Red Pandas at the Red River Zoo

The babies at play!

2011-09-15T23:27:00.000-05:00

These were taken when the babies were about 9 weeks old. They still have not left the nestbox, but are getting more active. They enjoy playing with their dog toys and wrestling with each other. It's very fun to watch!

Babies at play

2011-08-23T23:56:00.000-05:00

The babies are starting to play and wrestle with each other. I took this video of them today. They're so fun to watch!

More panda pictures

2011-08-22T17:14:00.000-05:00

These were taken when they were about 6 weeks old. I will try and have more recent photos up soon!

2011-08-09T10:35:00.000-05:00

Female panda at 6 weeks.

Another set of triplets for the Red River Zoo!!

2011-08-08T21:31:00.003-05:00

I'm happy to announce the birth of red panda triplets! 2 boys and 1 girl were born on June 20, 2011 to our female Wei Da.
Wei Da is one of the triplets that were born in 2009.

The triplets at 2 months

2009-08-13T22:57:00.004-05:00

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

2009-07-13T18:49:00.014-05:00

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

2009-06-25T20:39:00.005-05:00

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

2009-06-21T17:47:00.003-05:00

It's not easy nursing 3 hungry babies.

The babies first weight check

2009-06-21T13:09:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-06-21T12:57:00.005-05:00

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

2008-12-09T14:45:00.017-06:00

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.

Out of the nestbox - FINALLY!

2008-12-09T14:29:00.003-06:00

At 3 months of age, the babies were finally strong enough and brave enough to venture outside of their nestbox. First, they started investigating their indoor holding area. Then, they eventually started to explore outside.

Shan Tou and Li Ming in the walkway
entering their exhibit.

The babies
love to run
outside.

Shan Tou with Li Ming

Feisty Li Ming

2008-12-09T14:19:00.006-06:00

Our female baby, Li Ming, has proven to be quite the feisty one. She likes to chew on the edge of her nestbox and is often the one to initiate play with her brother. She has also been known to get a little too playful with the keepers!

OUCH! Let go!

Playful red panda babies!

2008-12-09T14:06:00.005-06:00

At around 2 months of age, the babies became very playful. They still weren't able to leave the nestbox yet, so they spent their time wrestling with each other and playing with their toys.

It's been so fun to watch them play and have fun with each other.

Turning Red

2008-12-09T13:43:00.004-06:00

Being born a buff white color, it takes about 2 months for babies to acheive adult coloration. During the month of July, they quickly started to grow red, dark reddish brown and black fur. They started to look like miniature adults.

Here are Xiao Li and Li Ming on July 11, 2008. You can notice that they are just starting to get their red fur.

Here they are again on July 27, 2008. They have even more adult coloration.

Nursing red panda babies

2008-12-09T13:19:00.008-06:00

Shan Tou has been such a good mom. These 2 babies have been quite a handful. As the babies grew - so did their appetite!

Here's Li Ming taking a break from her breakfast.

Shan Tou tried to get as comfortable as she could.

3 - 4 weeks old

2008-12-09T13:04:00.007-06:00

Li Ming and Xiao Li with their eyes finally open.

Xiao Li in his nest box.

I like how you can see the bottom of his little foot.

Here's a close-up. Red pandas have fur on the bottom of their feet.

A lot of catching up to do!

2008-12-09T12:52:00.002-06:00

I apologize to everyone for not keeping information on the red panda babies up to date. Li Ming and Xiao Li have grown so much. So much so, in fact, that many people have trouble telling the babies apart from the adults!
Anyway - let me go back and share some of the highlights of these past few months.

Introducing Li Ming and Xiao Li

2008-07-08T18:08:00.002-05:00

The red panda babies now have names!

The female is named Li Ming (lee ming) and means beautiful and light in Mandarin Chinese.

Li Ming

The male is named Xiao Li (Shee-ow lee) and means little beauty.

Xiao Li

The babies are still doing well. Their eyes are open now and they continue to gain weight.

New baby video

2008-07-03T15:17:00.004-05:00

The red panda babies are 5 days old in this video. They are steadily gaining weight and are strong and healthy.

It's twins for Red Panda Shan Tou!

2008-06-27T14:19:00.002-05:00

On June 10, 2008 one male and one female red panda baby were born at the Red River Zoo. Early that morning, our female panda Shan Tou was acting different. She was in her nest box and had brought various toys and branches in with her. She wouldn't come out of the nest box and was not interested in food. I decided to leave her off exhibit and check in on her later.

When I went to check on her that afternoon, I heard a baby panda as soon as I came into the holding area. (They make a high pitched "wheet" sound). I looked in the nest box and saw at least one baby. I immediately left to tell the staff the good news.

Later on that evening, I got her to come out of the nest box. Thats when I saw that there were 2 babies! It has been 6 years since the zoo last had baby red pandas and the entire staff is thrilled.

The Red River Zoo is very careful with the new cubs. The first concern is whether the babies are nursing and if the female is producing enough milk. To check this, the cubs are weighed daily for the first few days, then every 3 days for a month, then weekly after that to make sure they are gaining enough weight. The second concern is stress on the mother. If she is stressed she could start moving the babies and accidently injure the babies in the process. For this reason, since the pandas are most comfortable with me, I am the only one allowed in the holding area for the first couple of weeks. I also limit the time I am in there - only going in to feed Shan Tou or weigh the cubs.