The Giant Panda breeding season has now come and gone. Unfortunately Wang Wang and Funi were not successful this time around. As the pair is still so young it was decided to allow them another natural mating attempt this year. This decision was made to ensure the team, and the pandas, had the chance to experience two full breeding seasons naturally to further develop and learn from what occurred last year. There were many positives to come from this year's season. It seems the continued introductions between Wang Wang and Funi throughout the year really helped. Funi, again, did remarkably well and seemed much more composed this year, trying to stop most of the play behavior from creeping in. Wang Wang also improved this year, particularly on the second day of introductions when he showed he had the ability to take control of the interactions and be a more dominant male.

Wang Wang and Funi are a compatible pair but a bit too young still to mate successfully.

Australia's only Giant Pandas, and the first to reside in the southern hemisphere, Wang Wang and Funi have come together for the annual breeding season.

Introductions are currently taking place in an off-limits area where the pair can be closely monitored. It's important there is minimal disturbance during this time and we thank our members and the public for their support during this crucial stage of the breeding program.

As part of the visit I met with the curators and head vet who are involved in making sure everything goes well with getting two Giant Panda's, Hu Bao and Wu Jie, next year who will live at their new property River Safari.

The River Safari will be a 12 ha park adjacent to the Zoo and Night Safari, on land bordering the reservoir and will house one of the world's largest collections of freshwater aquatic animals, with more than 300 plant species, 500 animal species and over 5,000 individual animal specimens.

Hu Bao and Wu Jie will be the first pair of pandas to be living in the tropics – there is a pair at Chiang Mai in Thailand but they are further north of the equator in a sub-tropical zone. A purpose built facility (1500 sq m) is being constructed as part of the new River Safari development and will see the pandas having a climate controlled facility that will be maintained around 18-22C, with 50-60% humidity, with some access to the outdoors although the conditions will be slightly different to what they are used to now!

Wendy
Manager of Conservation Programs, Zoos SA

Photo 2: Curator Ang Cheng with 1:50 scale model of new panda exhibit for Singapore's River Safari

After our visit to Bifengxia, Simon and I loaded into the ute with Prof Huang and headed out towards Wolong feeling excited and nervous. Excited to see the Wolong panda base where Prof Huang is working on wild training a female panda and her cub for eventual reintroduction, and nervous because we were heading into the heart of the earthquake zone where there is still much rebuilding to be done and where there are still real risks from landslides.

After a few days of meetings in Beijing, Simon and I arrived in Fuzhou to attend a Conference of Chinese Committee of Breeding Technique for Giant Pandas.

This conference is held each year and is a great opportunity to share knowledge and learn from each other. This year's conference had attendees from more than ten countries and highlighted the great work being done to protect this species... and by extension the other amazing species in the Sichuan region.

Hi everyone,

Well, just a week after celebrating the pandas birthdays we have had some more exciting developments over at the panda house. Wang Wang and Fu Ni have swapped enclosures! We are all very excited as we have been wanting to do this for a few months now… well, Tuesday 7th September was the day!

The exhibit is specially designed to allow us to move the pandas easily around all the panda areas, and this is where in the future we will  introduce Wang Wang and Fu Ni together for breeding.

Hi guys,

Well, Wang Wang and Fu Ni’s first birthday in Australia has come and gone.

On 23rd August our little lady turned 4 years old. This is a defining year for her as it is the start of her maturing into an adult female panda. She will most likely lose some of her more cub like behaviours over the next 12 months, becoming more independent and less playful. Of course the keepers won’t mind if she keeps this behaviour!

Hi guys

Well, this cooler weather is certainly keeping us keepers busy over here on Pandas, as it has meant Wang Wang and Fu Ni are up and about a lot more than in summer. This is particularly true for Wang Wang who is moving around all the time. Over the past 8 months of working with Fu Ni we have discovered that our little princess is also our “lazy” panda!......or it may be that Wang Wang is just a very active one…we are all still trying to work it out!

Along with the increased activity levels comes an huge increase in the amount of bamboo that the pandas are eating. This is great news as they seem so happy all the time... all they seem to do is eat!!!! I don’t think it is such a bad lifestyle. We are putting in around 20 kilos of bamboo in every night and during the day, depending on what species they are eating, we may put in at least another 10kilos - that is a massive 30kilos for each of them!!!!

Hi everyone,

Well the time has come for me to say goodbye to all of you for 7 weeks as I am taking leave to go get married! I get hitched on the 27th February and then am going on an amazing honeymoon all over South East Asia! Of course I am getting my animal fix and am going orangutan trekking in Borneo, elephant meeting in Thailand and of course going to see the pandas in Chiang Mai! They had a cub born last year so I am very eager to see it and their facility.

Hi guys,

Well, since my last blog lots has been going on. Wang Wang and Funi have been going outside! We are all very excited that they are able to freely move about their inside and outside exhibits everyday now.

Wang Wang has taken it all in his stride and shown that he really is a confident male. He loves going in and out constantly during the day, even when it is hot. And what a water boy! He loves it! It is constant, he sits in it all the time. We have noticed that he is becoming extremely active when he is out in the exhibit. Today he was even chasing a bird!!! So much for the assumption that pandas are lazy animal and sleep all day!

Hi guys,

Well, what a week it has been. And today was probably the biggest step into the future of Adelaide Zoo for a while! How exciting it has all been... yesterday was the official welcoming of Wang Wang and Funi to Adelaide Zoo. First thing in the morning there was a Buddhist blessing which was really fascinating to watch. They set up right in front of Funi (in her day room) and she stayed there the entire time…happily munching away.

Hi guys,

Well, just about to hop on the bus that will take us to Yaan. I looked up the weather this morning and discovered that winter is settling in! Rain all week with the temperature around 7 and 8 degrees. I'm sure I won't even notice once I see the pandas though!

Till next time,

Simone

Meet Funi and Wang Wang, the two Giant Pandas who will be calling Adelaide Zoo home. Come and meet them here from 13th December 2009!

Today was the 1 year anniversary of the horrific earthquake that devastated the Sichuan Province. Being in China for this solemn occasion was very eerie. I felt so sorry for the people who had lost loved ones and found myself really missing my own family back home.

Today we were invited to watch a blood collection procedure. The panda involved was a 20 year old female who was rescued from the wild.

The weather here has been very consistent over the last few days.  Misty and bleak in the morning, slightly brighter but still cloudy in the early to mid afternoon and misty and drizzly again by late afternoon.  It hasn’t really rained much but it is always wet.  This is just how I imagined the mountains of China.

Momentum has started to gather with the majority of all underground services installed to the Giant Panda Exhibit and the Entrance Precinct. Retaining walls to the moats around the Giant Panda Exhibits have been constructed and have almost cured enough to begin to back fill.