Giant pandas birthday bash set for Saturday

By Howard Pousner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Zoo Atlanta's birthday bash Saturday for its four giant pandas won't be stopped by rain. "It's still happening rain or shine," said zoo spokeswoman Keisha Hines-Davis.

The event promises to be a joyous occasion, filled with good wishes from their adoring public and fruit-filled ice blocks from their loyal keepers.

But after the last “ice cake” is devoured by the black-and-white honorees, it won’t be back to bamboo-chewing business as usual — at least not for long.

Even as they continue negotiations with Chinese officials to extend their panda loan, Zoo Atlanta leaders have already made clear that adolescent female Mei Lan (translation: Atlanta Beauty) will be departing for China. By mid-February, the 3-year-old Georgia peach will be heading to the homeland of parents Lun Lun and Yang Yang because the Chinese believe her good genes make her a beautiful candidate for motherhood.

The exit of the first panda cub born in captivity at Zoo Atlanta will set in motion a series of changes at its snug panda habitat. Kid brother Xi Lan, now 1, will be weaned from his mother in February or March and moved to his own enclosure. That will clear the way for breeding season and a hoped-for third Lun Lun-Yang Yang offspring.

But let’s not get the cart ahead of the, um, bears.

Zoo Atlanta’s 10-year contract with China, at a cost of about $1 million a year, expires at the end of this year. Leaders believe it will take $2.5 million to continue their stay five years, a deal similar to the San Diego Zoo’s. In fact, Zoo Atlanta CEO Dennis Kelly returned just this week from negotiating sessions in China.

The Atlanta zoo had quietly raised $2 million privately before launching a public Give So They Stay drive for the remaining $500,000 in mid-June. But it has raised only $119,457 so far.

Still, officials continue to express confidence that their star attractions will remain in Atlanta. “I am happy with the response from the community,” vice president Marcus E. Margerum said, “and I believe the goal is still achievable.”

Either way, beloved Mei Lan’s handlers are pondering what’s sure to be a difficult departure.

“Of course, we’re all going to miss her a great deal, and her keepers will miss her the most because they work with her every day and know her the best,” said Rebecca Snyder, the zoo’s curator of carnivores.

“They’re happy for her, of course, because they want to see her have cubs, and we’ll all be excited if she becomes a mom and takes good care of her cubs.”

Mei Lan will have many things to adjust to at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in southwest China.

One big change will be language. The 20 commands she knows, such as “paw” or “lie down,” will suddenly be spoken in a Sichuan dialect. Bamboo, the panda diet staple, will taste different, too, since the species grown here are different than the ones in the Sichuan province. Though adult pandas live a solitary existence, except when mating, Mei Lan will nonetheless have to get used to the sight, smells and sounds of new peers.

Snyder said Mei Lan, who will be old enough to experience her first estrous cycle but a little young to get pregnant, probably won’t mate during her first year at Chengdu.

“They usually wait until they’re 4½, but it will be really nice for her to be around males and adjusted to that whole thing,” the curator said.

Mei Lan will travel in a metal shipping crate used to bring one of her parents to Atlanta, completing a circle of sorts.

Jet lag won’t be her only travel challenge. Snyder says Lun Lun and Yang Yang had heightened levels of cortisol, a hormone indicative of stress, when they arrived from Chengdu. Plus, they were a little off their feed.

Their cortisol levels quickly returned to normal, as did their appetites soon after, Synder said. “So I expect Mei Lan will be similar, that she will be stressed but will adjust within a month.”

But just to make sure things go smoothly for this treasured cargo, Snyder hopes someone on the Zoo Atlanta staff can accompany the Atlanta Beauty on the journey of her young lifetime.

Pandamonium

11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. Free with Zoo Atlanta admission. 800 Cherokee Ave. 404-624-9453, zooatlanta.org.