Our New Residents in Washington DC...

[shadowchaser]

WE'VE GOT NEW PANDAS!

The pandas, male Tian Tian (pronounced t-YEN t-YEN) and female Mei Xiang (may sh-ONG), made the 17-hour flight from China aboard a FedEx Express cargo plane, bearing large decals of each panda. The plane landed at 2:58 p.m. The animals were accompanied on the trip by two of their regular Chinese keepers at the Wolong Nature Reserve, and each panda had its own custom-made metal crate—with enough room to stand and turn during the long journey. Handlers reported that the pandas ate and slept during the flight and required no sedation.

About 350 people, many of whom were guests of Federal Express, were on the tarmac to greet the area's hottest new couple. It took handlers about 20 minutes to unload the animals, which were briefly visible through the mesh on their crates.

Officials from the Smithsonian Institution, the zoo and the Chinese Embassy planned a brief welcoming ceremony at the airport to mark this latest international effort to ensure the long-term survival of the rare and endangered species of black and white bears.

Under an arrangement painstakingly negotiated over several months, the National Zoo will contribute $1 million a year for 10 years to the China Wildlife Conservation Association in Beijing for the right to exhibit the two pandas. There would be an additional fee if a cub is born, and that cub would be the property of China.

In addition, the zoo is committing $3 million and more than two dozen staff for research projects and training workshops for Chinese keepers and scientists. The zoo also will conduct extensive research on Tian Tian and Mei Xiang, studying factors that influence successful mating, analyzing the nutritional value of foods they are fed and scrutinizing how they adapt to their new environment.

Scientists estimate that there are only about 1,000 giant pandas left in the mountain forests of central China. Breeding facilities and zoos in China hold about 120 giant pandas, and there are 20 living in zoos outside of China, including in San Diego and Atlanta.

After a quarantine of about 30 days, the pandas will go on exhibit at the Panda House, which has been renovated and expanded at a cost of $1.8 million. The outdoor yards, in particular, have been transformed into an inviting – or so zoo officials hope – array of sand wallows, caves, water showers, ponds, trees and other climbing structures designed to give animals lots of activity choices and stimulation.

The pandas that arrived today were first put in the same enclosure this past summer and seem to play well together, a factor the zoo thinks will bode well for future mating efforts. Giant pandas reach breeding maturity between 4 and 6 years; Tian Tian is now 3, and Mei Xiang is 2.

Pandas are notoriously difficult to breed. The female is only in heat for two or three days once a year, and getting a surviving cub is chancy. A newborn panda – pink, hairless and blind – is barely the size of a stick of butter.

The National Zoo's history with giant pandas began in 1972 when its first pair, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, were presented to the nation's capital as a gift after President Richard M. Nixon's historic visit to China. Both had been captured in the wild, something that would be unthinkable for conservationists today. They eventually mated and had five cubs, although none lived more than a few days. Ling-Ling, the female, died in 1992 at age 23 of age-related heart failure. Hsing-Hsing was euthanized in 1999 at the age of 28 because of kidney problems.

Zoo officials say they have raised $18 million from private sources to pay for the loan of the pandas, education programs, research and most of the expenses for the new panda quarters. Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ), the zoo's fundraising arm, is raising another $4 million for additional research and to complete a new panda exhibit that will be located next to the Panda House.

Several big donors contributed to the panda fund, including Fujifilm, which gave $7.8 million, the zoo's largest gift ever; Discovery Communications' Animal Planet, which gave $5 million; Ruth S. and William A. Holmberg, $1 million; AES Corp. Chairman Roger W. Sant and his wife, Vicki, $800,000; the Chubb Corp., $800,000; Alice B. Marriott Lifetime Trust, $800,000; J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott, $800,000; and FONZ board and staff, $360,000.

When the pandas go on public view next month, it will be easy to tell them apart. For one thing, Tian Tian, which means "more and more," is bigger than Mei Xiang, which means "beautiful fragrance." He weighs 203 pounds to her 115 pounds.

Each also has distinctive markings. The black fur goes higher up her legs, resembling stockings, whereas the black fur on his legs looks like socks. She has a wide band of black fur across her back, while the black fur on his back dramatically narrows.

Then there are the trademark panda eyes. The black patches of fur around Tian Tian's eyes are shaped like kidney beans. Mei Xiang has more rounded patches of black fur around her eyes and a tiny bit of black fur across the bridge of her nose between her eyes. Think of it as smudged mascara.

What? You were expecting news about music?

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