The triplets at 2 months

The babies are now 2 months old. They are starting to look more like red pandas. They have grown more red fur and all have the mask around their eyes. The babies are also starting to peek out of their nestbox. Within the next 2 weeks, they should start exploring outside their nestbox and then be outside.

The Red River Zoo will make sure to make a BIG announcement when the babies will be out on exhibit. Until then, here are a few current pictures. Enjoy!

Take, Leafa and Wei Da

Leafa and Wei Da

Shan Tou with Take

Take peeking out of the nestbox

New names for the Red Panda triplets

The babies are now a month old and they finally have names.

Introducing...

Take

pronounced "Tah-kay" - the male baby is the smallest at 402 grams

Take is Yukikos fathers name and means "bamboo" in Japanese

Leafa pronounced "lay-fa" - this is the smallest female baby at 406 grams

Leafa is the name of Yukikos mother

Wei Da

pronounced "way-da" -this is the very large female at 612 grams

Wei Da means "mighty or big" in Mandarin Chinese

The red panda triplets at 2 weeks

It's been 2 weeks and the babies are doing well. As of today, the largest is a female weighing 342 grams, the male weighs 262 grams and the smallest is another female weighing 224 grams.

Shan Tou has been doing a great job. She's very protective of the babies and stays with them most of the day.

Shan Tou nursing the triplets

It's not easy nursing 3 hungry babies.

The babies first weight check

The babies are 1 day old in this video. Monitoring the weight is important. If the babies were not gaining enough weight, we would supplement feed the cubs. Luckily Shan Tou is a good mother and seems to be producing enough milk for all the cubs.

Their initial weights were 124 grams, 120 grams and 100 grams. As of today, their weights are 286 grams, 210 grams and 190 grams. The largest is a female and is growing much faster than the other two. Hopefully her brother and sister will catch up soon.

Happy Fathers Day Yukiko!

That's right! Just in time for Fathers Day, Yukiko is the proud new father of triplets!

The babies (2 females and 1 male) were born on June 11, 2009.

Growing up

In October, the babies started eating solid food. At first they ate soaked panda biscuits and a small amount of apple. They also love getting grapes as a special treat for stepping onto a scale. By late November, they were eating non-soaked biscuits and pieces of apple.


Here's a cute picture of them napping after breakfast.



Li Ming is on the bottom with her brother Xiao Li on top.
(The red things are their panda biscuits)



Of course,
sometimes
it's difficult
getting
into a
comfortable
napping
position.



Li Ming is looking a little uncomfortable.