It’s those Ears
Usually, it’s hard to tell which panda is which, unless it’s a cub so the difference is by the size. But some of my PU mates really study the pandas in detail and can tell, for example, by the extra bit of black fur on the tip of the tail that it’s Mama Lun of Zoo Atlanta. (And if anyone is interested, her baby Mei Lan aka Lani also has the extra bit of black fur on the tip of her tail, but she’s also smaller - much smaller - than her Ma, so you can’t go wrong identifying the two of them.) But I digress.
This post is about the one panda whose ears will give him away anytime.
Daddy Gao at the San Diego Zoo.
I saw him on the SDZ pandacam a while ago:
Can you see? His left ear is smaller than his right. He was born wild and had been involved in a fight that shredded about 3/4 of that ear. Fortunately, he was found, brought into a centre and treated. He was released back into the wild, but by that time, he’d been so accustomed to be cared for, he was going into houses to look for food. So he was brought back and sent to the Wolong Panda Reserve. Later, when the San Diego Zoo needed a younger male panda in exchange for its aging patriarch, Gao was the choice. The exchange has been a good one; since coming to San Diego Zoo, he has sired two young ‘uns - son Mei Sheng, born 2003, and daughter Su Lin, born 2005. And not by artifical insemination!
Gao is a very special panda, and not just because of his ear. As a wild born panda, his genes are different from those at the Wolong Centre where many of the young pandas were sired by Pan Pan and there’s increasing danger of in-breeding. For this reason, his son Mei Sheng will most probably be sent back soon. Mei Sheng’s papers are being processed at the moment. All young pandas born to parents on loan from China are returned to the motherland after they turn 2.
I got to meet Gao during my trip last November. cardiffgal got a picture of him “waiting for his dinner” :
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Later that evening, his keeper was late opening the door for him to return indoors. He paced the exhibit, and a couple of times was heard banging on the door to be let in. And then he did something he never (or hardly) did before - he climbed up on the structure and looked over the wall for his keeper. It was a real treat to see him up so high.
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Yup, it’s not only the cubs who are cute. The daddies (and mummies) can be, too.
