Hi again everyone! I can’t believe we’ve already been here for almost 4 weeks now, time has flown by and I feel like we just got here a week ago. Even though we’ve been here for almost a month, I find myself finding out more and more amazing things about the pandas each day we spend observing them. This week I had the pleasure of watching one of my favorite panda/cub duos; Shu Qin and her 2 month old baby.

Shu Qin and cub taking a nap

Shu Qin was one of the first pandas we watched once arriving at the panda base with her seemingly unrecognizable cub at the time who has been growing every day into an independent, relaxed, lovable little girl. When we first started watching the cub, we noticed a small spot forming right under one of her black bands which helped us to identify her in the beginning. Now being that the spot has become more prominent, we decided to nickname the cub “Diǎn Diǎn” which means spot in Chinese (if you can’t tell we’re super proud of our nickname).

Little cutie pie “Dian Dian”!

We’re hoping to get the keepers to like our nickname and consider it when they finally do give the cub a name, even though it won’t be for another month or so. I also noticed just today that Shu Qin seems like she might have a similar dark spot on her fur just opposite of where her cubs is. I’ve been watching the duo this week for my observations and it’s becoming more apparent to me how independent both mom and baby are. Shu Qin seems like an experienced mom – as if she had previous cubs. She’s an amazing  mom to Diǎn Diǎn even though she’s a first-time mom! I’m looking forward to watching more of the pair and seeing more of their personalities being shown!

Independent little girl

-Scout