue to operate as nonprofits.
Zoo Atlanta at best chooses not to extend itself in the area of trying to get a corporate sponsor to pick up the tab for a 24-7 pandacam, and at worst, does a p** poor job of making an attempt. I cannot say which it is, but I do know that their public relations department needs a major overhaul since they didn’t even have the common sense to put out information on cutting down the pandacam hours until well after there was an uproar about it.
The San Diego and Smithsonian Zoos have 24-7 cams operating. They too are nonprofits.
Zoo Atlanta is either pathetically provincial or it doesn’t give a good crap about what people outside of Atlanta want. I tend to think it is the second, since IN THE VERY LEAST a half of a brain would tell them to make some kind of sham effort to pretend they were doing something so as not to further alienate potential sources of funding. For instance, they would get some savvy members of the community to contact potential webcam providers to see exactly what the charge would be for a 24-7 pandacam, and then they would make an announcement to the internet public that they needed X amount of dollars to have the camera running - and would at least conduct a poll to see if enough people would support it. At least then Zoo Atlanta would APPEAR to care about the multitudinous people who are upset over the hours being cut back – and who could potentially help with other funding for them.
I haven’t seen any effort in that direction whatsoever. Once again they are figuratively thumbing their noses at people by not even giving the appearance of trying to do what other zoos are doing successfully.
An intelligent organization would having its public relations department scouring the comments in the AJC and finding a way to respond to the concerns, especially as it relates to the panda issue. The Zoos popularity at this point in time centers directly around the baby panda. But it appears that they don’t possess the savvy or desire to do much more than they are doing.
So you see it is the marketing department at Zoo Atlanta that needs to be contacting CNN, and Pepsi, and Sony, and all of the other huge corporations that would enjoy the publicity, and asking for their assistance in providing a 24-7 camera. They have obviously chosen not to take that route, because even if there were a charge involved, they would have informed the public on their website that they were in the process of attempting to do better than they are doing. Whether you take the best case or worst case scenario, Zoo Atlanta is the problem here. And it isn’t like they haven’t been inundated with requests to doing something about extending the hours.
Most troubling to me is that the AJC seems to be a partner in complicity and not an independent reporting agency. I don’t see any news stories from the AJC on the outcry of the public, just schmaltzy stories about the panda.
It’s pretty sad for all except those who get to watch the panda between 10 and 5 ET.
By Political Foreskin
December 23, 2006 03:21 PM | Link to this
Trish, the baby panda has a MySpace page. How did that little monster get access to a computer? You should read the hip hop jargon on that confounded katzenjammer whelp’s page!! And to think someday the generation of pandas born today will take over the world? Scary stuff. Glad I’m over fifty, and wont be around to see the debauchery.
By catZilla
December 23, 2006 03:32 PM | Link to this
Tricia, you’ve hit the nail right on the head, I agree 100% with your post.
As I posted above, I don’t even live in Georgia, much less Atlanta, and I’ve sent in my hard-earned dollars to support ZA because I know how horrendously expensive it is to keep pandas.
The the curators of the National Zoo had to litterally request an act of congress to allow corporate sponsorship of the Asia Trail (which includes the Giant Pandas) because the Smithsonian’s charter prohibits corporate sponsorship, but they were willing to put forth the effort to get what they needed to help the Zoo over the long haul.
ZA’s poor response to public interest does not inspire me to send additional funds, in fact it inspires me to not do that again.
Two questions come to mind: 1. Why aren’t more of the 15 Fortune 500 Companies who are headquartered in Atlanta stepping up to the plate in general; and 2.Why doesn’t ZA seem to be more aggressvie in persuing avenues for building corporate sponsorship?
The cub presents enormous opportunity for revenue enhancement via public goodwill, and it seems as if ZA is squandering this chance.
And insofar as the Cam is concerned, it cannot have escaped anyone’s notice that Earthlink is a broadband company, for crying out loud, so what’s up with their being so stingy about cam coverage?
That’s a pure mystery to me.
Glad they’re not my ISP, nor will they ever get the chance; not after I’ve seen how stingy they are with the zoo.
By catZilla
December 23, 2006 03:35 PM | Link to this
Yeah, Dan, you have points: on the top of your head.
A troll is a troll is a troll.
You’ve proved that.
By Political Foreskin
December 23, 2006 05:42 PM | Link to this
catZilla: great ID!! I like the way it goes from small letter to big letter to small letters like a thing. Looks cool. If Pandas were from Japan, then catZilla would have won the name contest hands down. “Look! catZilla!!! Run!!”’
so cool.
By Political Foreskin
December 24, 2006 11:45 AM | Link to this
Sadr’s response to a surge will be to Surge the Insurgents.
By Political Foreskin
December 25, 2006 10:08 AM | Link to this
I’m no zoologist, but I did train an entire nest of hornets to attack passerbys by hitting it with a fungo bat. They caught on quickly and for a while there, I was friggin Dr. Doolittle.
Anyway, if I could suggest to the staff at the Panda cage to restrain themselves from the temptation to put a christmas tree actually in the panda cage itself. Do any of you realize what would happen to you if that panda got his paws on some pine needles and bark? At that close range?
This is why I say it’s high time our government take another real hard and long look at allowing doctors to use foreceps when birthin’ babies.
Merry Christmas…..
By Political Foreskin
December 28, 2006 09:58 AM | Link to this
I’m no zoologist, but I did have an audience with the pope in the woods once, and he asked me what I had for breakfast……for a while there I was friggin tidy bowl man.
Any way he told me to tell you to pray for peace.
Serious here.
By Rufus
January 2, 2007 02:16 PM | Link to this
Please give that cute Panda girl something so she can get a footing. She is trying so hard to walk but can’t get a grip for slipping and sliding on the concrete. The floor in her area is not natural; she needs some dirt or sod or something to grip. Even a few strips of sod would help.