Su Lin 2

Since starting the personality studies, I’ve noticed that each panda approaches the enrichment items differently. I’ve seen pandas swat at the basketball or pick the ball up to hold it, and I’ve seen a panda place her paw on a piece of ice and rub it back and forth across the floor (kind of like a child does with a toy car). However, I’ve also seen the complete opposite where they ignore the object altogether or seem upset that there is something unfamiliar in their cage (usually a combination of both).  I didn’t really think any of the behaviours that I had observed were out of the ordinary because introducing pandas to unfamiliar items could influence any number of reactions considering the wide range of individual personalities that I’ve noticed. However, while studying Su Lin’s personality this week, I can say that she’s a truly exceptional panda!

For one of the enrichment trials, I pour water into a huge bowl until it reaches a few inches from the bottom and then I put apple and carrot pieces in the water for the pandas to catch and eat.  Generally, the pandas smell around the bowl and hesitate before putting their paws in, but once they realize it’s just water, they chase a slice of apple or piece of carrot around with their paw, grab it, then eat it. When I opened the door to her enclosure, Su Lin took a few minutes to come inside (she was interested in something outside). However, once she came inside, she seemed to know what to do! She walked over to the bowl and pushed it with her paw then she picked up one side and dropped it (splashing water everywhere!). She quickly decided to shove her paw in and started to scoop out the water. I don’t think taking the water out of the bowl was working quite as well as she thought it would, so she dug out the apples and carrots super quickly while continuing to splash water everywhere. I was amazed with how quickly she managed to get all of the food items out of the bowl!  Once she had eaten all of the food items, she lost interest in the bowl with water in it. But, about half an hour later, she returned to the object and decided to have another look. She smelled around the edge of the bowl, then grabbed one edge and poured the whole bowl of water out onto the floor of her enclosure. She searched the water to make sure that she didn’t miss any food, and then she pushed the empty bowl around her enclosure for a bit. I was expecting one of the pandas to eventually empty the bowl in search of food, but I was surprised at how many of them didn’t even attempt to lift it.  Su Lin was the 4th panda to get this enrichment item, but she was the quickest to retrieve all of the food items and the first one to actually try to remove the water from the bowl/pour the water out.

Su Lin
Su Lin 3
Yesterday, she received a basketball. The basketball has been introduced to 5 pandas and most of them have only been somewhat interested in it. Usually, they smell it and sometimes paw it, but most of them don’t seem to find the ball very interesting. Su Lin took the basketball and rolled it, but watching her follow the ball around reminded me of my dog with her “Tricky Treat Ball”.  A “Tricky Treat Ball” is a ball that you can fill with treats, and in order to get the treats, your dog has to roll the ball around until a treat falls out of the ball. Su Lin was interacting with the basketball like a Tricky Treat Ball. She would push it with her head or paw then look around where the ball had rolled in search of food. I have only seen this behaviour in Su Lin (so far) and I wish I had been able to get a video of her doing this, because there was really no mistaking that she was expecting the ball to dispense food.

Su Lin 4

Su Lin was born at the San Diego Zoo in 2005 and was moved to the Bifengxia panda base in China in 2010.  While at the San Diego Zoo, I’m almost certain that she would have been given an enrichment item that involved manipulation in order to receive food.  While she didn’t get any food out of the basketball, I found this behavior very interesting for a number of reasons. Probably the most remarkable of which is that she likely hasn’t seen an enrichment item similar to the one that she may have been given at the San Diego Zoo in about 2.5 years. If she has even seen a ball in the past year, it likely would have been a basketball used by Arina for last year’s personality study and not a food-dispensing enrichment item. Yet, she still associated a highly manipulable object with food and performed behaviours that she thought would allow her to gain access to food.

In addition to this, I’d like to add the Su Lin is the only panda that has not shown any stereotypic behaviour in either her morning or afternoon observations for our stereotypic study (although Feng Yi also didn’t show any stereotypic behaviour during her morning assessment, her afternoon assessment has yet to be completed).

From watching Su Lin, I can say that not only do I believe bears have good long-term memories, but judging by her lack of stereotypic behaviour, I also believe that being provided with enrichment during her ‘cubhood’ has had long-lasting positive effects on her behaviour – even years after leaving San Diego.

-Steph