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Posts for March 2010
< BackSettling into Panda-land
About the same time that the Giant Pandas moved into their beautiful new home, the Red Pandas were packing their bags and moving from their home near the Lions to their new homes in the Bamboo Forest
There are two Red Panda enclosures. The three girls, Sogyal, Imandari and Maya, are in one and two boys, Shahin and Himal, in the other.
For the first month many people would have never known we had Red Pandas because they were adjusting to their new home and mostly hanging inside, only venturing outside when no one was around.
Two months later, all the Red Pandas are settling into their home. Usually before the heat of the day settles in you can see all 5 out in their exhibits, eating bamboo and taking in the morning sun. One of the boys, Himal, climbs to extraordinary heights, giving some of us keepers a scare but these are arboreal animals, living their life in the trees.
In addition to their enclosure climbing structures they have air conditioned dens with environmentally friendly “green roofs”. In the wild Red Pandas live in temperate climates (no extreme hot or cold), so the 40 degree plus summer days in Adelaide can be trying when you are wearing a fur coat. Not only does the air con provide cool air into the den but the green roof has a foot of soil on top, planted with dwarf bamboo, that provides insulation and helps keep that cool air in. So they are usually hanging out in the dens when the sun is warming up their outdoor enclosure.
So on your way to and from seeing Wang Wang and Funi make sure you stop by and say hello to the Red Pandas... just make sure you look up!
Comments
We nicknamed one of the males 'Sammy' - he had a behavioural trait of pacing his enclosure on the ground, almost in an OCD manner. it was mentioned in his notes that he had psychological disturbances as a result of a badly managed separation from his mother. Is he still around (not sure if he's either Shahin and Himal you've mentioned, but those names don't sound familiar)?
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