A panda, by any other name, would be so cute

The panda cub at the SD Zoo has a name! She will be called Zhen Zhen, which in Chinese translates as "I hate my name". Zhen Zhen turned 100 days old on Monday.

Despite the lousy appellation, she's still extremely cute.

These names are MEH at best

If you want, you can help name the San Diego Zoo's baby panda at the SD Zoo site. Your oh-so-original choices for names are:

* Li Hua - "Beautiful China"
* Ming Zhu - "Bright Treasure"
* Zhen Zhen - "Precious"
* Xiao Li - "Little Beauty"

BOOOOOOOOOOring! How about Stephen Col-banda the Panda? That way, when this ball of fuzz is sent back to a Chinese nature reserve in two years, all the other baby pandas will know it's an American panda! It has US citizenship already, so why not a name that shows the whole world that this "little beauty" is "built Ford tough" and not "Made in China"?

Pictured above: U! S! A!

I need a job again

Poor E. He was trying to relate to his coworkers and he made the innocent mistake of introducing them to the SD Zoo panda cam. Now, it's a black and white Pandaland at work for him, each and every work day. Bwahahaha! He has now (inadvertently) taken over Panda Watch for me, who, in my work hiatus, can no longer seem to find the time. The dogs don't walk themselves you know. So whenever the siren call goes up (starts with a "E" and ends with a "E!") he ims me to go check out the panda cub's doings, for which I am grateful and amused by the irony. The above image is from this morning. It's a little dark but you can barely make out the cub playing with her feet. Too cute!

I told E that if his coworkers needed help constructing a Great Wall of Panda in the office, I have the requisite building experience. And that if he wanted to start a support group for coworkers of coworkers with panda-monium, I might know a couple of people.

News Anchors Act Unprofessional, Go "eeeeeeeee!" on Local TV

This clip from ABC-Chicago about the San Diego panda cub is funny. The video shows the female news casters squealing and cooing as they watch the news bite, which shows the baby cub crying as she receives a vaccination and attempts to wriggle free. Then it cuts to the lone male news caster on this night's broadcast, who is holding his hand over his mouth and looking like he's trying not to hurl. Now where might I have seen this look before?

The San Diego Zoo is soliciting names for the new fuzzball from zoo goers, today through October 14. Quick, someone help me translate "I-can't-believe-it's-not-Tai-Shan" into Chinese!

Pandora?? Is that you?

If I ever got the chance to help zoo keepers examine a month old panda cub, this is how I envision it would go down.

First I'd prop her up on her little panda legs and make her 'walk' around the exam table, kicking all the instruments to the ground, and occasionally making the cub leap into the air (complete with airplane sounds) and land on a zoo keeper's head. Then I'd make her arms move, waving them wildly while saying "I'm a little panda - ROOOOAR" to all the other keepers, who by now are looking seriously annoyed. And then I'd smack her in the head with her own paw and ask her "Why are you hitting yourself? Huh? Huh?" as she squirmed to escape my grasp while the other keepers pinned me down so they get the straitjacket on properly.

Science be damned, it would SO be worth it!

It's a She

San Diego's newest panda is a girl. At six weeks old, she now weighs a whopping four pounds and looks less like a wriggly grub and more like a giant panda. Certified pandologists call this the "adorable stuffed animal" phase. Awwwww!

Pictured at right: High five, yo.

live from san diego, it's wednesday afternoon

This is a snapshot of Bai Yun and her unnamed cub taken today from the San Diego Zoo's panda cam. I spent the entire fall of 2005 (and countless taxpayer dollars) trying to figure out how to take snapshots or screen shots from the National Zoo's panda cam so that I could post them here and I never did figure that out. The San Diego zoo's web site now has a feature where you can email snapshots to yourself or your fellow panda lovers straight from the panda cam. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Been There, Done Panda

According to this article in the San Diego Union Tribune, we're over it! Newborn baby panda? Meh. So what? San Diego has seen several of those. Big deal huh?

Pandologists (and other panda people) take heart! It's okay that people are feeling a bit ho-hum about another panda births. Let's hope that one day, panda births are so common it isn't even newsworthy anymore. Feeling blase over yet another baby panda is way better than feeling blase over whether pandas go extinct.

Pictured right: They should name me Cotton Candy.

Green is the New Blog

Mei Sheng, a San Diego Zoo panda, celebrates his 4th birthday this week with fruitsicles and little fanfare. His only birthday wish was that the newborn baby panda, of yet undetermined sexual identification or orientation, would wander into the polar bear habitat and get eaten alive. Mei, what a jealous panda!

Pictured right: a panda who looks too old to be Mei Sheng but is cute regardless.

Androgynous Stick o' Butter, now one week old

The newest panda at the San Diego Zoo is doing great. He/She turned one week old on Friday. The cub's sex is still unknown, as zookeepers will keep their distance until the mama bear leaves the cub alone for longer periods of time.

Are we through yet, giving panda cubs silly rhyming Chinese names? Is it any wonder why they don't want to procreate with each other with names like Frou Frou and Ping Pong? (and the 3 centimeters business - that could have something to do with it as well.)

Isn't it about time we started giving these American born pandas, American names? That way, even though we have to return them to China, at least we'll be able to distinguish them from the native-born pandas. Why not something really American like Chevrolet? Or Tiger Woods? Who's chairing this committee anyway?

you say goodbye, we say hello

Mei Sheng, a four year old male panda at the San Diego Zoo, will be sent to China in November 2007, under the terms of loan agreement between the Zoo and Chinese Panda Authorities. Mei Sheng, who was born in 2003, is only the second panda to be born in captivity worldwide. His sister, Hua Mei, in 1999 was the first panda cub born in captivity.

Mei Sheng is of special interest to the panda breeding program in China because he is the first offspring of a male panda whose genes are not represented among the present population. Genetic diversity helps an animal population stay healthy and prevents inbreeding, a common problem among endangered species. Mei Sheng and his offspring will help ensure a diverse and healthy population of future pandas.

To see Mei Sheng before he goes, click on the San Diego Zoo panda cam.

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This just in: What do Nicole Richie and Mei Sheng's mom, Bai Yun, have in common?