Week One:Rhinos and Checkups

Name: Ashley Uselmann

Class Year: Junior

Hometown: Carmel, IN

Internship: National Pretoria Zoo

Pretoria, South Africa

It has been crazy since Tia and I landed in South Africa. We both landed in South Africa on the 18^th of May. Tia had just arrived after surviving a 16-hour flight! I met Tia after just arriving from my May-term travel trip in Malawi. We managed to find each other and our driver and were on our way. Both Tia and I were hungry after our trips and decided to stop at a restaurant on our way to the zoo. The first meal that both of us had in South Africa was a fast food chain called Wimpy. Not the most authentic meal we could have eaten. After a short drive, we have arrived in our new home for the next 10 weeks. We met our new housemates, Stefan and Nicholas, and called it a night. I was saying goodbye to one journey and hello to another.

            The start to our journey was a little slow. Many of the staff we were supposed to meet were gone on the weekend, so we had the weekend also to ourselves. However, besides to unpacking and eating, Tia and I were getting a little restless. The house we were staying at was as Tia said, “like Fort Knox”. We were given keys and actually struggled a good five minutes just to leave the house. The kitchen was beautiful and the rooms were huge. However, there is one snag. There is no WIFI…yah Tia and I had to adjust to that aspect a little bit. Yet, we knew there would be WIFI at the research center. We met another one of our housemates named Marianne. Our housemates are amazing. Marianne is a student from France who came to the Zoo’s research center to work on her Masters. Nicholas is a genetics student from Belgium who is also working on his Masters. Finally, there is Stefan from Austria. Stefan is at the zoo to coordinate with them on a project. He has been all around the world and has done so many things that I couldn’t possible list them all. The list of people we met don’t end with them. On Saturday, we met two new friends, Jamie and DD. Jamie is an intern at the research center and DD is a research assistant. Both of them were so kind and took us out shopping for groceries. Both Tia and I had to cringe when we saw the bill, but we knew these groceries were necessary.

            The first day on the job was interesting introduction. How do two zoo students start there stay in a zoo? Of course, they travel around the zoo! Tia and I woke up first thing in the morning and spent a couple of hours just wandering the zoo. I have to say that one animal in particular stole my heart on the first day. Goliath is a white rhino that lives at the Pretoria zoo. He shares an enclosure with another white rhino and a small herd of zebra. Goliath was just an infant when his mother was killed by poachers. He was taken in by authorities and hand-raised by zoo staff. He loves to race cars and people alike! He is a sweet boy! On that same day, Tia and I ventured around to find where were supposed to go. All facilities related animal feeding, animal health, research, and storage are in the same area. Plus, all the buildings look exactly alike! We got lost only a couple of times… After asking a couple of zoo staff, we finally made our way to the research offices. We met with the research coordinator Dr. Netshifhefhe. She briefed us on who we needed to talk to and led us to Dr. Dalton. She gave us our research projects. Tia was given a project that worked on genetic barcoding with different antelope species of South Africa. I was given a project that worked on the microsatellites of a South African antelope species called Bushbuck. We were informed that each of us would be working with a supervisor that would advise us in the lab work. Also, we are expected to write a paper on this lab work that should be publishable by the end of our 10 weeks. In addition to our individual projects, both Tia and I will work on a statistical analysis of penguin measurements taken at several facilities. We knew we had our hands filled. After meeting our supervisors, Tia and I ventured off to meet the zoo’s veterinarians. 

            It was exciting to final meet the veterinarian staff at the hospital. We met with Dr. Rob and Dr. Krisen who were responsible for the health of all the 600 animals in the Pretoria zoo. After a brief discussion about what we were working on with geneticists, the vets agreed that Tia and I could join them on anything they do. We planned on meeting them for morning rounds at 8 am, and will also join them on Wednesday went Dr. Rob plans to go to Mokopani Park. Mokapani Park is an extension of the Pretoria Zoo and Dr. Rob plans to do check ups on a few of the animals there. With that knowledge, Tia and I headed to bed after making a dinner of what’s going to end up our most reliable meal, pasta.

            The first day that we worked with the vets was packed filled. The day started at 8 am for morning rounds. The morning rounds consisted of the whole vet staff checking on the patients that reside in the vet hospital. Some of the patients included: two adorable genets that Dr. Rob himself raised that are waiting for an enclosure designed for them, 4 cockatoos, tow juvenile genets two parrots, a wild dog, a tortoise that had a nasty cut after having a run-in with a hedge clipper, and finally almost 100 confiscated leopard tortoises. 70 of those tortoises are baby tortoises that were just hatched after arriving. Later that same day, Tia and I would check on all 70 of those baby tortoises to make sure first that they were alive, and secondly to check on their body conditions. The few that we pulled out required closer monitoring because of not receiving enough UV light and calcium and as a result having softer shells. And has most of you back home know, a turtle with a soft shell is not good at all.

Me with a baby leopard tortoise. Tia and I had to
inspect around 70 of these adorable creatures.

            After the morning round was finished, our first patient was a moderately high-profile case. An Oryx herd resides within the zoo. These antelopes are listed as a threatened species by the ICUN. Before we arrived, one of the oryx had a metal wire that tore into her hoof and the vets had to stich up the injury. That same oryx was not putting any weight on that leg, so the vets were going to dart her and reexamine the site of injury. After helping the vets dart and treat the animal, Tia and I acted as their scrubs/scribes. We were given charts and recorded: drugs given, doses, heart rate, temperature, breathing rate, etc. All the vets and vet staff work diligently to clean out the reopen wound, stich and wrap it up. Afterwards, she was moved to a stall so could be monitored for a while. Once we knew the oryx was stabilized we moved on to a harder part of the job, post mortems. Two birds, one flamingo and one parrot died unexpectantly and the vets had to determine the cause. We met another vet, Dr. Michelle, who specializes in pathology. We watched has both her and Dr. Krisen searched each animal for signs of illness or injury. It was fascinating how they went step by step at looking at all parts of the animal. With the two post mortems done, so was our day and went home to prepare for an early Wednesday.

A picture of Tia at 5 am. Excited for the day's trip!

            Our Wednesday started early, with waking up at 4 am. Dr. Rob planned for us to leave by 5:30 so we could get to Mokopani by a reasonable time. It was a packed car by the time we were leaving. The group consisted of: Tia and I, Jamie, Dr. Rob, Sabeth (vet tech), and Elizabeta, who is a student from Italy working on her Masters. At Mokopani, our group was led on a tour of the facilities. At the beginning of the trip we planned on darting 2 animals, and we left darting none. We planned on darting on a female Roan antelope and a lioness. The reason we didn’t dart the lioness for her check-up was because she was in heat and we wouldn’t be able to separate her from the male lion. The Roan antelope not being darted that day was a whole other story. We went out to the park’s preserve and left Dr. Rob, Tia, and the vet tech, Sabeth out in a hideout, so they could dart the roan secretly while she was eating. Sadly, right as they were going to dart her, Sabeth ended up sneezing…Loudly. All the roan scattered and we knew we wouldn’t be able to get near them again today. The best part of the day though was when Dr. Rob had to check up on a baby pigmy hippo. He and a couple of others had to pick up the baby, because he managed to sneak into the wrong pen. This pen had a male pigmy hippo and if they stayed together this would lead to a dangerous situation for the baby. Obviously, both baby and the mother of the baby pigmy hippo were angry at the staff for picking up the baby. So, what does an angry hippo mother do? She sprays poop all over the staff. Yah, Dr. Rob had to rinse off before we let him anywhere near the car. It was an exciting adventure!

The protective pygmy hippo mom in front
of her calf. She got Dr. Rob good!

            Thursday was more exciting if possible. Thursday consisted of not only the normal rounds but also with a full checkup of all marmoset monkeys. There were about 9 marmosets in total. First the keepers would gather the marmoset from their respective crates and we would gas them in a box to allow them to sleep during the check-up. Dr. Rob went over each individual’s body condition, head to tail, and we over x-rays. I became the scrub that wrote down all of Dr. Rob’s observations for the record. Tia became the X-ray assistant and would position all the marmosets for their x-rays. The process itself took hours.

            Friday was exciting in a different way. We had to dart a red kangaroo. This kangaroo broke his jaw in the past and the vets wanted to reexamine the wound for possible infection and signs of healing. This particular kangaroo is one of the dominant males of the group. The vets darted him and we were able to pull him from the enclosure without trouble from the other kangaroos. Once we secured him in the vet office, Dr. Krisen worked to clean the wound and reexamine it. It was healing quite nicely! They stitched him back up and we returned him back to his enclosure. Although, he was still unconscious as we were carrying him back into the enclosure. We happen to pass a huge group of school children on the way. Yup, that was fun seeing their reactions and telling them he is not dead, he just had a doctors appointment. There is never a boring day here at the Pretoria Zoo.

           

           

           

           

Cheetahs, Cheetahs, Everywhere

Hello! 

My name is McKenna Hancock, I am a junior Zoo and Conservation Science and Biology double major from Austin, Texas.  I am currently interning at the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia. Cheetah Conservation Fund or CCF, is a facility that is working around the clock to try to save wild cheetahs from extinction. It serves not only as a place to educate visitors and others who come but also as a rehab facility for cheetahs that need a little help to get back to their normal lives in the wild. 

Currently when I am writing this, we have 36 cheetahs here, I know, that's a lot of cheetahs but some are currently being rehabilitated and some are permanent residents here, who are ambassadors for the education program. Our resident cheetahs live here because they were too young when they came here and do not have the basic skills they need to be a cheetah in the wild. The cheetahs that are permanent residents here help us to educate the public so they can be passionate and help us save them. 

We don't just have cheetahs at CCF, we also have Livestock Guarding dogs. These are dogs that we give (at a small fee) to farmers in the area that will protect their herd from predators, reducing the human wildlife conflict in the area. The waiting list for these dogs is very long, so when we have puppies, they go in with goats very quickly to get them used to livestock. We want them to care about the goats and the livestock more than they care about people. Then when they are old enough, we get them spayed and neutered, and send them to their farm homes. I was lucky enough to be able to sit in on the procedure of the puppies getting spayed and neutered. 

 

Alongside the dogs we also run a model farm here at CCF, we have goats and sheep to show the farmers how they can have their livestock and not harm wildlife. It is also where we develop and demonstrate our livestock managing techniques. As interns we go to check the goats twice a day to make sure they are free of injuries and sickness because a limping or sick goat looks like food to a predator. Doing goat checks every day you make friends with some of those goats. The little lady on the right is Dot and I love her. 

It is a very rare occasion when we get to watch something like the puppies getting fixed, usually my day consists of tasks, work on projects, or reading up on native species in Namibia. My tasks are broad and range from feeding dogs, to what we call center feeding.

Which starts with laying all the bowls out in a designated area so that the guests can look at the meat and learn a little about it in what we call a 'Meat Talk'.  It's where we discuss what the meat is (usually horse or donkey) the vitamins and minerals we put on it and why its in bowls (cheetahs are finicky). 

It’s funny however because when we lay out the meat, we tend to get hungry visitors like birds that will come take nibbles of the meat. Then we put the bowls of meat in the feed pen and then when we are safe and out of the enclosure, we let the cheetahs in to eat. It is an experience that the guests get to watch and take pictures of and I got to say it is very cool to be that close to a cheetah while it is eating, I don't think I’ll ever get used to it. 

There are also tasks where you help take care of the dogs that live here. Tasks with the dogs consist of feeding them cleaning their enclosures, putting fly spray on them, and of course dog walks. I have not been here very long but I may already have a favorite dog. His name is Bolt and he has personality for days, the photo on the left is a one I took of him right after we got back from a walk. He is very tired but also very happy. He will stay here at CCF for breeding purposes. 

There are quite a few tasks we do relating to the cheetahs; my personal favorite is Husbandry. We get to head to where they keep the releasable cheetahs, about a 10-minute drive away from the main building. This is so we can keep those cheetahs as wild as possible before we release them. For husbandry we feed them and run them to get their exercise, they are trained to chase the cheetah keeper truck. The cheetahs do their best to keep up with the truck and usually they beat it, after that we feed them. Usually we throw the meat over the fence and they grab it and run away. We also take care of the resident cheetahs we have in bigger enclosures for the safari experiences. Overall it is in my opinion one of the coolest tasks because you get the chance to see how cheetahs in the wild would act as well as see some of the resident cheetahs we don't get to see too often. 

Of course, there are the typical tasks that have you cleaning enclosures or feed pens, then there is the task that has you prepping the food for the cheetahs. Basically we take the big chunks of the meat that the butcher preps for us, we prep those by cutting off as much of the fat as we can and also making sure there are no bones that the cheetahs could choke on or get stuck in their teeth. After we are done usually there is a bucket that look somewhat like this just full of fully prepped meat. We have 36 mouths to feed, that is a lot of meat to prep every day, so as you can imagine it’s a long very busy task, but the cheetahs need to get fed. 

Overall, I have learned so much in the short time that I have been here, this internship is proving to be invaluable in prepping for my future career.  My next blog post will probably update much more on that project and not my daily tasks! 

Conservation Conversations

Name:  Allison Gould

Class Year:  2021

Hometown:  Pittsburgh, PA

Internship:  Conservation and Science Volunteer Intern

Location:  Cleveland Metroparks Zoo

  

            Hello from Cleveland! I am about a month into my internship with the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo’s Conservation and Science Department. So far, I have enjoyed every minute of my internship. I have gotten to meet many people from around the zoo and help with a variety of projects. On my second day, I jumped right in to help with World Turtle Day. I stood with a keeper in a turtle costume so kids could take pictures with her. Other activities that day included box turtle crafts, biofact stations, and a donation station.

World Turtle Day photo ops - me with Ms. Turtle

           

Just yesterday, June 21, I helped with World Giraffe Day. I was at the storytelling station where we had giraffe biofacts, a Twiga Tracker (a solar powered satellite tracker that attaches to a giraffe’s ossicones+), and I passed out buttons that said “Stand Tall for Giraffe” to the guests. Guests could collect a small sticker on their button at each station they visited. These stickers represented guests “tracking” their way through the zoo like the Giraffe Conservation Foundation tracks giraffe in the wild with the Twiga Trackers.

World Giraffe Day "Stand Tall for Giraffe" buttons

The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo has six key conservation programs that they focus on to help secure a future for wildlife. The six Future for Wildlife (FFW) programs are Andean bear, Asian turtle, giraffe, gorilla, illegal wildlife trade, and lion and cheetah. Within the zoo, there are also internal engagement FFW teams of zoo staff and volunteers that plan events and fundraisers and report on conservation updates. These teams make sure that everyone at the zoo that is interested in supporting conservation efforts has the opportunity to be involved. I have even been able to go to planning meetings with Team Giraffe and Team Andean Bear and marketing meetings for World Giraffe Day.  

            In the Conservation and Science Department, I work partly as a conservation intern and partly as a research volunteer. On the conservation side, I work with Emily and Kym on any projects they may need help with. My first big project was compiling a list of “conservation successes” and achievements of the zoo’s many global conservation partners. By searching through the partners’ websites and annual reports, I not only learned about the work that they are doing, but I also gained an appreciation for the importance of their work and the obstacles they are tackling. I have also helped Kym by editing and reviewing a number of documents for the Andean Bear Conservation Alliance annual report and for the Andean bear AZA SAFE application. The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is a leader in Andean bear conservation, and the SAFE program would allow for greater participation in Andean bear conservation across AZA institutions.   

            On the research side of things, I have assisted in a number of ongoing research projects that are conducted by the graduate research associates here. About once a day I go around the zoo to collect data for the ongoing Animal Visibility Study (for bears and the African Savanna species) and the Giraffe Space Use Study. The Visibility Study is an annual project to assess the visibility of animals that visitors usually report that they cannot see on exhibit. The Giraffe Space Use Study is also an annual project to address where the giraffes spend their time in the exhibit when the guest feeding deck is open versus closed. I was also able to help with a multi-institutional giraffe body-scoring project. I brought in my camera and took photos from multiple angles of two of the zoo’s five giraffes. The photos will be sent to an outside researcher that is pooling data on giraffe body conditions in zoos. I have been very lucky that the C&S department has allowed me to bring my skill sets to the table with these kinds of creative opportunities. 

Left: Bo rear view       Right: Jhasmin right side view

            As a volunteer intern, I also go to weekly meetings with the seasonal keepers. Each meeting consists of a presentation from a leader within the zoo. We have had meetings about animal record keeping, enrichment and training, conservation, and the on-site animal shows. These meetings are especially beneficial because they give us the opportunity to hear from all different aspects of the zoo’s operations and to learn about the many kinds of jobs available within a zoo. Additionally, the seasonal keepers and I are all working on independent research projects. We have had multiple research planning meetings and it has been fun to hear about the others’ projects and how their data collection is going. My project is still in the works - it will be a guest survey to gather a baseline understanding of public feelings and perceptions about zoos.  

Seasonal keeper meeting on the Zoo’s conservation programs with Kym

            Every day here is different. Some days bring many meetings, others are more open for me to work on projects and tasks. Here are a few of the exciting things I have been a part of so far:

·        Sat in on two webinars with Kym about reporting environmental law violations and combating wildlife crime.

·        Weekly chats with Kym about anything and everything that I have observed, want to learn, or just talk about.

·        Attended a monthly department meeting and a bi-monthly general employee meeting with all zoo staff.

·        Attended a brown bag lecture by and had lunch with Maurice Ngiramahoro, Conservation Education Coordinator of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Rwanda.

            The summer is going by fast, but I can’t wait to get started on data collection for my project and see what the rest of my internship brings! 

Ni Hao from Panda Paradise!

Name: Lindsey Keehn & Eileen Connon
Class Year: 2020 & 2019
Hometown: Crystal Lake, Illinois & Mandeville, Louisiana 
Internship: Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
Location: Chengdu, China

First day at the Panda Base!

Ni hao from Chengdu, China! My name is Lindsey Keehn and I just finished my second year in the Zoo and Conservation Science Major at Otterbein University. Eileen and I have officially been in China for an entire month and have been working at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. Our first month has flown by and we have had multiple amazing experiences here working with giant pandas and red pandas. I can’t wait to see what else we will get to experience while we’re here, but for now, let me recap on the work we’ve done for the past month!

            There are two Giant Panda Bases located in China; there is the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu and then there is the Chengdu Field Research Center for Giant Pandas in Dujiangyan. The Research Base in Chengdu is where we spend most of our days with occasional trips to the Research Center in Dujiangyan to assist with educational events and learn more about their mission. The Chengdu Panda Base is unlike any animal park or zoo I have visited. The base is ginormous with beautiful native plants lining the walkways, bamboo forests, and rolling hills throughout the base. In fact, to see the pandas and their enclosures, you have to climb up the tallest hill in Chengdu! We definitely work up a sweat and get a work out in multiple times a day here, but it’s all worth it to be able to observe the pandas. There are multiple enclosures such as House #1 and #2, Moonlight and Sunshine Nursery, Subadult A and B, The Giant Panda House, and Red Panda #1 and #2 along with a few other enclosures I can’t remember. The Panda Base and their enclosures are home to 115 giant pandas and around 150-200 red pandas (with the additional peacock here or there).  

House #1 eating breakfast

    

Eileen and I have been hard at work collecting behavioral data on the two groups of 3-year old giant pandas. We observe two different enclosures during our days here at the base. House #1 is home to five 3-year-old giant pandas: Cheng Shi, Wen Wen, Yuan Yue, Ya Yun, and Ya Zhu. House #2 is home to the other 3-year-olds: Mao Dou, Mao Tao, Fu Lai, Fu Shun, and Qi Yi. These ten pandas will be the subjects of our research projects! These two houses are where we spend most of our time watching the pandas eat, play, climb, and sleep. The data we are collecting on these ten 3-year-olds will be compared to the past Otterbein students who came to the Panda Base in previous years who collected data when these cubs were one-year-olds. We’re interested in comparing their behavior throughout the years with the possibility of looking at kinship. A regular day for us looks like this:
1. Walk to the metro at 7:15 AM

2. Ride the metro to Panda Avenue

3. Take the bus to the Panda Base

4. Arrive around 8:30 AM, go up to our office and organize our materials

5. Walk up to the panda enclosures and record observations for two and half hours (9:00AM-11:30AM)

6. Lunch at 12:00 PM

7. Take a little walk around the base

8. Go back up to our office to work on things or take a nap (I’m really digging this culture part of China where people take naps at work)

9. Walk back up to the panda enclosures and begin observations at 2:30 PM for an hour of data collection

10.  Leave around 4:00 PM

11. Take the bus to the metro

12. Take the metro to our neighborhood

13. Walk home

14. Eat

15. Sleep

16. Repeat!

My journal for data collection with an ethogram

In addition to data collection, we occasionally get to accompany James (our boss) to observe training sessions with adult and cub pandas. James trains multiple pandas at the base so that they can perform different behaviors for the keepers or veterinarians when they made need a check-up. Some of the behaviors taught include:

1.     Opening their mouth voluntarily to monitor their teeth

2.     Having the pandas stick their arms out while being pinched so they can be prepared for blood draws and injections

3.     Females laying on their back and having their belly rubbed so they can get used to what an ultrasound will feel like

4.     Males laying on their back so keepers can see when they might become mature as well as check for things like testicular cancer

5.     Standing on their hind legs to observe their full body

6.     Targeting a keeper’s fist to keep their attention during possible stressful situations (ex: during a vet visit, a panda might be moving its head or potentially hear weird noises that may frighten it. Targeting allows the panda to try and stay fixated on the keepers fist and receive a reward. This way, everyone involved, including the panda, are safe)

7.     Targeting different objects such as blocks of wood, bamboo, and stations.

James with Ji Mei

These are just a few of the behaviors I’ve witnessed in both the adults and cubs. James uses positive reinforcement using apple (a panda favorite) and a whistle to bridge the behavior so the panda knows a reward is coming. He takes his time to work with them as he is patient and encouraging. In particularly, he has a very strong bond with a 3-year old male name Ji Mei and a 1-year old female Chuan Zhai. Being able to witness his training sessions with these two has been very insightful as you can tell they have a strong bond between each other. It has been interesting to compare the training of Ji Mei and Chuan Zhai as they are both in different places of learning with James. Ji Mei has been training with James for about 2 years now, so he has a solid grasp on the behaviors that James wants him to perform. On the other hand, Chuan Zhai is still learning different behavior requests, so seeing her understand what James is asking is very exciting! Recently, Chuan Zhai needed to have her blood taken by the veterinarian and keeper staff. Usually, to take the blood of a panda cub you need about 5-7 staff members to hold them down, so they aren’t moving about anywhere! But James has trained Chaun Zhai to stick of her arm while he pinches her, to mimic a needle, so she can be relaxed while in these types of situations. Because of this training, it only took 3 people to get blood from her: James, the vet, and another keeper! It was truly amazing to see the progress she has made and how essential and beneficial training can be.

Cheng Dai with a keeper. Her cub is
tucked underneath her arm.

Every day at the Panda Base I learn something new and there’s always excitement in the air at the panda enclosures, but what is really exciting is…it’s BABY SEASON! At the moment we officially have three new born pandas: a singleton and a pair of twins! When panda cubs are born, they are 1/1000^th the size of their mother…that’s TINY. Usually, the starting birth weight of a panda cub is somewhere between 100 grams to 120 grams. Cheng Dai gave birth to twins and one of her babies weighed only 42.8 grams at birth!!! The smallest born panda that has survived weighs in at 51 grams and is named Wu Yee. If this newborn survives with the help of her mother and experienced keeper staff, she has to potential to break Wu Yee’s record! Panda cubs are small, pink, and dare I say it, rat-like, when they are born. Seeing how small they are compared to a full-grown adult is truly mind-blowing and allows you to understand how fragile their life is. In the wild, the mother won’t go out to travel or eat for a few weeks as she spends most of her time nursing her cub. A panda cub will usually nurse from their mother up to a year to receive important nutrients while slowly being introduced to bamboo. Panda cubs will spend about a year or two of their life with their mother before they are kicked out to fend for themselves! At the base, the babies rotate between their mother and an incubator, as well as milk from their mother and formula from keepers. This allows the cub to receive a kind of special treatment by receiving care from their mother through nursing and warmth, as well as care from the keepers in proper warmth and humidity conditions and extra nutrients. Since Cheng Dai gave birth to twins, they switch the cubs out every now and then so they can both form a bond with her and receive colostrum. Pandas normally give birth to only one cub in both the wild and captivity. When they give birth to twins in the wild, they usually only care for one cub and the other one dies. At the Panda Base they can try to eliminate that scenario by taking care of both the cubs and to grow their population. I can’t wait to see these little cubs grow up during my time here and how they are taken care of when they are so young. Now we just wait patiently for more babies throughout the summer!

The twins born to Cheng Dai! You can really see how small the 42.8 g cub is in this picture.

Our work at the Chengdu Field Research Center for Giant Pandas in Dujiangyan is different than our work at the original base. Dujiangyan is about an hour and a half away from Chengdu in the mountains, so we take the panda work bus to the base. This base is an open research center and works closely with attempting to reintroduce pandas to the wild. The Research Center has much more open space to allow potential panda candidates to free roam in large enclosures (up to a few acres) so they can get used to what it would be like if they were on their own. If you’re interested in how the Research Center works on reintroduction, watch the documentary “Pandas”. It focuses on a particular panda, Qian Qian, and her journey (also fun fact, this documentary was offered as inflight entertainment on my flight from ORD to LAX!). What we have been mainly working with is the red pandas at this facility! The first time we visited this base, we came along to help James with training red pandas. At the time, this base was setting up a free-roam red panda enclosure that is home to 25 red pandas. James came to help train the red pandas and work with the keepers at this base to see how they can work with the red pandas at this enclosure. So, what was our job as inexperienced animal trainers? To distract the other red pandas, of course! Since there are so many red pandas in this one, large, free location, while James and the keepers were working individually with some red pandas, our mission was to distract the other red pandas who may come down for treats so they don’t interrupt a training session. We were allowed to get up close and personal with these red, furry creatures who are the cutest beings you’ve ever seen. James and the keepers worked with the red pandas similarly to the giant pandas. They trained them to target their fists, stand, as well as lay on their backs while having their belly rubbed for possible future procedures, such as ultrasounds. Some targeting they worked on was having the red panda follow their fist so they would climb up a tree, sit on a bench, stand on their lap, and quite a few other behaviors. Even if it was the first time some of these red pandas were learning a behavior or command, they were picking it up quite quickly! We spent the rest of our day here touring the base as well as reviewing the plan for the opening day of this free-roam enclosure on Children’s Day.

About a week later we made a trip back to Dujiangyan to help out with events planned for Children’s Day! There were two separate groups throughout the day, but both had the same activities. The children (ranging from 3-12) would start with an introductory presentation on giant pandas and red pandas, where they live, what they eat, and who they coexist with. Next, James gave a presentation on training red pandas and the importance of it. Afterwards, it was time for the children to see the red pandas in the new exhibit where they were able to witness a training session from James! Lastly, we headed back to the main building where we played a game similar to “pin the tail on the donkey” but was called “help the red panda find its home”. We helped the children put on eye masks, a red panda crown, gave them a little red panda picture, and had them spin around before trying to find the bamboo to put the red panda in nature. This educational event was so much fun getting to personally work with the kids and help them understand the importance of giant pandas and red pandas. The different presentations and opportunities really gave them a chance to engage with what they were being taught. To see some of their eyes light up when seeing a red panda and the amazement they had seeing a training session was truly magical. All of the children were so energetic, and we made so many new little friends that day. I hope that this Children’s Day event had as big of an impact on them, as it did on me. I’ve always been fond of education in the zoo field and the more I work these types of events, the more I feel a sense of knowing what I would like to do with my career!

James, Miranda, Me, and Eileen prepping for Children's Day with red panda crowns!

     

Working at the Panda Base this past month has provided me with so many new learning opportunities and has introduced me to a potentially new career. Our days at the base are long, but they are filled with pandas, friends, new ideas, research, tons of panda facts, and fun! While I cherish my days at the base, during our free time we have also spent quite a lot of time exploring, trying new foods, and meeting new people. On our third day at the base, one of the staff members at the panda base who we met through James, Yuen Bo, invited Eileen and I out to dinner with him and his friend. We were on our way home waiting for the bus, but we thought why not! We drove into the city and went to tea and dinner at one of the most beautiful and fancy restaurants I have ever been. We were definitely not prepared for a restaurant this nice as we arrived in our work clothes! We had tea for a few hours before having dinner which gave us a time to bond. Once it was dinner time, we couldn’t believe how much food we were being served! It’s customary in China to order many different types of dishes and share with the entire table. The spread that we had before us was enormous! I don’t think I’ve ever had that much food in front of me before, even at Thanksgiving! We tried many different foods, from beef, pork, chicken, fish, vegetables of every kind, dessert, and we even tried jelly fish! It was such a nice dinner as we were able to feel like we made friends only a few days into our trip. Everyone we met here has been so kind to us already and this really set off the beginning of our trip and exceeded our expectations of the Chinese people! 

  

We have also made friends with a family who owns a bun shop on the corner of the street we pass every morning on our walk to the metro. We usually stop to get buns in the morning for breakfast and sometimes in the afternoon as they have such a wide selection of homemade treats! A few weeks into our trip and waving at this family every time we saw them, the owner of the shop, Lisa, wrote us a note wishing to communicate with us and become friends! Her note was so sweet, and we were so excited that she liked us as much as we liked her! This led to us becoming friends on WeChat and being invited over for dinner. Lisa cooked us a whole spread of food, with the main course being crayfish. Her sister and son were so sweet and such a joy to get to know. It has been a defining moment in my time here as we have become friends, both learning from each other and about our different cultures. I truly think that we have made some life long friends.

Eating the homemade dinner Lisa made for us!

Lisa, Xuan Xuan, Eileen, Xiao Yan, Me
and Miranda!

Our first weekend we went to visit Jinli Street which is a marketplace with various types of vendors and food booths tucked away into beautiful Chinese architecture. We had many different types of food from sesame seed dough balls, grilled and spiced squid, as well as a type of ice cream called Eggloo in a soft waffle cone. We visited many different types of shops that had traditional Chinese crafts, ceramics, wood carvings, and more. The area was beautiful as we crossed bridges, walked under lanterns, and went down alley ways. There is one section of the market place where there was a large collection of colored bags with red string. We saw that you could buy a bag based on wellness, health, marriage, and more where you would write down a wish and hang it on a tree. I got a wish bag for wisdom and got to hang it on a tree which was a very special moment. It was a great first weekend! 

    

We’ve renamed our weekends to “Western Food Weekends” where we eat traditional, Chinese food throughout the week, but splurge on more “American style” foods on the weekends. There is a handful of different Western restaurants scattered throughout Chengdu and we have eaten at Mike’s Pizza, Element Fresh, Grandma’s Kitchen, and Peter’s Tex Mex (along with the occasional fast food…). These Western restaurants are usually in the expat part of the city, so there’s always a ton of malls and shopping areas surrounding the area. One part of the city we’ve gone to is Caotang where we went to Peekaboo Cat Café and Sichuan Museum! The cat café was amazing as we enjoyed a coffee and dessert while being surrounded by cats. 

The Sichuan Museum was filled with beautiful art and historical artifacts from Chinese and Tibetan cultures. The exhibits ranged from calligraphy to pottery to stoneware to crafts! We’ve had a few more experiences such as visiting the giant Giant Panda climbing on top of a building, getting to help make a Louis Vuitton purse, visit Wenshu Monastery, go to the movies, shop at a Tibetan market, visited many markets and malls, and a bookstore. So many things have happened it’s hard to go into detail about how amazing everything is!

These are just a few of the experiences I’ve been lucky enough to have through this internship so far and I can’t wait to see what else is in store! We have been approved for husbandry at the Panda Base, so we will have more opportunities to learn from the staff and keepers at the base in the upcoming weeks. It’s crazy to think that we have about a month and a half left in China. The time has flown by and we are trying our hardest to make the most of it. These past few weeks have already changed my life and I can’t wait to see what else is in store and how it will change the trajectory of my life. Here’s to the next few weeks! Zaijian!

-Lindsey Keehn

This was the very first panda I've ever seen in real life, taken on our first day at the base. This is Ya Zhu.

Mao Dou and Qi Yi playing

Fu Shun (left) and Qi Yi (right) hanging out in a tree. Can you see Qi Yi's little "mohawk"?

Ya Zhu chilling in the pool

A panda at Dujiangyan