Wang Jia in the early dawn as the sun rose.
I’ve decided that “The Year of the Snake” just doesn’t cut it for a description of this years pandas so I’ve decided to rename the year to “The Year of the Arboreal Panda”. It seems like tree climbing is in the air (literally and figuratively) around the base this year for all the females. Last year I only saw one tree climber in the time I was here but this year every female who has access to a tree has taken advantage of it (despite the keepers attempts to keep them out by putting metal sheets around the bottoms).
I posted about Zhen Zhen being tree bound earlier, but here’s a few shots of the females I’ve caught in the tree tops at the breeding center.
- Wang Jia enjoying the view.
- Wang Jia (in the very top of this post and in the above photo) loves to climb the trees and get a glimpse of her neighbor A Ling and the researchers (me!). Her and A Ling will call back and forth to each other and climb the trees to get a better view of what’s happening in the research center. They especially like to climb to our level when everyone is up on the “research deck” and watching the breeding.
- A Ling maneuvering onto a small limb
- A Ling staring me down on her daily climb
- A Ling is a hilarious little panda. She climbs up her tree bi-daily to give herself a good back scratch. While she’s doing this she contorts herself into the funniest shapes (see a video of her vocalizing to Wang JIa and climbing in the tree).
- Xin Nier wedged between two trunks
- Xin Nier was moved to an enclosure with trees right next to A Ling and Wang Jia. I’ve now affectionately dubbed them my “Tree Amigos”.
- up next . . . baby pandas!
- -Meg
It always catches me off guard when I see the Panda’s up in trees. They are so big and look like they are going to tumble to their demise at any moment. Silly bears.