Panda Photo Request: Shen Wei

by | Dec 1, 2017 | PDXWildlife | 4 comments

With full access to the bears at Bifengxia, PDXWildlife can, most of the time, grab a few photos of the public access bears for anybody who asks. One such request came from a loyal Facebook follower who has been very patient with us. So, during my lunch break, I ventured on over to the White Bear Ground to see if Shen Wei was going to be polite enough to let me photograph him. He only gave me 20 seconds worth of shots, but I think he wasn’t too happy as I was interrupting his nap time.

Shen Wei (SB#751), was born on August 7th, 2009 here at Bifengxia. He is the successful offspring of Xi Meng (SB#399) and Tian Tian (SB#569). Currently housed at the White Bear Ground pen #6, which is comfortably sandwiched between two of my favorite females- Wen Yu and Lu Lu (female). His pen is fairly peaceful with a limited number of visitors and contains numerous trees and ample foliage. Additionally, his indoor pen contains a cozy little hammock that I haven’t yet seen him enjoy. I wish that I could say that he was happy with me snapping photos, but he promptly stuck his tongue out and immediately walked away. Maybe he’s just shy?

We sincerely enjoy hearing from our followers and do our best to grab photos of your bears. Feel free to keep the requests coming. Cheers!

4 Comments

  1. Chet Chin
    Chet Chin on December 1, 2017 at 10:41 pm

    Shen Wei is male and the father of twins Qin Qin and Ai Ai born on 10 September 2016 to Mei Qing in Chimelong Safari Park, Guangzhou, China.

    • Nathan
      Nathan on December 1, 2017 at 11:32 pm

      Thanks Chet. I just corrected the post. There are now two Lu Lu’s here- One female and the other male.

      Cheers-

  2. JoAnn Mann
    JoAnn Mann on December 2, 2017 at 2:55 am

    That was nice of you to take photos of a favorite bear! They moved my girl , Wen Hui, l too far away to ask! I’m happy with pictures of ANY bears!

    Continue all your good work! It was very heartening to read the lead study!

    Sincerely, JoAnn

    • Nathan
      Nathan on December 2, 2017 at 4:43 pm

      Hi JoAnn,

      I’m happy that you read the paper. Most people might say that pandas are disadvantaged with their carnivore digestive tract and herbivore diet, but I would argue that it makes them better suited in living next to human beings. When harmful chemicals can pass through their gut without being absorbed, their Hg, MeHg, and Pb concentrations will also remain low.

      Thank you for the kind comment.

      Nate