Breeding season has been weird so far this year. Just to give a quick update and comparison to other years, usually we have two – three “early” females from Feb 15th – March 1st which are great for training because we slowly ramp into the estrous behaviors. This year the first females (Su Lin and Xi Xi) went into estrus at the end of December and mid-January, solidly 2 months earlier than normal. In normal years we’ll have our first big wave of females going into estrous from ~ March 8th through mid March. This year that happened February 10th – 23rd, again a whole month early. So before we even arrived for our research season almost 1/3 of our sample size had already gone through estrus!! (I guess they weren’t kidding when they say in China that your birth year is an unlucky year because I’m not starting out great!). Send your most positive and best wishes toward us. I have a great team of girls this year so I’m hoping our luck turns around now that we’re on the ground. And on that note, here’s the next intern, Stephanie Crider:
“Hi ya’ll! My name is Stephanie Crider and I am excited to say I will be one of the lucky new interns doing research in Ya’an, China. I was born and raised in Houston, Texas and I graduated from Texas A&M University with a Wildlife and Fisheries degree. Since I graduated, I have had the pleasure of working with many types of animals from domestic, farm, exotic, and wildlife animals.
Stephanie Crider with a red tailed hawk
In the past, I interned at the Houston Zoo in the primate department focusing my research on chimpanzees. Now, I volunteer at the Houston Zoo as a Keeper Aide in the hoofstock department, while also working full-time at Houston’s only trauma and wildlife rehabilitation center. On a day to day basis, I can work with anything from a red-tailed hawk, alligator snapping turtle, to syringe feeding a baby squirrel.
Animals and traveling are two or my greatest passions and now to be given the opportunity to live abroad and research Giant Pandas is an absolute dream come true! I’m excited to start this new chapter in my career and can’t wait to get to China and be immersed in the Chinese culture.
Bottle feeding a fawn
-Stephanie”
Stephanie, Hope, Gigi, and Haley would happy to provide any special pictures, research specific questions you have about pandas, or provide you with “behind the scenes” answers so don’t be shy and ask away in the comments below!
Hi, Stephanie! Boy, I envy you being right there with the pandas! Of course, I love all of them but I am especially interested in Bao Bao, Tai Shan, Dai Li and Lin Ping’s younger twin cub is my adopted daughter! So if you see any of them – say “Hi” for me and tell them they are loved ! Can’t wait to read more posts from you all and Best of Luck! Maybe we’ll have some new cubs to love! Take care and please post soon!
Sincerely, JoAnn
Welcome, Stephanie!
Looking forward to your reports–I always enjoy learning about personalities of the various pandas you observe. Do some react differently to you? Do you have favorites yet?
Pictures are always welcome.
As always, I enjoy stories and pix of any of the SDZ pandas and their offspring.
Meghan–do you think the early estrus might have something to do with calcium (or other nutrient) levels in the bamboo? Did I read somewhere that that might have some influence on breeding readiness?
Thanks–
Frances
We were thinking it was the warm temperatures here. Everything is already blooming and usually I am solidly freezing at this time of year but it’s not too bad right now. We often even take our coats off walking around the base. I’ll look into the calcium a little more though. Maybe bank some bamboo samples for Nate to analyze 😉
I hope I remembered right that it was calcium–but I do remember that the article said that bamboo, or maybe the different species of bamboo that the pandas prefer at different times of year, offer different nutrients. Odd that it would only affect a few bears though?
Good luck to the research team! I really love to know how Tai Shan is doing in this year’s breeding program. Please post updates when you can. Thanks very much!