Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Baby Atlanta aka "Little Looney"



The baby was born on Saturday August 30 at 10:10 pm.

Monday, September 1, 6:30 PMBased upon the behavior of giant panda Lun Lun and her new born cub, Zoo Atlanta's colleague from China and the Zoo's Animal Management and Veterinary Teams jointly decided to place the new-born cub in an incubator for closer monitoring and observation.

Tuesday, September 2, 5:00 PMAfter almost nineteen hours of separation from mom, the giant panda cub born on Saturday at Zoo Atlanta was successfully reintroduced to Lun Lun at approximately 1:10 this afternoon. The reintroduction coincided with the cub’s scheduled feeding, and was chosen so that the cub would show the strongest possible nursing response.

Wednesday, September 3, 8:00 AMFollowing nineteen hours of hand-rearing and subsequent reintroduction yesterday afternoon, both cub and Lun Lun are doing remarkably well. Lun Lun is demonstrating excellent maternal behavior.

Sunday, September 7Lun Lun and her cub continue to do well. Lun Lun ate quite a bit during the cub’s 11:00 pm weight check last night. At that check the cub weighed 186.6 grams, which means that he gained a little over 15 grams since his last check at 2:30 the previous afternoon. We are all very pleased by this huge gain for our little guy!

Friday, September 12Lun Lun’s newest cub continues to do well. His prognosis has been upgraded from “guarded” to “good”. When the cub had to be placed in an incubator a week ago Monday, his body temperature and blood sugar levels were low. The cub responded well to supportive care, and has done even better back with Lun Lun. Based on several laboratory tests, we suspect Lun Lun may have been suffering from mild mastitis, an infection and/or inflammation of the mammary glands. This may have led to mild discomfort that resulted in her not attending to the cub just enough to result in the decrease in body temperature at that early age. Both Lun Lun and the cub were placed on a course of antibiotics because of these suspicions, and they have responded well to the treatment.

Tuesday, September 16At 10 o’clock this morning, interested panda aficionados will be able to once again partake in PandaCam broadcasts!

Lun Lun and cub go about their daily life together, completely oblivious to the schedules, task assignments, meetings and discussions, or the number of team members involved in their care. And, in spite of the cameras, lights, noise and periodic checks by staff, the cub and Lun Lun thrive.

The cub is taking on the plump panda features that make this species irresistible to so many. His once lanky arms and legs are filling out and his earlier uncoordinated movements are becoming more purposeful and controlled.

At this morning’s check, the cub weighed 444.4 grams.
Debbie Forde
Curatorial Assistant

To see more detailed info and follow the regular cub updates click here

3 comments:

IrisF said...

What a sweet, sweet, sweet video and as usual the music you chose is perfect!!! Love it!

Costume Lady said...

Precious video, Glo. Thank you for sharing you talents with us. Most of us don't tune in on the pandas at the right time and don't get to see this. Through your efforts, we get to see a lot of things that we wouldn't otherwise, without you.

wvgal_dana said...

Glo you have done it again!! Such a special touching video for all to see. The music you selected just adds that always "special touch" you have and share. You are truly a blessing to us. Thank YOU..