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Thursday, December 28, 2006
Gov gets a gander at Mei Lan
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On a day of firsts, Atlanta’s favorite baby, Mei Lan, the 113-day old giant panda, was examined by her first governor. And Gov. Sonny Perdue, a large-animal veterinarian by trade, did his first once-over on a giant panda this morning at Zoo Atlanta.
“What impressed me,” said the governor, “was that this magical animal is so tolerant of humans.”
He helped senior zoo vet Maria Crane poke and prod the little panda, who has gained about a pound and an inch since last week’s physical exam and now measures 28.9 inches from nose to tail and weighs in at almost 14 pounds.
Mei Lan underwent the exam with little protest other than strong wriggling and a few whimpers. Crane put her fingers in the baby’s mouth to check on the progress of her teeth, a topic of great interest because no one has yet charted the pattern of tooth eruption in giant pandas. Zoo Atlanta hopes to record that pattern for posterity. Crane said there were no new teeth today, but those already there are growing.
Perdue said after examining the panda he could now “check that off my Sonny Do list.” He complimented Crane’s professionalism, which he chalked up to her education at the University of Georgia’s School of Veterinary Medicine, which is where he got his degree.He said he was surprised that the baby panda’s pulse was a rapid 140 to 150 beats a minute and that “her fur is so thick you can’t even see the skin.”
He said he enjoyed that the examination was so “gentle. As any of you know if you’ve taken a child to the pediatrician, it can be a wrestling match. But she was very tolerant.”
Today’s was the last weekly, public examination. Crane said the panda would begin to walk any day now and would be harder to handle. Her examinations would become less frequent and less regular.
Zoo Atlanta public relations director Susan Elliott said zoo officials are hoping for a public debut for Mei Lan in mid January.
