Panda News from around the world
On June 8th Adelaide Zoo made a statement that since Giant Pandas Wang Wang and Funi have arrived there has been around 70% more visitors to the zoo, with 25% of them coming from out of state.
To celebrate the pandas 6th month anniversary the zoo also announced a sponsorship deal with AGL Engery that will give the pair's home state-of-the-art solar power.
The solar power will help keep the pandas cool, by cooling special rocks and misters in their enclosures. The energy provided will also be used for lighting, food refridgeration, panda cameras and running the research computers.
Lun Lun the 12 year old female Giant Panda at Zoo Atlanta ovulated over the weekend. Lun Lun and Yang Yang were introduced to each other in the hope of a natural breading. Unfortunately mating didn't occur. So the Keepers, Atlanta's veterinarian team, a Chinese colleague and two American Colleagues from other institutions stepped in to perform artificial insemination.
Now all there is to do is wait and see if Lun Lun gives birth this year.
As you will most probably know, Here at Panda News we're always on the look out for photos of Giant Pandas for out "The-Pandas" section.
Henry over at The way of the panda is on the look for a couple of very special photos for his book.
He would like to hear from anyone who has photos of Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling, residents at the National Zoo (Washington D.C.) from 1972 to the 1990s and Chi-Chi, London Zoo inmate from 1958 to 1972.
If you have anything that might be suitable please contact via the reference link.
It will soon be our second birthday, to celebrate we are given away a chrome iPod Shuffle.
For a chance to win, just follow us Twitter and post a message using the hashtag #pandanewscomp.
Example tweet:
Win an iPod Shuffle with pandanews.org #pandanewscomp
The competition runs from date of this post until 12:00 pm GMT on the 22nd June 2010.
Soon after we will randomly choose one name and notify them with-in 24 hours of the end of the competition.
Officials from China and Kobe zoo have agreed to let the Kobe zoo keep favourits Kou Kou (Long Long) and Tan Tan for another five years at Kobe Zoo.
Scotsman.com is running a story that Edinburgh zoo is unlikely to have pandas until 2011 at the earliest
The Changsha Zoo has signed an agreement with the Chengdu Breeding Centre, to study four pandas, two male and two female for a period of two years.
Changsha Zoo have started build facilities for the pandas including a public area, a large cage, delivery room, nursery and a preparation area.
The main panda room will contain a pool, swings perches and a rock hill amongst other place. Their bedrooms will be air conditioned.
Keepers from Changsha Zoo will visit Chengdu for training on the care of the pandas and how to perform the relevant research and data collection
On May 30th 2010 villagers from Zijia, Taibai spotted high in the trees, across the river a young panda sleeping on a branch. Word soon spread and a group of villagers stood watching. The noise from the crown awoke the panda, who just moved higher up the tree.
The panda left the next day after drinking from the river. The panda looked to be in good health, weighed 80-90 kg (176 -200lbs) and near to being an adult. It was about a meter in length.
You can now get the latest updates of Panda News stories by following us on Twitter.
The Calgary Herald is reporting that Calgary Herald wants to obtain a pair of breeding pandas. For the past six months officials from Calgary Zoo have been talking with Chinese authorities.
It took a little while but Mei Lan has come to terms with her move from Zoo Atlanta to The breeding centre at Chungdu.
The National Zoo in Washington DC in association with China Advocates, is planning a visit to China with the highlight being to see Tai Shan at Bifengxia.