July 4, 2025 • 25 mins
California Panda Day is coming up on August 8th, so hosts Rick and Marco are headed to the Denny Sanford Panda Ridge to get an update on everyone’s favorite black and white bears at the San Diego Zoo. This week, they are speaking with Senior Wildlife Care Specialist Jessica Wagner about caring for Xin Bao and Yun Chuan. Tune in to learn about their pseudo thumbs, their behaviors, and how many pounds of food they can eat in a day (hint: it’s a lot)!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Ruby.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hi, I'm Rich Swartz.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
What is this world?
Speaker 3 (00:12):
A Marco went and this this is Amazing Wildlife where
we explore stories of wildlife from around the world and
uncovered fascinating animal facts. This podcast is brought to you
in partnership with iHeartRadio's Ruby Studio and San Diego Zoo
Wildlife Alliance, an international nonprofit conservation organization which oversees this
beautiful place, the San Diego.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Zoo and the Safari Park.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
What a lovely little spot we're at, right.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
We are, we are, and it's perfect, I think for
this topic because they're.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Just down the way from us. I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Are you referring to a large black and white mammals?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yeah, they are a bear.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Wait, I can.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Like you said, we're at the San Diego Zo We're
right below one of my favorite spots for a canyon.
Back the way, we got tom I right there is
Andy and bear to our left we got sun bear
going on, really unique type of mammal, some of my favorites.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
But to your point, we're talking about the giant pandas.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Right we are, we are getting an update if you will,
because about this time, almost this time last year when
this episode comes out. We were announcing Pantas were on
the way. We're getting ready to show them.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
That Panda Ridge was being redone.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
So much activity and such a short amount of time
to get everything ready for these two awesome bears.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
Oh, I know, And we actually we're talking before like
maybe about a month from when this episode drops.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
It's going to be officially California.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Panaday August eighth, August eight, that was declared basically when
we opened Panda Ridge, officially that that was California Panaday
August eighth, and the very first anniversary of that is
coming up. So yeah, we want people to know it's
a very special day. We're gonna do some really cool
things for it. So keep listening and watching to find
out what's going on. Check out the Zoos social media.
They'll be posting a lot about it as well. But
(01:50):
I think really people are listening right now not to
hear about what we're doing for Panaday. They want to
about the giant pandas.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Yeah, it's been a little bit right, friend, and so
I think we need to update everyone, including you and
I what's going.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
On with Panda. Well, then let's ask Jessica our guests.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
Good morning, guys. Yeah, thank you for having me.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
Thank you for hanging out with us, maybe to share
all these interesting things we love.
Speaker 5 (02:12):
Talking about pandas, Like I spent all day talking about.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Oh, we don't have all day. We will fill as
much time as we need to. First of all, Jessica,
introduce yourself to our audience. What exactly is your title?
What do you do here at the San Diego Zoo?
And no, why do you know so much about pandama?
Speaker 5 (02:26):
Yeah, my name is Jessica. I'm a senior wildlife care
specialist here at the San Diego Zoo. I've been with
the San Diego Zoo for about six and a half
years now. I have been working with the giant pandas
since before they came. So I got to go to
China and start working with Yunschwan and Singbao while they
were still in China, I got to work with their
care specialists there, start to teach them a few commands
(02:46):
in English, a few words in English, learn their personalities,
and then that helped have a really smooth transition for
them to come over here. So they had the same
care team. They already knew my face, my voice.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, you're sent Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 5 (03:02):
So then when they came here, I continue to work
with the giant panda, so I've been working with them
for over a year now.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Wow, that's cool.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
I'm glad he talked about going to China and working
with the team there because in the previous PAN episode
it was with Nicky Boy, can you remember, right, she
was mentioning a lot of that as well, and she
and I, all of us here are very behavior oriented people,
you know, So I was really stoked that you brought
that up because it's definitely something I want to ask
you sort of update to some of the behaviors that
Nikki was saying prior that you guys have been working on.
(03:31):
But I think though, guys, you know, before we get started,
because maybe people forgot, like, who are the two giant
pans we have here at Panda Ridge at the zoo?
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Can you talk about it?
Speaker 5 (03:38):
We have two wonderful giant pandas obviously that we brought
a male and a female. So we have Yun Schwan.
He's our male. Almost his birthday, he's about to turn six.
Oh yeah, oh so he's a five year old male.
And then Sing Bao is our female. She's going to
turn five soon. Giant Pandas are born around the same
time every year, so their birthdays, of course are around
the same time. So they're both about to turn five
(03:59):
and six. This will be their second celebrated birthday here
at the San Diego too. So they have settled in
really really well, having been here almost a year now.
They have been in both habitats. Both of them have
been in each habitat for a little bit of time,
and they really settled into San Diego. So they're loving
this San Diego love SOCOW lifestyle. Okay, it is very
(04:22):
up the alley for giant panda. They love that SOCOW lifestyle.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Okay. So I think it's fairer than share with our
audience because I think in general people have that Southern
California San Diego lifestyles, laid back, relax, you know, hanging
on the beach, just pretty chill, and you're sam, pandas
fit that really well?
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Why is that?
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Why do panda fit our lifestyle here in San Diego
so well?
Speaker 5 (04:40):
Giant Pandas fit that SOCOW lifestyle really well because they
do spend most of their time just eating and sleeping.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
So they yeah, I mean, you were laughing about it before,
you know, but we had a specific reason why, right,
can you hint at it? Because their carnivore But I
was really fascinating you were talking about there.
Speaker 5 (04:57):
Yeah, so giant pandas are true bears, so they do
have carnivore digestive systems. They have those canines, those sharp teeth,
those sharp claws, true carnivore digestive systems. But they only
eat bamboo. Of what they eat is sampoo anyway, so
they don't get a lot of nutrients out of the
food that they eat. So they have to consume such
a high volume of food to be able to get
(05:18):
enough nutrients. And then they have to sleep a lot
so while their body processes all that. So most of
what a giant panda does is eating and sleeping. They'll
wake up, eat until they're full, and then sleep for
three to four hours and do that kind of on
repeat for twenty four hours a day.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
It's crazy, Amanda, Actually she's behind the camera right after,
you don't know, but she was asking prior to because
you know, some animals have like a hind gut kind
of fermentation process, you know, but it's not like that
for panas. You're basically saying, you know, yeah, I'm a carnivore,
but I'm eating all this planet.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, man, I just got to keep on eating and
eating exactly.
Speaker 5 (05:47):
So they eat tons of food every day. We feed
them more food than they could ever possibly eat. The
day they get a schmorcus spoored here, so they have
their pick of what they want. You don't want to
eat the same thing for every single meal, so we
give them a ton of variety every single day. We
give close to eighty to one hundred pounds of bamboo
every single day, and then we don't all eat the
same amount of food every day either, So giant pandas
are just like that. Some days they'll eat forty pounds
(06:09):
of food. Sometimes they'll eat close to that eighty pounds
in a day, But it comes out just like it
goes in, so they don't really digest it. They don't
have that high bet that ruminants have to be able
to break that down and really absorb all of the
nutrients that come out of that. So they're really going
to eat as much as they can and then sleep
(06:31):
while their body processes as much of that as it
can to get as much nutrients out of it. As possible,
but they don't eat what their body is designed to
eat as a large carnivore.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Does anybody knows there been any research.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Why would a species like the panda bear, which is
the teeth of a carnivore, the digestive of the carnivore
go through the process of and obviously for a very
long time now, being such a high herbivore diet animal.
Speaker 5 (06:56):
Yeah, it's a really good question. Actually, they have adapted
to the most readily available resource, so they have no
natural predators. So a giant panda has no need to
use all those carnivore adaptations that they have, so they
are true bear, so they have those teeth in those claws,
but with no natural predators, they have adapted to be
(07:17):
able to eat what is most readily available, which is bamboo,
so it's everywhere. They don't have to chase it. Their
food's not going to run away, so they have adapted
to be able to process bamboo and use that as
their natural food resource. And then because they have no
natural predators, they can spend that extra time sleeping so
that their body can process that. They are a solitary species,
(07:39):
so they do still have those carnivore adaptations to be
able to defend their territory if then when they need to,
but they do a really good job of avoiding that
at all costs. They would much rather not have to
use any of those adaptations. They really just yeah, they
want to save as much energy as possible, so they
just want to eat bamboo and sleep. So they do
a good job of marking their territory.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
They use to watch.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
Yeah, they use their scent and things like that to
make sure that they kind of mark off their own
zones and they avoid each other.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
I think it's fascinating that the digestive system hasn't really
changed much to work with that environment, to work with
what's readily available to consume the bamboo.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
But there's other adaptations.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
This is that other bears don't have, so they can
hold the bamboo.
Speaker 4 (08:25):
No totally, because I called it a thumb, but then
you elaborated a little more.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
They sort of called the pseudo thumb for a giant pan.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
Yeah. So when you watch giant hand to eat, it's
the cutest thing ever. I could watch them eat all day.
So it actually looks like they're holding and gripping the bamboo,
which allows them to maneuver it, to strip the coating
off of it, to eat the different pieces of the plant,
because they eat all different parts of the plant. But
it looks like a thumb that they're gripping with, but
it's actually what we call a pseudo thumb. It's an
elongated wristbone that acts as a opposable thumb so that
(08:55):
they can manipulate that bamboo in order to process and
man for all the different parts of it.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Okay, so kids, this is what you need to do.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Get a ruler and somehow I don't use tapecausey're really
hurt coming off, but maybe like get a shoelace to
strap the ruler to your forearm so it sticks out
past your hand a little bit and then cut your
hand and try and grab things, because that's really what
it is. And they don't have a thumb like we have,
so it's hand, yeah, to kind of grab and hold on.
But they've obviously done such a great job because I've
(09:25):
seen it too.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
I'm like, it looks like.
Speaker 5 (09:29):
They're very adept at using those adaptations.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Do you remember in our bamboo episode from last year
without him, he was saying that it's the strongest fiber
out how powerful they have to be. So that's the
other adaptation pandas have is this incredibly powerful bite and
we can.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Look at it.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
So if you're here at the zoo, look at the
sun bears, or near the pandas, look at the other
bears that we have. And then when you look at
the panda, you see that adorable, very round face.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
But that's all that muscle tissue exactly.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
In the jaw area and on the head to crush
that bamboo in a single bite. And that's another interesting adaptation.
So we have the pseudo thumb, we have the incredibly large,
powerful skull with all those muscles in it and the
teeth and jaws, and yet still the digestive system is
out of a carnivore like all these things that allows
them to do what they do.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
But oh, by the way, you just have to eat
a bunch of sleep.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
But it's so great to me that just the nuances
of bears in general.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
You know, like Megan talked about the polar bear way
back in the day, to remember that just a real
set niche like over ninety percent of their diet or
ring next seals. But I just love that ability of
behavior being modified as well. I mean, we're talking about
these physical adaptations, but they're also behaviorally acting a little differently.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
There's the asiatic black bear right, can be.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
Found in certain regions nearby, but behaviorally very different as well.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
But I really like that also.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
But I'm getting sidetracked because I don't want to forget
to ask you because Nikki the last episode, she was
talking about some of these behaviors that you guys have
been working on previously for them moving here to the
San Diego Zoo. Right, she had mentioned in open mouth
behavior blood draws she mentioned, you guys are going to
start working recast. So I don't know if you can
spill the tea, but I kind of want to know
haw's it's been going.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
It's been about a year now, Yeah, can.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
You Yeah, I can let you guys in on the
insider information on that the behavior. Yeah, so those behaviors
that we've been developing for the last year have really solidified.
These guys are really intelligent bears. They learn very quickly.
Pandas in general are extremely intelligent bears. Bears are extremely
intelligent species. Giant pandas are no exception to that. They
(11:26):
make it look easy. They just you know, they chill
and relax. They're super duper smart. So we do have
the open mouth behavior trained. We also have a recall
trained that we have been working on. It's a really
useful behavior to train for all of our large mammals,
not just large carnivores at the San Diego Zoo. So
it's basically a specialized cowbell sound, so believe it or not,
(11:49):
there are many different cowbell sounds or not just one
cow bell sound, right.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
And it doesn't have to be cowbell too on a
point out right, it could be a lot of different
sounds depending but you're using for.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
These ones specifically because animals have such great hearing, very
signature noise, so another animal across the zoo is going
to be able to hear that recall sound totally, so
we want to make sure it's unique for each animal zoo.
So there special goodies that they get to come in for.
Is actually Kerns guava nectar. Oh well, right, doesn't love
(12:20):
urns commercially available, but they love it.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
They yummy fruit to what Yeah, but I call it
in Spanish, but that's super super yummy. Just in case
some of the kids that are listening to because we
said recall. But that's basically like a behavior if maybe
I don't know, maybe a branch falls in the habitat.
I mean once I had a Virginia possum actually going
to the Castlory habitat.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
I was door. Luckily I had the recall established and
Ponto came right in. It was no big deal.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
And to your point, we had to actually coordinate with
Tiger team across the way because I didn't want to
use the same sound as the Tiger's right. But that's
really great that you're established that behavior for who knows
what can happen out in the habit Yeah.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
We've actually had to use it once because a hat
felons the habitat, So you know, super critical had to
save that hat.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
I mean, when you get the right hat, I mean yeah,
And I sure they appreciated it, right, Yeah, Well.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
I think too.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
It's important as a pet owner, recalls are important, you know,
should there ever be an emergency situation of any sort,
drastic or not, or just a hat, to have that recall,
to be able to bring your animal into a safe
space is so important.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
And I love.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
That that's something we incorporate here. At the San Diego Zoo,
something that we used to do way back in my
first years of animal training with dog training was established
the recall totally. I do want to go back to
something though you had mentioned, and I know Niki had
mentioned in the previous panned episode we did last season,
the open mouth behavior. I think Nikki touched on why
that's important and why we do it, but I'd love
to hear from you. Yeah, what is it that that
is such an important thing for us to have with
(13:43):
our animals here at the Sandiego Yeah, we train.
Speaker 5 (13:45):
A lot of behavior specifically for being able to get
close eyes and examination on our animals. So the open
mouth behavior allows us to inspect their teeth. They can't
see a dentist every year like we can, right, so
we can monitor their health very closely by training specific behaviors.
Open mouth is one of those behaviors that we train.
Other behaviors that we train our blood pressure reading, so
(14:06):
we do take our pandas blood pressure believe it or not,
we used to take it every single week so we
can establish a baseline for their health. So they're super
young bears, so at this point they're healthy individuals. We
can save all of that data and information so that
as they age, where if at some point they become
geriatric bears in our care, we can have that young
(14:26):
baseline blood pressure to compare to for when they're older,
so we can catch any health issues really early on.
Changes in blood pressure are a huge indicator of health concerns,
so we do a lot of behaviors like that that
allow us to monitor their health very very closely.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Wow, I'm care. Can you describe it? How do you
take the blood pressure of a hand abase? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (14:45):
So it's just like a human So if you've been
to the doctor, had your bloodressure, take it. Almost everybody has.
It's not comfortable, right, It squeezes. You can feel your
heart rate in your arm, So imagine a bear doing that.
You can't explain to them why it's important for them
to hold still and get their blood pressure taken, but
we establish a really strong relationship through training that they
(15:06):
are willing to sit there. They have the freedom to
remove their arm and leave if they'd like to. They're
not restrained. It's fully their choice to participate.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Which I love that different than in the past setting
a scenario a certain way, but this is them taking
part of the situation having ownership in control of it, right, absolutely.
Speaker 5 (15:24):
So we do have a specialized sleeve we call it.
It's an attachment that goes into their training area with
an opening and a handle so they can put their
arm through and expose their arms so that we can
wrap a blood pressure cuff to their arm the exact
same as a human one. It's the same exact blood
pressure cuff, and then the blood pressure machine takes their reading.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Oh that's cool.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
It's actually a lot more straightforward and.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
It too. Oh.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
Actually, well, we were talking about these behaviors you guys,
I kind of want to know, like, you have a
training plan, right, this is how we're going to train
this blood pressure behave as an example. They're different personalities, right,
so I'm kind of curious like how we're training each one,
Like did one learn it faster than the other.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
Yeah, that's a really great question. So the approximations for
each training behavior, we break it down. Sometimes they can
skip several steps and they can just jump right through
because they're super smart.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
They know what you want, you know exactly.
Speaker 5 (16:23):
Yeah, they typically can train very very quickly. These bears
are super smart. There are behaviors that we've been able
to shape in one day alone, and then we sometimes
you have breakdowns where if you don't train a behavior
for a little while, then they kind of maybe a
little reminder, a little pressure. And I would say that
two bears are very different in their personalities, so they
each trained behaviors at a different pace. So some things
(16:45):
he trained really really quickly and she did it, and
somethings she trained really really quickly and he didn't.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Really.
Speaker 5 (16:50):
Overall, though, these bears are super easy to work with.
They're super smart. Both of them train very quickly. They
make it easy.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
They're motivated, Nikki brought that out to here, Like they're
very food motivated, like they want to eat, so that
kind of helps they do.
Speaker 5 (17:05):
They love to eat. And they're very personal bears as
much as they are wild animals. We never share space
with them. All protective content, all protected contact. They do
really enjoy that training interaction, that.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Cognitive exercise, brain exercise.
Speaker 5 (17:21):
They really enjoy that brain exercise interaction time. So they
love to train.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
That's cool that it's rewarding overall, like the whole process
for them to rewarding, not just oh I get a
reward for doing the behavior, you know, as far as
food goes. Yeah, I do want to ask, so let mean, Mark,
are you done with the questions? Okay, I might have
more later, but trying to think like our guests, right,
Like when the Pandas Furs got here, it was all
timed tickets and now we've kind of shifted more to
time tickets during the busy season and busy time. But
otherwise you can just get in the queue and line
(17:47):
up and see them as I'm a guest coming in
to see the Pandas. Do either one of them have
a favorite spot and habitat to hang out that I
should be looking for them.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yeah, they sleep a lot, they do.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
That's a good one.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
A lot of people ask us where they're at and
when they're awake, so.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
I want to schedule.
Speaker 5 (18:07):
Yeah. So, as I mentioned before that they eat for
a while total fold then they sleep three to four hours.
So that's not the same three to four hours every
single day. So I don't know in a given day
when they're going to be awaken, when they're going to
be asleep. That's really up to their bodies and their
digestive systems. But they do have some favorite spots. Oh yeah, Yeah,
so they really like some cool, damp, dry areas, especially
(18:28):
this time of year. So in our hillside habitat, we
do have this really cool rock cave. There's some spots
inside the cave that Singbao really likes to hang out
in the afternoon. And there's some spots on top of
the cave that both candles love whenever they're in that
hillside habitat above the cave. Favorite spot.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
It's the cutest thing is head just rolled back there.
That's spot I love. The other one, yeah, and the.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
Other habitat, we have this really cool bonzai shaped pine.
They love the pine tree, so they can climb all
the way to the top of that pine tree. During
this time of year, as we're starting to warm up,
they have been spending a lot more time underneath the
pine tree, so they really like to go under it
right now. We do have some cooling measures in that
area that help them thermot regulate, so they've got some
(19:16):
misters some airflow right there. So they do really like
to hang out under the Bonzie tree this time of year.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
That's I love that cool, very cool, great insider information.
Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Guess must know exactly right. I have one more question
before we wrap up it.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
So I've done research on this because I've had to
talk about panis before, and I think I know the answer,
but it's a question that does come up sometimes. I'd
love to hear your insight on it, if you even
because it was a theory when I read about it.
We look at some animals and they blend into their
environments so well, you know, you have the stripes of
a tiger, you have the stripes of the zebra, the
herd blends together. You have the spotted pattern of a
(19:52):
leopard or a jaguar blending into the jungle and the
depilated shadows, and the jungle you got grizzly bears at
dark brown they can't blend into the four and then
the Martian meadows. Really well, then you got the panda.
I'm going to be a contrast across the board, strictly
white here and strictly black there, and very obvious and
easy to see.
Speaker 5 (20:10):
Yeah, so that's probably how people felt when they first
saw tigers. Right, they're like orange and striped. How does
that blend in? That doesn't make any sense for camouflage.
So the way that the temperate forests are that giant
pandas are native to They're broad leafed, big canopies, very humid,
very foggy, and muggy. Believe it or not, they do
(20:31):
blend in really well. There are times where we're looking
for our pan as, we do observations all throughout the
day that we're like, is that the panda? Is that
the panda? So those big black and white patches actually
are super helpful for broad leafed shade patterns. Okay, so
there are big patches of shade where that stripe just
(20:53):
blends right in and that white blends into maybe rocks
in that area, those super light gray rocks of those
mountainous areas, and they actually and did pretty well.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
I mean it makes to me, you know, like a
scarlet mccauseference, like a rainbow colored pair that people aren't
familiar with that you think it wouldn't blend in. But
I've been in the Jungles and Costa Rica as an example,
I could barely even see them in the tree at
one point to blend in so well. Other animals see
different spectrums of color. You know, those herbivores in the
jungles with tigers, they don't really pick up that.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Ore and so yeah, right, and that's really cool.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Actually, I forgot I did have one question that it's
kind of a nerdy personal question, you know, but for instance,
in the past, you're probably the same thing. For instance,
when I was helping manage Castaway, as an example, I'd
have like a favorite part of the day and it
was for me, it was before gas showed up and
it was just me and the castaways and the sun
was filtering through the trees, and it was like my
favorite part of the day. So I'm kind of curious,
(21:41):
do you have a moment in your day that's like, man,
this is my selfishly best part of my day. Yeah,
tell me, do you have one of those?
Speaker 5 (21:48):
It probably isn't the same every single day. Yeah, I
would say that I love watching them eat, watching them
process bamboo amazing super strong jost length, and the way
they can just crack and split and they make it
look so easy. They make it, they make it look effortless,
and then just they're munching away. I love to watch
(22:09):
them eat when it's just quiet, and they really like
the quiet. So these guys live in forests, are pretty solitary,
so they prefer quiet, and when it's just quiet, and
they're just you know, they'll like franchise and they'll get
into it, and they love to eat, and they make
it look easy and they make it look fun. Right,
I've never eating never looked so enjoyable.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
I mean, I kind of get it because in the beginning,
like what's the hype about giant pandas? And then it
finally wants to go see and I'm like.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
Oh, yeah, I was the same way. I worked with
cats before and yeah, and I was like, well, I
mean their bears, bears are cool. And then once they
started working with them, I was like, oh my god,
these guys are so cool.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
I get it.
Speaker 5 (22:47):
They just eat on their belly all the foods up.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
Yeah, always going to be a great time and you're
getting California painted eate. Perfect time to come to the
zoo and celebrate Rick. You're mentioning many ways or guess
can come and visit. There's an extra another experience like
a morning morning tour as well online Go online, Go online,
everyone look at the camera right now, go online.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
The book that it's always a fun time. Oh that
was great. Thank you, Jessica than.
Speaker 5 (23:14):
So much for coming out and getting an update on
the panda.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Yes now, and I want to find you looking at
those bears bunch in away.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Thanks again, thank you, that was really great.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
I'm hearing panda crunch in my ear now.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
You know.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Well, it's funny you mentioned that the pandas make it
look so easy, and I remember early on in my
career here at the sin it goes on my area
that I was taking care of over two red pandas,
and the bamboo they would get was usually the stem
was no bigger round than your thumb, and I remember
once I was clearing that out, it wouldn't fit into
the receptacle, so I was trying to break it and
like you couldn't.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Do it, I couldn't do it.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
And then I come down and watch the giant pans
with these ginormous pieces of bamboo away like it's a carrot, and.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
I was just like, how was that possible?
Speaker 4 (23:53):
Wild Pa, I'm just smiling just because their job is
so awesome. And the last time we were talking giraffe
and giraffes around, they were learning about giants and oh,
the next one, we're gonna hint a little bit of
a fun behavior with maybe a jaguar.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Well, so there is an article that will be featured
in the journal. When I saw that in the lineup
of things, we have to find out more about this.
So it's about certain behaviors that were found and understood.
Then here at the San Diego Zoo, about the jaguar
and another species.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
But I don't want to give away too much.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Oh okay, and we're gonna hang out at the ze Stelle.
Huh yeah, I'm stay here. Sounds good to me, Fred,
all right, all right, guys, and while Marco Wentz.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
And I'm Rich Schwartz. Thanks for listening and for watching.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
For more information about the San Diego Zoo and San
Diego Zoo Safari Park, go to sdzw a dot org.
Amazing Wildlife is a production of iHeartRadio. Our supervising producers
are Nikkia Swinton and Dylan Fagan, and our sound designers
are Sierra Spreen and Matt Russell. For more shows from iHeartRadio,
check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Speaker 5 (25:00):
Lets Talk
Ruby.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hi, I'm Rich Swartz.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
What is this world?
Speaker 3 (00:12):
A Marco went and this this is Amazing Wildlife where
we explore stories of wildlife from around the world and
uncovered fascinating animal facts. This podcast is brought to you
in partnership with iHeartRadio's Ruby Studio and San Diego Zoo
Wildlife Alliance, an international nonprofit conservation organization which oversees this
beautiful place, the San Diego.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Zoo and the Safari Park.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
What a lovely little spot we're at, right.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
We are, we are, and it's perfect, I think for
this topic because they're.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Just down the way from us. I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Are you referring to a large black and white mammals?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yeah, they are a bear.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Wait, I can.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Like you said, we're at the San Diego Zo We're
right below one of my favorite spots for a canyon.
Back the way, we got tom I right there is
Andy and bear to our left we got sun bear
going on, really unique type of mammal, some of my favorites.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
But to your point, we're talking about the giant pandas.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Right we are, we are getting an update if you will,
because about this time, almost this time last year when
this episode comes out. We were announcing Pantas were on
the way. We're getting ready to show them.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
That Panda Ridge was being redone.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
So much activity and such a short amount of time
to get everything ready for these two awesome bears.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
Oh, I know, And we actually we're talking before like
maybe about a month from when this episode drops.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
It's going to be officially California.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Panaday August eighth, August eight, that was declared basically when
we opened Panda Ridge, officially that that was California Panaday
August eighth, and the very first anniversary of that is
coming up. So yeah, we want people to know it's
a very special day. We're gonna do some really cool
things for it. So keep listening and watching to find
out what's going on. Check out the Zoos social media.
They'll be posting a lot about it as well. But
(01:50):
I think really people are listening right now not to
hear about what we're doing for Panaday. They want to
about the giant pandas.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Yeah, it's been a little bit right, friend, and so
I think we need to update everyone, including you and
I what's going.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
On with Panda. Well, then let's ask Jessica our guests.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
Good morning, guys. Yeah, thank you for having me.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
Thank you for hanging out with us, maybe to share
all these interesting things we love.
Speaker 5 (02:12):
Talking about pandas, Like I spent all day talking about.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Oh, we don't have all day. We will fill as
much time as we need to. First of all, Jessica,
introduce yourself to our audience. What exactly is your title?
What do you do here at the San Diego Zoo?
And no, why do you know so much about pandama?
Speaker 5 (02:26):
Yeah, my name is Jessica. I'm a senior wildlife care
specialist here at the San Diego Zoo. I've been with
the San Diego Zoo for about six and a half
years now. I have been working with the giant pandas
since before they came. So I got to go to
China and start working with Yunschwan and Singbao while they
were still in China, I got to work with their
care specialists there, start to teach them a few commands
(02:46):
in English, a few words in English, learn their personalities,
and then that helped have a really smooth transition for
them to come over here. So they had the same
care team. They already knew my face, my voice.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, you're sent Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 5 (03:02):
So then when they came here, I continue to work
with the giant panda, so I've been working with them
for over a year now.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Wow, that's cool.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
I'm glad he talked about going to China and working
with the team there because in the previous PAN episode
it was with Nicky Boy, can you remember, right, she
was mentioning a lot of that as well, and she
and I, all of us here are very behavior oriented people,
you know, So I was really stoked that you brought
that up because it's definitely something I want to ask
you sort of update to some of the behaviors that
Nikki was saying prior that you guys have been working on.
(03:31):
But I think though, guys, you know, before we get started,
because maybe people forgot, like, who are the two giant
pans we have here at Panda Ridge at the zoo?
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Can you talk about it?
Speaker 5 (03:38):
We have two wonderful giant pandas obviously that we brought
a male and a female. So we have Yun Schwan.
He's our male. Almost his birthday, he's about to turn six.
Oh yeah, oh so he's a five year old male.
And then Sing Bao is our female. She's going to
turn five soon. Giant Pandas are born around the same
time every year, so their birthdays, of course are around
the same time. So they're both about to turn five
(03:59):
and six. This will be their second celebrated birthday here
at the San Diego too. So they have settled in
really really well, having been here almost a year now.
They have been in both habitats. Both of them have
been in each habitat for a little bit of time,
and they really settled into San Diego. So they're loving
this San Diego love SOCOW lifestyle. Okay, it is very
(04:22):
up the alley for giant panda. They love that SOCOW lifestyle.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Okay. So I think it's fairer than share with our
audience because I think in general people have that Southern
California San Diego lifestyles, laid back, relax, you know, hanging
on the beach, just pretty chill, and you're sam, pandas
fit that really well?
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Why is that?
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Why do panda fit our lifestyle here in San Diego
so well?
Speaker 5 (04:40):
Giant Pandas fit that SOCOW lifestyle really well because they
do spend most of their time just eating and sleeping.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
So they yeah, I mean, you were laughing about it before,
you know, but we had a specific reason why, right,
can you hint at it? Because their carnivore But I
was really fascinating you were talking about there.
Speaker 5 (04:57):
Yeah, so giant pandas are true bears, so they do
have carnivore digestive systems. They have those canines, those sharp teeth,
those sharp claws, true carnivore digestive systems. But they only
eat bamboo. Of what they eat is sampoo anyway, so
they don't get a lot of nutrients out of the
food that they eat. So they have to consume such
a high volume of food to be able to get
(05:18):
enough nutrients. And then they have to sleep a lot
so while their body processes all that. So most of
what a giant panda does is eating and sleeping. They'll
wake up, eat until they're full, and then sleep for
three to four hours and do that kind of on
repeat for twenty four hours a day.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
It's crazy, Amanda, Actually she's behind the camera right after,
you don't know, but she was asking prior to because
you know, some animals have like a hind gut kind
of fermentation process, you know, but it's not like that
for panas. You're basically saying, you know, yeah, I'm a carnivore,
but I'm eating all this planet.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, man, I just got to keep on eating and
eating exactly.
Speaker 5 (05:47):
So they eat tons of food every day. We feed
them more food than they could ever possibly eat. The
day they get a schmorcus spoored here, so they have
their pick of what they want. You don't want to
eat the same thing for every single meal, so we
give them a ton of variety every single day. We
give close to eighty to one hundred pounds of bamboo
every single day, and then we don't all eat the
same amount of food every day either, So giant pandas
are just like that. Some days they'll eat forty pounds
(06:09):
of food. Sometimes they'll eat close to that eighty pounds
in a day, But it comes out just like it
goes in, so they don't really digest it. They don't
have that high bet that ruminants have to be able
to break that down and really absorb all of the
nutrients that come out of that. So they're really going
to eat as much as they can and then sleep
(06:31):
while their body processes as much of that as it
can to get as much nutrients out of it. As possible,
but they don't eat what their body is designed to
eat as a large carnivore.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Does anybody knows there been any research.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Why would a species like the panda bear, which is
the teeth of a carnivore, the digestive of the carnivore
go through the process of and obviously for a very
long time now, being such a high herbivore diet animal.
Speaker 5 (06:56):
Yeah, it's a really good question. Actually, they have adapted
to the most readily available resource, so they have no
natural predators. So a giant panda has no need to
use all those carnivore adaptations that they have, so they
are true bear, so they have those teeth in those claws,
but with no natural predators, they have adapted to be
(07:17):
able to eat what is most readily available, which is bamboo,
so it's everywhere. They don't have to chase it. Their
food's not going to run away, so they have adapted
to be able to process bamboo and use that as
their natural food resource. And then because they have no
natural predators, they can spend that extra time sleeping so
that their body can process that. They are a solitary species,
(07:39):
so they do still have those carnivore adaptations to be
able to defend their territory if then when they need to,
but they do a really good job of avoiding that
at all costs. They would much rather not have to
use any of those adaptations. They really just yeah, they
want to save as much energy as possible, so they
just want to eat bamboo and sleep. So they do
a good job of marking their territory.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
They use to watch.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
Yeah, they use their scent and things like that to
make sure that they kind of mark off their own
zones and they avoid each other.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
I think it's fascinating that the digestive system hasn't really
changed much to work with that environment, to work with
what's readily available to consume the bamboo.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
But there's other adaptations.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
This is that other bears don't have, so they can
hold the bamboo.
Speaker 4 (08:25):
No totally, because I called it a thumb, but then
you elaborated a little more.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
They sort of called the pseudo thumb for a giant pan.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
Yeah. So when you watch giant hand to eat, it's
the cutest thing ever. I could watch them eat all day.
So it actually looks like they're holding and gripping the bamboo,
which allows them to maneuver it, to strip the coating
off of it, to eat the different pieces of the plant,
because they eat all different parts of the plant. But
it looks like a thumb that they're gripping with, but
it's actually what we call a pseudo thumb. It's an
elongated wristbone that acts as a opposable thumb so that
(08:55):
they can manipulate that bamboo in order to process and
man for all the different parts of it.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Okay, so kids, this is what you need to do.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Get a ruler and somehow I don't use tapecausey're really
hurt coming off, but maybe like get a shoelace to
strap the ruler to your forearm so it sticks out
past your hand a little bit and then cut your
hand and try and grab things, because that's really what
it is. And they don't have a thumb like we have,
so it's hand, yeah, to kind of grab and hold on.
But they've obviously done such a great job because I've
(09:25):
seen it too.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
I'm like, it looks like.
Speaker 5 (09:29):
They're very adept at using those adaptations.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Do you remember in our bamboo episode from last year
without him, he was saying that it's the strongest fiber
out how powerful they have to be. So that's the
other adaptation pandas have is this incredibly powerful bite and
we can.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Look at it.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
So if you're here at the zoo, look at the
sun bears, or near the pandas, look at the other
bears that we have. And then when you look at
the panda, you see that adorable, very round face.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
But that's all that muscle tissue exactly.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
In the jaw area and on the head to crush
that bamboo in a single bite. And that's another interesting adaptation.
So we have the pseudo thumb, we have the incredibly large,
powerful skull with all those muscles in it and the
teeth and jaws, and yet still the digestive system is
out of a carnivore like all these things that allows
them to do what they do.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
But oh, by the way, you just have to eat
a bunch of sleep.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
But it's so great to me that just the nuances
of bears in general.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
You know, like Megan talked about the polar bear way
back in the day, to remember that just a real
set niche like over ninety percent of their diet or
ring next seals. But I just love that ability of
behavior being modified as well. I mean, we're talking about
these physical adaptations, but they're also behaviorally acting a little differently.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
There's the asiatic black bear right, can be.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
Found in certain regions nearby, but behaviorally very different as well.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
But I really like that also.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
But I'm getting sidetracked because I don't want to forget
to ask you because Nikki the last episode, she was
talking about some of these behaviors that you guys have
been working on previously for them moving here to the
San Diego Zoo. Right, she had mentioned in open mouth
behavior blood draws she mentioned, you guys are going to
start working recast. So I don't know if you can
spill the tea, but I kind of want to know
haw's it's been going.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
It's been about a year now, Yeah, can.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
You Yeah, I can let you guys in on the
insider information on that the behavior. Yeah, so those behaviors
that we've been developing for the last year have really solidified.
These guys are really intelligent bears. They learn very quickly.
Pandas in general are extremely intelligent bears. Bears are extremely
intelligent species. Giant pandas are no exception to that. They
(11:26):
make it look easy. They just you know, they chill
and relax. They're super duper smart. So we do have
the open mouth behavior trained. We also have a recall
trained that we have been working on. It's a really
useful behavior to train for all of our large mammals,
not just large carnivores at the San Diego Zoo. So
it's basically a specialized cowbell sound, so believe it or not,
(11:49):
there are many different cowbell sounds or not just one
cow bell sound, right.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
And it doesn't have to be cowbell too on a
point out right, it could be a lot of different
sounds depending but you're using for.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
These ones specifically because animals have such great hearing, very
signature noise, so another animal across the zoo is going
to be able to hear that recall sound totally, so
we want to make sure it's unique for each animal zoo.
So there special goodies that they get to come in for.
Is actually Kerns guava nectar. Oh well, right, doesn't love
(12:20):
urns commercially available, but they love it.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
They yummy fruit to what Yeah, but I call it
in Spanish, but that's super super yummy. Just in case
some of the kids that are listening to because we
said recall. But that's basically like a behavior if maybe
I don't know, maybe a branch falls in the habitat.
I mean once I had a Virginia possum actually going
to the Castlory habitat.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
I was door. Luckily I had the recall established and
Ponto came right in. It was no big deal.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
And to your point, we had to actually coordinate with
Tiger team across the way because I didn't want to
use the same sound as the Tiger's right. But that's
really great that you're established that behavior for who knows
what can happen out in the habit Yeah.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
We've actually had to use it once because a hat
felons the habitat, So you know, super critical had to
save that hat.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
I mean, when you get the right hat, I mean yeah,
And I sure they appreciated it, right, Yeah, Well.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
I think too.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
It's important as a pet owner, recalls are important, you know,
should there ever be an emergency situation of any sort,
drastic or not, or just a hat, to have that recall,
to be able to bring your animal into a safe
space is so important.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
And I love.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
That that's something we incorporate here. At the San Diego Zoo,
something that we used to do way back in my
first years of animal training with dog training was established
the recall totally. I do want to go back to
something though you had mentioned, and I know Niki had
mentioned in the previous panned episode we did last season,
the open mouth behavior. I think Nikki touched on why
that's important and why we do it, but I'd love
to hear from you. Yeah, what is it that that
is such an important thing for us to have with
(13:43):
our animals here at the Sandiego Yeah, we train.
Speaker 5 (13:45):
A lot of behavior specifically for being able to get
close eyes and examination on our animals. So the open
mouth behavior allows us to inspect their teeth. They can't
see a dentist every year like we can, right, so
we can monitor their health very closely by training specific behaviors.
Open mouth is one of those behaviors that we train.
Other behaviors that we train our blood pressure reading, so
(14:06):
we do take our pandas blood pressure believe it or not,
we used to take it every single week so we
can establish a baseline for their health. So they're super
young bears, so at this point they're healthy individuals. We
can save all of that data and information so that
as they age, where if at some point they become
geriatric bears in our care, we can have that young
(14:26):
baseline blood pressure to compare to for when they're older,
so we can catch any health issues really early on.
Changes in blood pressure are a huge indicator of health concerns,
so we do a lot of behaviors like that that
allow us to monitor their health very very closely.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Wow, I'm care. Can you describe it? How do you
take the blood pressure of a hand abase? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (14:45):
So it's just like a human So if you've been
to the doctor, had your bloodressure, take it. Almost everybody has.
It's not comfortable, right, It squeezes. You can feel your
heart rate in your arm, So imagine a bear doing that.
You can't explain to them why it's important for them
to hold still and get their blood pressure taken, but
we establish a really strong relationship through training that they
(15:06):
are willing to sit there. They have the freedom to
remove their arm and leave if they'd like to. They're
not restrained. It's fully their choice to participate.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Which I love that different than in the past setting
a scenario a certain way, but this is them taking
part of the situation having ownership in control of it, right, absolutely.
Speaker 5 (15:24):
So we do have a specialized sleeve we call it.
It's an attachment that goes into their training area with
an opening and a handle so they can put their
arm through and expose their arms so that we can
wrap a blood pressure cuff to their arm the exact
same as a human one. It's the same exact blood
pressure cuff, and then the blood pressure machine takes their reading.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Oh that's cool.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
It's actually a lot more straightforward and.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
It too. Oh.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
Actually, well, we were talking about these behaviors you guys,
I kind of want to know, like, you have a
training plan, right, this is how we're going to train
this blood pressure behave as an example. They're different personalities, right,
so I'm kind of curious like how we're training each one,
Like did one learn it faster than the other.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
Yeah, that's a really great question. So the approximations for
each training behavior, we break it down. Sometimes they can
skip several steps and they can just jump right through
because they're super smart.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
They know what you want, you know exactly.
Speaker 5 (16:23):
Yeah, they typically can train very very quickly. These bears
are super smart. There are behaviors that we've been able
to shape in one day alone, and then we sometimes
you have breakdowns where if you don't train a behavior
for a little while, then they kind of maybe a
little reminder, a little pressure. And I would say that
two bears are very different in their personalities, so they
each trained behaviors at a different pace. So some things
(16:45):
he trained really really quickly and she did it, and
somethings she trained really really quickly and he didn't.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Really.
Speaker 5 (16:50):
Overall, though, these bears are super easy to work with.
They're super smart. Both of them train very quickly. They
make it easy.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
They're motivated, Nikki brought that out to here, Like they're
very food motivated, like they want to eat, so that
kind of helps they do.
Speaker 5 (17:05):
They love to eat. And they're very personal bears as
much as they are wild animals. We never share space
with them. All protective content, all protected contact. They do
really enjoy that training interaction, that.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Cognitive exercise, brain exercise.
Speaker 5 (17:21):
They really enjoy that brain exercise interaction time. So they
love to train.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
That's cool that it's rewarding overall, like the whole process
for them to rewarding, not just oh I get a
reward for doing the behavior, you know, as far as
food goes. Yeah, I do want to ask, so let mean, Mark,
are you done with the questions? Okay, I might have
more later, but trying to think like our guests, right,
Like when the Pandas Furs got here, it was all
timed tickets and now we've kind of shifted more to
time tickets during the busy season and busy time. But
otherwise you can just get in the queue and line
(17:47):
up and see them as I'm a guest coming in
to see the Pandas. Do either one of them have
a favorite spot and habitat to hang out that I
should be looking for them.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yeah, they sleep a lot, they do.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
That's a good one.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
A lot of people ask us where they're at and
when they're awake, so.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
I want to schedule.
Speaker 5 (18:07):
Yeah. So, as I mentioned before that they eat for
a while total fold then they sleep three to four hours.
So that's not the same three to four hours every
single day. So I don't know in a given day
when they're going to be awaken, when they're going to
be asleep. That's really up to their bodies and their
digestive systems. But they do have some favorite spots. Oh yeah, Yeah,
so they really like some cool, damp, dry areas, especially
(18:28):
this time of year. So in our hillside habitat, we
do have this really cool rock cave. There's some spots
inside the cave that Singbao really likes to hang out
in the afternoon. And there's some spots on top of
the cave that both candles love whenever they're in that
hillside habitat above the cave. Favorite spot.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
It's the cutest thing is head just rolled back there.
That's spot I love. The other one, yeah, and the.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
Other habitat, we have this really cool bonzai shaped pine.
They love the pine tree, so they can climb all
the way to the top of that pine tree. During
this time of year, as we're starting to warm up,
they have been spending a lot more time underneath the
pine tree, so they really like to go under it
right now. We do have some cooling measures in that
area that help them thermot regulate, so they've got some
(19:16):
misters some airflow right there. So they do really like
to hang out under the Bonzie tree this time of year.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
That's I love that cool, very cool, great insider information.
Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Guess must know exactly right. I have one more question
before we wrap up it.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
So I've done research on this because I've had to
talk about panis before, and I think I know the answer,
but it's a question that does come up sometimes. I'd
love to hear your insight on it, if you even
because it was a theory when I read about it.
We look at some animals and they blend into their
environments so well, you know, you have the stripes of
a tiger, you have the stripes of the zebra, the
herd blends together. You have the spotted pattern of a
(19:52):
leopard or a jaguar blending into the jungle and the
depilated shadows, and the jungle you got grizzly bears at
dark brown they can't blend into the four and then
the Martian meadows. Really well, then you got the panda.
I'm going to be a contrast across the board, strictly
white here and strictly black there, and very obvious and
easy to see.
Speaker 5 (20:10):
Yeah, so that's probably how people felt when they first
saw tigers. Right, they're like orange and striped. How does
that blend in? That doesn't make any sense for camouflage.
So the way that the temperate forests are that giant
pandas are native to They're broad leafed, big canopies, very humid,
very foggy, and muggy. Believe it or not, they do
(20:31):
blend in really well. There are times where we're looking
for our pan as, we do observations all throughout the
day that we're like, is that the panda? Is that
the panda? So those big black and white patches actually
are super helpful for broad leafed shade patterns. Okay, so
there are big patches of shade where that stripe just
(20:53):
blends right in and that white blends into maybe rocks
in that area, those super light gray rocks of those
mountainous areas, and they actually and did pretty well.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
I mean it makes to me, you know, like a
scarlet mccauseference, like a rainbow colored pair that people aren't
familiar with that you think it wouldn't blend in. But
I've been in the Jungles and Costa Rica as an example,
I could barely even see them in the tree at
one point to blend in so well. Other animals see
different spectrums of color. You know, those herbivores in the
jungles with tigers, they don't really pick up that.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Ore and so yeah, right, and that's really cool.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Actually, I forgot I did have one question that it's
kind of a nerdy personal question, you know, but for instance,
in the past, you're probably the same thing. For instance,
when I was helping manage Castaway, as an example, I'd
have like a favorite part of the day and it
was for me, it was before gas showed up and
it was just me and the castaways and the sun
was filtering through the trees, and it was like my
favorite part of the day. So I'm kind of curious,
(21:41):
do you have a moment in your day that's like, man,
this is my selfishly best part of my day. Yeah,
tell me, do you have one of those?
Speaker 5 (21:48):
It probably isn't the same every single day. Yeah, I
would say that I love watching them eat, watching them
process bamboo amazing super strong jost length, and the way
they can just crack and split and they make it
look so easy. They make it, they make it look effortless,
and then just they're munching away. I love to watch
(22:09):
them eat when it's just quiet, and they really like
the quiet. So these guys live in forests, are pretty solitary,
so they prefer quiet, and when it's just quiet, and
they're just you know, they'll like franchise and they'll get
into it, and they love to eat, and they make
it look easy and they make it look fun. Right,
I've never eating never looked so enjoyable.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
I mean, I kind of get it because in the beginning,
like what's the hype about giant pandas? And then it
finally wants to go see and I'm like.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
Oh, yeah, I was the same way. I worked with
cats before and yeah, and I was like, well, I
mean their bears, bears are cool. And then once they
started working with them, I was like, oh my god,
these guys are so cool.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
I get it.
Speaker 5 (22:47):
They just eat on their belly all the foods up.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
Yeah, always going to be a great time and you're
getting California painted eate. Perfect time to come to the
zoo and celebrate Rick. You're mentioning many ways or guess
can come and visit. There's an extra another experience like
a morning morning tour as well online Go online, Go online,
everyone look at the camera right now, go online.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
The book that it's always a fun time. Oh that
was great. Thank you, Jessica than.
Speaker 5 (23:14):
So much for coming out and getting an update on
the panda.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Yes now, and I want to find you looking at
those bears bunch in away.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Thanks again, thank you, that was really great.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
I'm hearing panda crunch in my ear now.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
You know.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Well, it's funny you mentioned that the pandas make it
look so easy, and I remember early on in my
career here at the sin it goes on my area
that I was taking care of over two red pandas,
and the bamboo they would get was usually the stem
was no bigger round than your thumb, and I remember
once I was clearing that out, it wouldn't fit into
the receptacle, so I was trying to break it and
like you couldn't.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Do it, I couldn't do it.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
And then I come down and watch the giant pans
with these ginormous pieces of bamboo away like it's a carrot, and.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
I was just like, how was that possible?
Speaker 4 (23:53):
Wild Pa, I'm just smiling just because their job is
so awesome. And the last time we were talking giraffe
and giraffes around, they were learning about giants and oh,
the next one, we're gonna hint a little bit of
a fun behavior with maybe a jaguar.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Well, so there is an article that will be featured
in the journal. When I saw that in the lineup
of things, we have to find out more about this.
So it's about certain behaviors that were found and understood.
Then here at the San Diego Zoo, about the jaguar
and another species.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
But I don't want to give away too much.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Oh okay, and we're gonna hang out at the ze Stelle.
Huh yeah, I'm stay here. Sounds good to me, Fred,
all right, all right, guys, and while Marco Wentz.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
And I'm Rich Schwartz. Thanks for listening and for watching.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
For more information about the San Diego Zoo and San
Diego Zoo Safari Park, go to sdzw a dot org.
Amazing Wildlife is a production of iHeartRadio. Our supervising producers
are Nikkia Swinton and Dylan Fagan, and our sound designers
are Sierra Spreen and Matt Russell. For more shows from iHeartRadio,
check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Speaker 5 (25:00):
Lets Talk
Hosts And Creators
Rick Schwartz
Marco Wendt
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