San Diego Zoo debuts baby panda Yun Zi

January 8, 2010 by Shawn Douglas
Filed under: News

Baby Panda Yun Zi

The San Diego Zoo debuted baby panda Yun Zi yesterday, their newest addition to the growing giant panda family.

Yesterday, the San Diego Zoo debuted their newest addition to their giant panda family. People lined up outside the zoo’s entrance, waiting for the 9 a.m. opening and the chance to see Yun Zi (which translates to “Son of Cloud”), the five-month-old panda cub.

“It’s just fun to see them when they’re young and feisty,” said Pacific Beach resident Jerry Conklin to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

The zookeepers had pushed back the opening date for Yun Zi’s public showing due to the baby panda’s lack of activity and sleep schedule.

“Until recently, Yun Zi has been a bit behind his siblings with respect to spending time out of the den,” said the zoo’s senior research technician Suzanne Hall in an official blog post on December 29.

“We don’t know why Zi has been slower: because he’s a boy? Because his body size is so large compared to some sibs, making it a little tougher for him to move his mass around? Personality?”

The keepers also noticed that Yun Zi has the habit of not being awake at 9 a.m.

“Keepers have noted that when they come in at 6 a.m., he is often busily tumbling around,” said Hall. “Unfortunately, the San Diego Zoo doesn’t open at 6 a.m. In fact, by the time grounds open, it has been our boy’s habit to be sound asleep in the den.”

The keepers have been working to gradually adjust the baby panda’s schedule to increase the odds that he’ll be awake during the morning hours. But they cautioned that there was no guarantee Yun Zi would be awake during the 9 a.m. to noon display hours.

Yet, the cub was relatively active yesterday, at one point learning to climb a tree branch, only to fall down and try again. “It’s all part of the learning process,” said the zoo’s senior keeper, Kathy Hawk.

Officials at the zoo said that more than 1,000 people had visited the exhibit during the three-hour period yesterday, showing their interest and love for the giant pandas.

Ronald Swaisgood, a member of the team that organizes the panda program, emphasized the importance of the public viewings as a tool for spreading awareness of the endangered giant panda’s plight, telling The San Diego Union-Tribune, “People conserve what they love, and they love what they understand.”

More photos of the cub can be found on the Los Angeles Times Web site.