Panda Party @ Adelaide Zoo
Adelaide Zoo’s Giant Panda Funi celebrated a very special birthday on August 23.
She’s just turned five, which is the age of sexual maturity for a Giant Panda and signals the beginning of the zoo’s long awaited breeding program.
Funi’s male counterpart, Wang Wang, is about to turn six on August 31.
The pandas have been at the Adelaide Zoo since the end of 2009 but up until now have been confined to separate enclosures.
Senior Panda Keeper Simone Davey says the birthdays mark the closure of one chapter and the beginning of another.
“Coming into spring, this is probably going to be our first opportunity to actually seriously look at putting them together and breeding them.”
Simone says pandas are completely solitary animals in the wild and prefer to be by themselves.
“The only time in the wild when they actually come together is during the breeding season and that normally is only two to three days in a whole year.”
She says recently the pandas have had protected contact where they can smell and touch each other.
Simone says they have never seen any negative signs between Wang Wang and Funi although Giant Pandas are known to fight in the wild, outside the breeding season.
“Fingers crossed it’s all going to be successful and we’re going to have a little panda baby in the future or twins!”
A Panda Party to mark Funi’s fifth birthday and Wang Wang’s sixth birthday is being held at the Adelaide Zoo on Saturday August 27 with special keeper talks and other fun activities at 10.30am and 1.30pm.
Update: Click here to see a video of the party.
Source: Adelaide Zoo & ABC Adelaide
Photo Credit: Ashley Walsh ABC Adelaide
