Su Lin Update
San Diego Zoo's own chubby tosh
Originally uploaded by chet_asmart.
The latest San Diego Zoo panda blog entry has the following to say about Su Lin's eating and scent marking habits:
Eating Bamboo
For many months now Su Lin has been mouthing and chewing various parts of the bamboo that is provided to her mother. In the early going, she was not actually consuming this food, but rather was practicing bamboo handling techniques that would later enable her to process it more efficiently. She currently chews the bamboo, probably ingesting the juice produced when the leaves are worked between her little teeth, but ultimately she is spitting out the remnants rather than ingesting them. No bamboo stools have been found by keepers to indicate she has eaten bamboo when no one is looking; in fact, Bai Yun is doing her job as a protective momma very well, since no baby stools of any kind have been found recently! Hua Mei didn’t begin eating bamboo until her 11th month, while Mei Sheng started in his 12th month. We still have a little time before we would expect Su Lin to be eating bamboo.
Scent-marking
Su Lin has been seen scent marking in the last few weeks. She’s right on schedule when compared with Hua Mei, who was first observed marking in her 8th month. Mei Sheng didn’t mark until a few months later. Interestingly, all three cubs first marked in the squat position, placing their scent gland down on a substrate while in a seated position.
So, it looks like she hasn't started "officially" eating bamboo yet.
Full entry from San Diego Zoo panda blog
Note on picture:
I wanted to post a picture with this entry, but I'm not sure if that's Su Lin in the picture. The tosh looks rather too broad for a soon-to-be 8-month-old girl cub. Can anyone confirm who this is?
posted by Chet @ 3/22/2006 10:40:00 AM
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