Results tagged “nationalzoo”

From 1910 until 1963, when New York actually had a Pennsylvania Station instead of a dingy 1960s subterranean rat warren beneath a hockey rink and office towers, twenty-two stone eagles stood guard over the McKim, Mead, and White masterpiece. The eagles themselves, along with almost all the other stone artwork on the station were the work of artist Adolph A. Weinman, who among other things created Civic Fame atop the Municipal Building and the Walking Liberty half dollar coin.

Holy smokes! Giant fish on the MTA, Paris Hilton in jail, then out, then in again, Al Gore, goatses, blumpkins, Matt Damon, and baby art critics! It's been a busy week across the Ist-A-Verse, and here's a smattering of what's been going on.

After reading our umpteenth post dreaming about pandas in our own backyard, a reader who was at the National Zoo sent us some exciting news:

Just thought you'd like to know, that when I was there, one of the pandakeepers said the Bronx Zoo had already filled out its paperwork for "borrowing" some pandas from China. So pandas might be closer to NY than you think. Of course the NY Times article on how pandas don't actually make any money for zoos won't help the cause much.

It's been too long since our last panda post, so we must congratulate our DC-based blog, DCist, for managing to give baby panda Tai Shan his American nickname, Butterstick. The National Zoo's announcement about their "Black and White Night" benefit included mention of "Butterstick" in case people didn't know who Tai Shan was and the tagline, "Everything goes better with Butter." It sure does, especially when it's a mound of fuzz leaving scent markings near city sewer lines (we're not making this up!). And the Washington Post confirmed the National Zoo's move, with a quote from zoo spokesman Peper Long:

"It's not an official acknowledgment. We still call him Tai Shan. But we realize people all over the world love this little guy and probably have a variety of nicknames for him -- and this is a very popular one."

We have read the enlightening NY Times article about how pandas in U.S. zoos are like money pits, though adorable ones. The reason is because China leases the each panda to zoos for $2 million (in "panda cost and research"). And then there are the habitats the zoos must build, plus the expensive diets they have - oh, and if there's a baby, that's another $600,000 per year. The director of the Giant Panda Conservation Foundation in the U.S., David Towne, even says, "I've told my mayor [of Seattle] and everyone else that the last thing we want is pandas," and more blasphemous words were not said. The article is fascinating for the economic perspective of what pandas giveth and taketh away, but we'd also like the Freakonomics guys to get on the panda bandwagon and break it down.

On Gothamist Contribute, someone pointed out Johnny Cupcakes, a website devoted to selling t-shirts (and a few other things) with cupcakes on it. Excellent, we thought. But better than just a cupcake shirt is the panda eating a cupcake shirt! The shirt is $31.99, which is a bit steep but unlike the 15-18 cupcakes you could get for the same price, it's a little more permanent and less damaging on the waistline.

The current NY Times above-the-fold/ breaking news photograph is of Tai Shan, the National Zoo's four month old panda, who made his media debut today. Obviously, this is a call for New York City to stop shuffling our feet and to finally get our own set of pandas who can breed (naturally, artificially, who cares?!) and make adorable little pandas for us to coo about. Otherwise, we'll be heading out of town to DC every possible weekend (the first 13,000 tickets to see him are already gone!) to see this little fella until he turns two and is shipped back to China to mate with some lady pandas in the Wolong.

">in one hour. That's one popular panda!

- And Gothamist would really like some panda bears to come to a New York zoo and have panda cubs; this is a picture of the DC panda cub, who National zookeepers are in awe of (also, we watched Julie Chen interview the National Zoo's assistant curator Lisa Stevens, holding the panda in this picture, and we wondered, "Is Julie Chen doing the panda segment 'cause she's Chinese?".. and Jack Black will be doing the voice of "Kung Fu Panda," the new animated film; Black isn't Chinese, but he is tubby)

- And in this update about the closest baby panda to NY, aka the little guy in DC at the National Zoo, it looks like his eyes are open!

The National Zoo's veterinarians confirm that the baby panda born a scant three weeks ago is a boy! Today was the first day the zookeepers spent some time alone with the cub, who weighs 1.82 pounds and is 12 inches long, and is described as being "very solid and sturdy and extremely cute." We assume that in future visits, the world can expect adorable and extensive photographs of the baby (like this one of San Diego Zoo cub Mei Sheng). Baby Boy Panda won't be on exhibit until October, when he is three months old, and there will most likely be a 100 days naming ceremony around that time, too. So, this is as good as a time as any to mention that the Amtrak Acela has increased the number of trains that go to DC. We'll be there with our panda ears on.

HUZZAH! The National Zoo's 7 year-old panda, Mei Xiang, has given birth "a baby the size of a stick of butter"!!! (Panda babies are pale and pinkish; imagine a larger hamster... the black and white markings aren't evident till later...for examples, see this newborn photo of Mei Sheng from San Diego, and ones where he is older, 1 and 2.) DCist says the panda exhibit will be closed for three months while the zoo keepers keep on eye on the new mom and baby. And all signs point to Mei Xiang being a good panda mom - she's been tending to the baby. No word on what Tian Tian, the male panda, has been doing, as his job was done once Mei Xiang was artificially inseminated, but we imagine he's been sleeping and eating as usual.

Spring may be 11 days away, but for the various panda zookeepers in the United States, it's soon becoming time for the pandas to mate. The pandas at DC's National Zoo and the (Atlanta's) Atlanta Zoo are getting ready to get down. If the animals do not successfully mate, the zoos may try artificial insemination to get that increase-the-visitors-by- the-tenfold baby panda. Gothamist has extreme panda envy, and we'd probably back any political candidate who would endeavor to bring pandas to New York.

This will make Oakland the fifth U.S. city with pandas. There are pandas at the National Zoo in DC, San Diego Zoo, Memphis Zoo, and Zoo Atlanta. Gothamist's favorite panda posts: Our visit to the San Diego Zoo, DC pandas mating, and the panda transformer; plus all our other panda posts.

Plan your trip to D.C., either by car or by train. And if you go to D.C., you must see the real pandas at the National Zoo.

For all the panda lovers in the house: This photograph by Michael Pullin of Austin won third place, adult division, at the National Zoo's 2003 Giant Panda Photography Contest.

Hooray! San Diego panda Bai Yun gave birth to the first of two baby pandas. Previously, on a routine ultrasound, San Diego panda keepers were surprised by Bai Yun's pregnancy and the fact that it was with twins. Also, they don't know who the father is. At any rate, the panda team is trying to see if there is another cub, but in the meantime, Bai Yun seems to be doing fine with the first (in the box outlined above - yes, panda babies look like rats at first - gross). Click here to see video of Bai Yun and baby - the baby's vocalization can be heard.

Gothamist has the best readers ever: We received multiple emails asking why we hadn't posted about the exciting news coming from San Diego. Yes, the news that Bai Yun the panda is pregnant...with twins! And in a plot twist worthy of a soap opera, zoo keepers aren't sure who the father is - they inseminated her on two occasions with the sperm of two different pandas, Shi Shi, who is now in China, and Gao Gao, the panda male currently in San Diego. Truthfully, Gothamist was wary of posting about it is because panda pregnancies are very delicate, especially pregnancy with twins, and we didn't want to get too excited about it. From our panda knowledge, one twin tends to be ignored as the panda mother can only pay attention to one. But the San Diego Zoo is a top notch facility, and we're sure that as we speak, they are trying to force Bai Yun into bed rest with tons of bamboo and carrots. See for yourself with the San Diego Zoo Panda Cam.

Memphis is known for many things - Blues, barbecue, Al Green - and now they've added another jewel: PANDAS. The Times examines Memphis' determination to reinvigorate their economy by adding pandas to the Memphis Zoo. (More information about the Memphis Zoo's panda is lovingly detailed at their site.) Now the pressure is on for the pandas, Ya Ya and Le Le to mate, and have a panda baby, so the zoo can attract more visitors and sell baby panda paraphenalia. While the Zoo does have "Panda Hotel Packages," Gothamist thinks a surefire hit for a Memphis tourist package would be a "Ribs 'N' Panda Weekend" where you'd get to try the best barbecue AND see the pandas.

SARS affects yet another trip - the L.A. Times reports that San Diego native Hua Mei's trip to China has been delayed. Hua Mei is a giant panda, who was born in 1999 to Bai Yun, and has lived in San Diego since. As most pandas in zoos are on loan from the Chinese government, part of the agreement between the San Diego Zoo and China is that any pandas born in the U.S. must be sent to China after a certain number of years. With SARS concerns, Hua Mei's trip back may be delayed for months. Here's hoping that other San Diego Natives and zoo visitors will take advantage of that and say hi to her.

Panda Passion Play
Yesterday, Gothamist decided to see what the National Zoo pandas were up to...

are okay.