News from the Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat

Please note: Tickets are no longer required to see the pandas.

May 5

Mei Xiang has started to shred bamboo in Den Three. This activity is called “nest building” even though it only involves carrying a piece of bamboo to the den, shredding up part of the culm or stalk, and then sitting on it wherever it lands. As far as other behavior possibly related to pregnancy, Mei has left her carrots uneaten on a few occasions. For some reason known only to Mei, when her progesterone levels rise during pregnancy (or pseudopregnancy), carrots lose their appeal. Also, Mei has been choosing to rest indoors more frequently, often settling in for a long nap, when our plan was for her to shift back outside for bamboo.

Tai Shan last weighed in at 181 pounds on April 30. Tai is also into rearranging his bamboo. He will pick it up and carry it around the yard and sometimes even up in the trees. Perhaps a different hormone, testosterone, is behind his wanderings. We have a small study in progress to analyze hormones in fecal samples to learn about the earliest onset of maturation in our juvenile male panda. Just like the adults, Tai continues to eat up to about 40 pounds of bamboo culm each day. Yellow fibrous droppings are everywhere around the enclosures. Since they digest only 12 to 23 percent of what they eat, all three pandas have the keepers busy with both ends, going and coming!

Tian Tian gets the restless panda award. We continue to rotate yards and give him access to multiple yards to burn off energy. We give him several enrichment activities each day to help keep him occupied. He is an enrichment challenge. Tian still bleats endearingly for his keepers, and relishes our attention. These are cherished moments for the panda and his keepers.

Get Mei Xiang, Tian Tian, and Tai Shan Ringtones
Imagine the contact calls of the Zoo’s giant pandas alerting you to an incoming call on your cell phone. Why imagine it when you get these ringtones now? Find out more.

Sixty Tai Shan Wallpaper Choices Now Available!
Support the National Zoo's panda conservation efforts, and get lots of Tai Shan wallpaper and a screen saver as thanks for your donation to the Giant Panda Conservation Fund. link toDonate now.

PandaDate.com: A Matchmaking Game
Ever wondered how scientists select panda breeding pairs? Play PandaDate.com to find out.

To allow more people to view the cam, sessions are limited to 15 minutes. If you are unable to connect, please try again later. View Cam on Animal Planet Website

No Giant Panda? click toTry this cam.

link to Panda Photo Gallery | link toHelp with cam
Watching giant pandas: The panda cams provide a window into the world of the Zoo's giant pandas—two-and-a-half-year-old Tai Shan, his mother, Mei Xiang, and his father, Tian Tian. If you see two pandas on the cam, you're watching Mei and Tian. At Tai's first exam, he weighed a little less than two pounds. In late April, he weighed 181 pounds.
Giant Panda Facts | Get Tai Shan Wallpaper When You Help Us Protect Giant Pandas | Adopt a Giant Panda

More Giant Panda cams
    Camera II

Giant Panda videos
    Tai Shan Exam, September 19, 2005 | Mei Xiang and Tai Shan, October 2, 2005 | Tai Shan Exam, October 31, 2005 | Mei and Tai, November 10, 2005 | Tai Shan's First Year (Highlights)


March 20

This morning the Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat is much, much more peaceful than the past two mornings. We collected morning urine samples and swabs for cells to look at Mei Xiang’s vaginal cytology. During the collection we noted that her genital swelling had decreased and the pink coloring had faded. The latest hormonal analysis confirms that Mei Xiang ovulated yesterday. Mei is still showing estrus behavior. She is presenting and raising her tail to Tian Tian, who is moaning and growling at her through the mesh barriers. When he vocalizes in this way, we know that the breeding season is definitely over.

The pandas went right outside when given access. They have fully recovered from their procedures and are making up for having eaten less over the past two days. During the ovulatory period, pandas lose their appetites. We also have to eliminate food and water in preparation for possible anesthesia for artificial insemination (AI). Yesterday, at about 2 p.m., a single trans-cervical AI procedure was performed with fresh semen collected from Tian Tian. The procedure went smoothly. Only 1.7 milliliters was inserted but it contained millions of sperm! We all hope that just one will get the job done. And so the long wait begins.

click toRead recent panda updates.

Giant pandas are black and white bears that live in temperate-zone bamboo forests in central China. Among the best recognized—but rarest—animals in the world, they have come to symbolize endangered species and conservation efforts. As few as 1,600 giant pandas survive in the mountain forests of central China. More than 160 pandas live in zoos and breeding centers around the world; most of these pandas are in China.

Giant pandas Mei Xiang and Tian Tian are at the National Zoo on a ten-year loan from the China Wildlife Conservation Association. They are the focus of an ambitious research, conservation, and breeding program designed to preserve this endangered species.

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