Panda Updates- Monday, August 26

Yesterday was Lun Lun’s 27^th birthday! If you have followed along with our panda updates, you may have read about some of the preparations that went into getting ready for this special day. Now that she has seen her own surprises, I thought I could dive a little deeper into the specific items she was given.

She had a few different small ice “cakes” offered. One was a “scentsickle” that contained her favorite scent: diluted Listerine! This has been a favorite scent of Lun Lun’s for many years (as always, any scents used for scent enrichment with the pandas and other animals are approved as safe for use by our Veterinary Team).

She also had a “27” cake with banana slices frozen inside. Her favorite ice treat was one containing a piece of sugar cane. Of all the items in her dayroom to investigate, this was the item she chose to interact with first. There was a birthday banner across the structure announcing her birthday. She had a large cardboard “cake” that had some leafeater biscuits inside and was topped with some of her other favorite scents: cinnamon and decaf coffee grounds. She had cardboard box “presents” containing hay and more leafeater biscuits. A paper “party hat” was placed up high for her to find. My favorite birthday decorations of hers were the paper chains spanning the dayroom structure that featured photos of her (including a baby picture if you look closely!). This year, a team of our amazing Volunteers helped us put together all of her party items, and we are so thankful for their help! They really helped make Lun Lun’s last birthday in Atlanta before traveling to China one to remember.

Lun Lun is still exhibiting some signs of pseudopregnancy (check out our previous updates for more on that). We were unsure if she would be willing to participate in her birthday activities as she has been so sleepy these days, but she seems to have thoroughly enjoyed her special day. We have some similar plans in store for the twins’ birthday on September 3 and then Yang Yang’s on September 9, so be sure to keep an eye out for upcoming birthday parties! The twins are also still experiencing pseudopregnancies, so we hope they will be as engaged with their birthday enrichment as Lun Lun was, but that remains to be seen. It’s all part of the birthday surprise!

– Panda Care Team