I know you’ve all been waiting for an actual update on PDXWildlife’s work here during the Fall 2016 season and (more importantly) my visit to Zhen Zhen and her one-year old cubs, affectionately dubbed the “Zwinkies” by admirers. I only got about 15 minutes for my first visit because I was being shuttled off to dinner for a Chinese Valentine’s Day Dinner with the head of the Gengda Base. I’ll share the indoor pictures first and do another series on the outdoor play session on my second visit.
Zwinkies! Twin 2, coming toward the camera, is super inquisitive and such a ham! She seems to be perpetually posing for the camera.
Beautiful Zhen Zhen
Personally, I think the SDZ pandas are some of the most beautiful bears! (I’m probably a little biased!) So when I visited Zhen Zhen and the Zwinkies at Gengda I just had to take some closeups of Zhen Zhen. I think the photo above may be the best I’ve taken of her to date. Zhen Zhen fans who have been following her since her birth will be happy to hear that she’s such a good, fun-loving mom! Even though my time with her only totaled 45 minutes for this visit, I can see how playful and gentle she is with her cubbies. While I didn’t know her in San Diego (I wasn’t working there yet), here in China she’s always been a mellow yet attentive bear – she’s one of those all-knowing, zen (or zhen) pandas.
They were very interested in their new visitor (me)! Giving me the eye as they ate bamboo.
Zhen Zhen eating while the Zwinkies wrestle it out in the background.
I was a little disappointed in my visit because I really wanted to capture the quintessential “family photo” but, alas, 45 minutes just isn’t enough time to capture that super special moment. I wasn’t there long enough during the evening cuddling time. But I did get a couple of good photos both inside and outside where all three were in the frame.
Another shot very similar to the above shot but captured a couple of seconds later when Zwinkie 1 rolled into the cutest position.
Moooo-ooooom come play with me!!
The Zwinkies were chasing each other up and down the indoor bedroom while they waited for the outdoor enclosure to be cleaned.
There was quite a bit of rough and tumble play going on and I even captured some video. I hope you enjoy it! It’s fun to see them jump on each other and pounce from cage to cage.
https://youtu.be/ztN581cd8oI
Sometimes the light hits just right to capture a stunning and unusual photo and while I’d prefer for this photo to be in a more natural setting I think the lighting is beautiful and is actually caused by the cage bars.
I tried to get a couple of “lone” photos of each twin but the constant play made it a little difficult 🙂
Eating was the only time I managed to get some non-blurry photos. In retrospect I probably should have switched to sports mode or something but I’m always so caught up in the moment that sometimes I even forget to take photos! We’ll need to hire a professional photographer at some point . . . sigh.
I leave this as the “teaser” photo for the outdoor shoot. They were all waiting anxiously to get out and play!
I hope you enjoyed this quick indoor photo shoot and can’t wait to share the very large photo shoot of them playing outdoors which may take multiple blog post to get through all the photos but I figured you guys wouldn’t mind 😉
-Meg
P.S. I thanked the keeper from all of the Zhen Zhen fans and told her we were so happy that our special little family had such an attentive and thoughtful friend.
Thank you, Megan!! What a joy it must’ve been to see them with your own eyes and watch them playing together. Even for a short while would have been such a delight. And thank you for sharing your time with them through the photos. They are such a fun loving little family.
You are so right….we will take whatever you can give in as many blog posts as it takes! Zhennie is such a good mama and has always been fun loving….even in SDZ she was a hoot to watch.
Happy you passed on our best wishes and thanks to their keeper. You can tell she truly loves the little family she cares for.
They were such a joy – wish I had more time (always!). Sadly, I just received confirmation that the cubs were separated from Zhen Zhen last week and all the one-year olds went to the kindergarten. 🙁 I hope we get a keeper who is just as attentive!
These pictures are beautiful! If you get the opportunity, I am the adoptive Mom (shared) of Lin Bing’s younger cub through Pandas International. She’s in the panda kindergarten and I do get to watch on Explore.Org but I can’t seem to get enough pictures of her! Can you see if you see her? Thank you for all the work you and your husband do with our lovely panda!
Yes we definitely see the one-year olds in the kindergarten. I’ll try to spend an hour or so getting photos of all the cubs that are there since I know people would like to see Ying Hua’s as well! Stay tuned . . .
Thanks so much! I appreciate the response! I know you are very busy! Her nickname is XieXie Pearl – would you please tell her that there is someone in Virginia who loves her very much and to be a good girl!
Meg, thank you so much for taking time to visit Zhen Zhen and the Zwinkies! Wonder post and photos and video! And thank you for taking time to tell their keeper how much we all have appreciated her care and photos of them. Looking forward to Part 2 !! Jeanette
The next photos are SOOOOOOO good – can’t wait to share them 🙂