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Yun Zi: Burst of Energy

Posted by Jeroen Jacobs | Date: 2011 12 01 | In: San Diego Zoo

2011-06-03-San-Diego-Zoo-Yun-Zi-006

Anastasia Horning, a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo, wrote the following blog post about Yun Zi’s recent Burst of Energy:

Through the years that I’ve narrated at the San Diego Zoo’s Giant Panda Research Station, I have had the pleasure of watching three panda cubs grow from birth to their departure to China. I’ve seen their personalities come out and have watched them bloom into sub-adulthood. There are the early months where mobility is limited and dependent on Mom, and there are the times when learning to walk and climb can become overwhelming for a cub. Some of my favorite moments with the youngsters have been between the ages of 2 and 3 years. The cubs will often have days where they become extremely energetic and behave in dramatically different ways than what our Zoo guests are accustomed to. Yun Zi has hit this stage, and I have to say it’s a blast to watch him!

The last couple of weeks have proven to be very interesting. Yun Zi has been running around the exhibit several times, dashing up and down the climbing structures several times, and running through his pool, making his exhibit a nice slip n’ slide for our poor keepers. Having done keeper work with our Panda Team for a few years now, I can honestly say that muddy, wet bamboo can be very difficult to clean up! There was one morning when a keeper and I went into Yun Zi’s exhibit to clean and just stood there for a second to take everything in. He had thrown bamboo all over the enclosure and defecated in spots that can be difficult to clean. Yun Zi had even decided to break several of the branches off of a new tree that had just been planted. What usually is a 30-minute cleaning job maximum with two keepers turned into a good hour.

Needless to say, we do our best to provide enrichment for our animals to keep them busy, but at this particular age it is very common to see the kids turn into decorators and change their exhibit around in some way. As Gao Gao and Bai Yun are in the main viewing enclosures, Yun Zi is occupying our north exhibit for the time being.

Source: San Diego Zoo

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