As we approach the birthing window for panda Bai Yun, we are busy making preparations to ensure that things go smoothly for her this summer. Over the years, we have a series of tried-and-true checklist items we believe help us to ensure the health and wellbeing of our prolific panda and her offspring. One of the basic items involves readying the birthing den itself.
For most of the year, the den sits idle. It is closed off from the bedroom by a metal door, and the bears are not able to access it. Part of our preparations involve inspection of the den, determining if any new parts or pieces are necessary to make it a cozy place for Bai Yun. In past years, we have replaced the floor with a fresh wooden plank, something free of debris or germs from past use. Starting off the season with a new floor is a good first step.
Any cobwebs or other litter are cleared away, and new equipment is considered for the camera and microphone system. This year, we are badly in need of upgrades for both of those pieces, so we put out the call back in March via the San Diego Zoo’s Wish List. Our panda faithful answered us, and we received donations enough to fund a new camera and microphone for this birthing season! Thanks so much to those who donated to help with these items.
The new camera will be installed today. It will allow us a better view of Bai Yun and a cub in the den, making research efforts and monitoring of the health and well-being of the panda pair easier. It will also improve your Panda Cam images from the view you had last time around; after all, last time’s den camera view was courtesy of the same camera we used to film Hua Mei’s birth. It was an old piece of equipment! This new camera should make the den brighter and clearer for our online viewers.
The microphone will go in shortly and will allow us to better capture audio recordings of the cub to enhance our expanding acoustic studies; we already have recordings of adult pandas under various situations, particularly breeding and estrus. We have also captured audio of our sun bear twins. Further work is planned in this area, and getting clear recordings of a panda cub would increase the comparative value of our work.
Although we don’t expect to see signs of pregnancy from Bai Yun just yet, the vets have begun preparing her for monitoring via the use of ultrasound. Her first session of the season went well, and Bai Yun seemed to remember the drill. If she is indeed pregnant, we anticipate our first glimpse of a fetus somewhere about mid- to late-July…if she is on track with previous years, that is! Bai Yun seems to be regular as rain, with all four of her births taking place within a 20-day calendar window.
For now, we prepare. Cross your fingers that this year, perhaps Bai Yun’s very last opportunity to give birth, we will have another panda cub born to our special momma bear.
Suzanne Hall is a senior research technician for the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research.