Stephanie Wong tells us about her first few days as a PDXWildlife panda intern-
It’s been a week since I arrived to Ya’an and there hasn’t been a single boring day. I am busy learning all the research techniques and protocols, and navigating the panda base. I am probably being predictable here, but my favorite place so far has been the breeding center where most of the cubs and mothers are staying. Nothing melts your heart more than seeing a mother snuggling with her cub.
We attempted to do a maternal care study with Wang Jia and her cub this morning, but as you all know by now, sometimes different schedules just don’t work out. We were 20 minutes into the study when her keepers came in to inform us that Wang Jia and her baby were being transferred. But as scientists, we were flexible and adapt quickly by switching to a stereotypic study with another bear, Yao Man, at the breeding center.
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- Yao Man trying to get comfortable
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- Tossing and turning
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- Finally a good position
Yao Man was by far the most interesting bear I encountered. Her enclosure was narrow and located on a slope so she had a lot of room to explore. She was very relaxed and spent a chunk of time lazing around and scratching herself in funny positions. She also treated us with a few half somersaults. The rest of the time she walked back and forth between her neighbors, and curiously looking through windows. She was not as active during the afternoon when we went back for a PM study however, I guess even pandas enjoy a nice afternoon nap.
Hi, I’m Stephanie Wong. I hope you enjoyed reading about my experiences. If you have any questions, please post them in the comments below.
Hi Stephanie,
Lucky you..Interesting work with Pandas! I thought In reading your post, I guess Yao Man is no longer with her cubs (Qing Qing & Bing Bing). Is she going into the 2017 breeding program? Thanks.
The recent operation on Bei Bei and passing of Long Hui made us realized how fragile life is, even for captived pandas and I am very appreciative for the care and hard work of zoo staff and keepers.
Karen
Hi Karen,
Thanks for your lovely comment. Yes, Yao Man is not with her cubs anymore. We don’t know if she will be in next year’s breeding program, that will be something we will know in February. The keepers definitely take really good care of the pandas. They treat them like they are their own children, and get very attached. The pandas get moved to different enclosures and their keepers follow the mother and cubs round the base to take care of them. It’s really sweet hearing the keepers talk about their bears.
Cheers,
Stephanie
Hi Stephanie,
Thank you very much for sharing your experience and updating us how Yao Man is doing. Do you happen to know how much Yao Man weighs? I am also curious about your study at Ya an. Could you talk a little bit about the research work you will do there?
Cheers!
Hi Tina,
Thank you for leaving a comment. It’s nice to know how much Yao Man is loved! We don’t know exactly how much she weighs at the moment, but on average Giant Pandas weighs 105kg. We have different studies that we focus on depending on the time of the year. At the moment, my fellow interns and I are conducting stereotypic observations and maternal care studies.
For the stereotypic observations, we document any repetitive behaviors (stereotypes) that we notice in all the pandas. Those are behaviors with no apparent goal or reason, like walking in a pattern or somersaulting at the same spot. We want to see if those stereotypes can predict reproductive success. For the maternal care, we document behaviors between mother/cub, especially behaviors when they are interacting. Primarily to understand development of maternal behavior, but also how that might affect/relate to reproductive success (our overarching idea!).
Feel free to leave more questions, or even email if you want a more detailed explanation.
Cheers,
Stephanie
Stephanie,
Thanks for your reply. I also read your reply to Tina in regards to stereotpic observations. Even though I cannot understand its connection to reproductive success, I did notice that Er Shun always somersaults at the same spot when I watch the Toronto Panda cam and I find it very odd. Now I know that it is common behaviour amongst the pandas. Good luck in your project!
Regards,
Karen
Hi Karen,
If you are interested in stereotypes, here are a couple of research articles on the topic- Cheers!
Jones et al. 2010
Diez-Leon et al. 2013
Nathan, thanks very much for sharing the articles. Very interesting scientific findings indeed.
Regards,
Karen
Hi Karen,
With any luck we will be able to get our Stereotypic research out in this next year (2017). It’s a mad house with Meghan and I plowing through the mountains of data- But, we enjoy it.
Happy Holidays!